Shaping Transformations together

Shaping a profound change towards sustainability does not only require sound knowledge, data and planning tools that come from science. It also requires cooperation between different disciplines, as is practised at the IOER. And above all, it needs the participation of various actors in society, politics, the economy and planning. 

The IOER therefore pursues a transdisciplinary research approach in which research needs are jointly identified, knowledge is produced, ideas and solutions are tested, reflected upon and further developed. An overarching goal is to jointly design planning and control approaches, instruments and methods that are based on spatial information and are suitable for initiating, controlling, accelerating and stabilising a transformative change towards sustainability. 

A central element is the participation of many - from those affected to decision-makers. Transformation requires the cooperation of a wide range of actors so that a cultural change, innovations and changes in the overall system become possible. To this end, the IOER operates a permanent real laboratory at the Görlitz site, including the Interdisciplinary Centre for Transformative Urban Redevelopment (IZS).