Planning for socio-ecological transformations – Rethinking dominant perspectives & discourses

The Chair of Environmental Planning and Transformation is organizing the lecture series "Planning for socio-ecological transformations" in the summer semester 2024. The lectures in German and English will take place on Tuesdays from 18:15 to 19:30 in the lecture hall H.-Herder-Str. 5.

In their opening lecture, Tanja Mölders and Jochen Monstadt will reconsider transition approaches from a planning perspective. In doing so, they open up critical views on dominant perspectives and discourses in transition studies. They assume that several categories and concepts that have long been developed, discussed, and refined in planning theory and practice could sharpen the understanding of compound socio-ecological crises and identify approaches to address them. More specifically, they argue that planning studies’ longstanding engagement with spatialities, temporalities, postcolonial critique, and strategic policymaking could inspire, complement, and benefit dominant discourses on socio-technical and socio-ecological transitions. In addition, this opening lecture will provide an overview of all subsequent lectures within the series.

Tanja Mölders holds the chair of Environmental Planning and Transformation at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg. Her research focuses on sustainable (spatial) development and spatial transformation, societal relations to nature, gender and sustainability, and gender planning.

Jochen Monstadt is Professor of Governance of Urban Transitions and Chair of the Spatial Planning Section, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University. His research focuses on the contingent and space-specific transformation patterns of cities and how these are shaped by technical infrastructure systems. In spring 2024, he is an Eva Mayr-Stihl Fellow at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources and works together with Tanja Mölders.

The lecture “Planning for socio-ecological transformations: Rethinking dominant perspectives & discourses” takes place on 23.04., 6:15-7:30 pm, in Lecture hall H.-Herder-Str. 5.

Homepage of lecture series "Planning for socio-ecological transformations"