Collaboration aims to develop holistic ways of urban living

Seven Helmholtz centres have now decided to pursue a new approach: They pool their manifold competences in engineering, natural and social sciences in the Helmholtz Urban Research Initiative that is coordinated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Their goal: Development of comprehensive solution options by concerted research that considers all areas of urban life.

The earliest cities of mankind are legendary – Jericho, Ur, Babylon. Since these first experiments of urban life, these exotic islands in a sparsely populated world of hunters, gatherers, and farmers, however, human life has changed massively. Today, urban life no longer is the exception, but the rule. More than half of the world’s population is living in cities, with increasing tendency. Cities are no static spaces, but constantly develop further and have to do so, as the pressure on urban life is growing: Cities are facing numerous challenges – climate change, demographic change, digitisation, environmental pollution, resource scarcity and social inequality.

To master the transformation of cities into resource-efficient and resilient places of human life of high quality, complex development strategies are required. Many European states, including Germany, have long recognised that planning of these strategies requires an excellent scientific basis. The federal government launched a number of research policy initiatives, such as The City of the Future Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda developed by the City of the Future National Platform, and declared the year 2015 the science year “City of the Future”.

“Future-oriented urban development does not only require new technologies, but holistic solutions. We see this again and again in discussions with representatives of municipalities and municipal associations,” says Karl-Friedrich Ziegahn. He heads the “Natural and Built Environment” Division of KIT and represents the Helmholtz Association in the stakeholders forum of the City of the Future National Platform. “There rather is a high need for scientific-conceptual work. Like no other organisation in Germany, the Helmholtz Association can provide the necessary answers. By combining its competences in engineering, natural and social sciences and its research resources, understanding of the city and the underlying procedures as a holistic system can be shifted into the center of urban development. Through a combination of fundamental and applied research, the Helmholtz Association can push long-term development of scientific, technological, and social innovations and accompany their implementation in societal practice. To do this, seven Helmholtz centers have now joined forces.

Now, a central planning phase of one year duration starts. It is coordinated by Karl-Friedrich Ziegahn of KIT. The Helmholtz Association will grant €249,000 from the President’s Initiative and Networking Fund for the project partners to develop an integrated Helmholtz urban research concept. It will consist of elements of natural sciences, engineering, health sciences, and social sciences as well as of architecture and urban planning, with the strengths of the centers involved being optimally used.

“Central objective of the Helmholtz Urban Research Initiative is the development of scientific and practice-oriented solution options to ensure viability of our cities,” Karl-Friedrich Ziegahn explains. “We want to define objectives for a more sustainable urban development. In addition, new technologies, recommendations for actions, and solutions shall be developed and implemented together with the local actors in the form of field tests and demonstration sites.”