News

For the second time, the Leibniz Research Network Central and Eastern Europe is offering media professionals the opportunity to apply for a scholarship programme.

Who uses the space – and how is this communicated digitally? A new analysis by the IOER, developed in close collaboration with Prof. Catrin Schmidt from the Institute of Landscape Architecture at TUD Dresden University of Technology, visualises over 66 million public social media posts from 15 years. The result is a high-resolution map of Germany that shows where locals relax and which destinations tourists like to visit. The map was published in the December issue of “Naturschutz und Landschaftsplanung” (Nature Conservation and Landscape Planning). The underlying anonymised data is made…

In November 2025, Prof. Dr. David Manuel-Navarrete from the Arizona State University (ASU) visited the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) as a participant in the IOER Fellowship Programme. At ASU's School of Sustainability, David Manuel-Navarrete conducts research on inner-outer sustainability. This research explores how shifts in individual and collective mindsets can drive systemic change, integrating subjective transformations with structural actions to address complex environmental challenges. In this interview, he explains this research approach in more…

The journal “Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning (RuR),” published by oekom and co-edited by the IOER, is taking the next step on its golden path of publication practice. From 2026, it will be published as a Diamond Open Access journal.

What do the 96 research institutions of the Leibniz Association have in common with the goal of sustainability? A new ‘Sustainability Mission Statement’ makes the concept more tangible for the institutes, identifies courses of action and serves as a guide for the implementation process. It replaces the 2019 mission statement.

The joint funding of the IOER in Dresden by the federal and state governments is to be continued in the coming years. This is the recommendation of the Senate of the Leibniz Association based on the current evaluation of the institute by external experts. The Leibniz Senate published its statement on this matter after its meeting in Berlin on 3 December. The funding requirements can be reviewed again after the standard seven-year cycle.

Bereits seit 2013 kooperieren das Leibniz-Institut für ökologische Raumentwicklung (IÖR) und das zur United Nations University gehörende Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources (UNU-FLORES) mit Sitz in Dresden. Nun haben beide Einrichtungen ihre langjährige Zusammenarbeit zu Fragen nachhaltiger Entwicklung und Ressourcennutzung erweitert. Im Fokus stehen innovative Lösungen für komplexe globale Herausforderungen, die einen integrierten und sektorenübergreifenden Ansatz erfordern.

Since mid-September, Dr. Horacio Samaniego has been a guest at the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) as an IOER Fellow. As Associate Professor, he works at the Universidad Austral de Chile on questions of ecology and sustainable urban development. He is interested in understanding urban systems as complex socio-economic systems. In the interview, he explains how the analysis of large geo- and mobile data sets can contribute to understanding urban dynamics and sheds light on the potential these approaches have for the equitable and sustainable development of…