Research Area Landscape, Ecosystems and Biodiversity

The Research Area focuses on the analysis and evaluation of processes of landscape transformation. We develop strategies, concepts, (legal) instruments and incentives for the orientation and navigation of these processes. This also entails the investigation of the role of landscapes in the context of societal transformations. We deal with the natural environment from the perspective of landscapes, ecosystems and biodiversity, with particular emphasis placed on a socio-ecological-technological view of open and green spaces in regions, cities and urban districts. In our research, we refer to the key concepts of ecosystem services (ESS), nature-based solutions, blue-green infrastructure and human-nature resonance.

In the Research Group Urban Human-Nature Resonance, an interdisciplinary Leibniz Junior Research Group, we are developing and testing the innovative concept of human-nature resonance in an urban context. This concept focuses on the (re)connection between human and nonhuman nature in cities as potential lever for sustainability transformation.

The guiding questions of the research area are:

  • How can the concept of sustainable transformation of landscape, ecosystems and biodiversity be theoretically grounded and practically operationalised?
  • How can landscapes, ecosystems and biodiversity along with their services and relational/intrinsic values be methodologically framed to enable permanent protection and development?
  • Which strategies and (planning) instruments can help to protect, restore and qualitatively enhance landscapes, ecosystems and biodiversity in different geographic contexts?

The Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development is jointly funded by the federal government and the federal states.

FS Sachsen

This measure is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.