Leuphana provides practical training for municipal climate management
2025-05-09 Extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall, drought, and heat waves will occur more frequently in the future as a result of climate change. This means that cities, municipalities, and counties need to develop strategies and measures to adapt to the changing conditions. Students in the Master's program in Sustainability Sciences at Leuphana University Lüneburg have developed concrete proposals for climate protection and adaptation for the county of Lüneburg.
The StudiKommKlima project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and led by Prof. Dr. Jacob Hörisch, aims to qualify students for careers as municipal climate managers. Over two semesters, teams of students—guided by Pia Redenius and Sebastian Möller from the Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM)—worked together with the district of Lüneburg on specific municipal challenges. In the process, they developed practical proposals for municipal climate policy.
Working in different teams, the students took a practical approach to individual aspects of this wide-ranging topic. The results include guidelines for the climate-resilient redesign of public green spaces, for improving water retention in municipalities, and for creating a heat protection city map.
In addition, a group of students developed the manual “Blue-Green Infrastructure in Existing Residential Areas.” It provides detailed and application-oriented information on the implementation of climate adaptation measures and addresses related topics such as key questions, procedures, data analysis, citizen participation, and funding opportunities. A reference work on adaptation to heavy rainfall, a practical guide for inclusive participation in the development of municipal climate adaptation concepts, and a working aid for municipalities on how to take homeless people into account in heat action plans have also been produced.
A climate game for the district of Lüneburg, also developed by students, provides information on the district's climate protection and adaptation measures as well as on its greenhouse gas balance and climate protection potential. Citizens can use the game to learn about the district's activities in a fun way and develop their own ideas for actively contributing to climate protection.
Background
The transdisciplinary research project StudiKommKlima was funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment from October 1, 2022, to March 31, 2025. A total of 47 students participated in the two rounds.
The Open Educational Resource (OER) “Municipal Climate Adaptation in Higher Education,” consisting of a handout and several sets of slides, provides practical materials for designing your own seminars in the context of climate change adaptation.