District Future accompanies project of the City of Freiburg

Various actors are jointly developing solutions for the sustainable development of urban districts in Freiburg’s "Future Labs". The ITAS "District Future" team provides advice and scientific support.
Freiburg Sustainability Compass

Based on the "Freiburg Sustainability Compass" the city’s objective for the coming years is to develop ideas for both a new and an existing urban area as "District of the Future". There are five main topics: "Social justice", "Urban planning and urban development", "Improved mobility, less traffic", "Education" as well as "Climate and energy". Different actors from politics, science, the economy and civil society work together on these topics in so-called Future Labs. At the end, a variety of approaches shall be presented for a “District of the Future” in Freiburg that is sustainable in many different aspects.

For a successful implementation of the project, "District of the Future – the Freiburg Sustainability Compass in the Urban Lab" cooperates with the ITAS "District Future – Urban Lab", which has started its project in Karlsruhe’s Oststadt in 2013 to test, investigate and develop a sustainable city life of the future with citizens and other local actors.

Scientific advice from Karlsruhe

The "District Future" team is the scientific partner of the City of Freiburg and supports the work of Freiburg’s Sustainability Management unit, which is responsible for the project. "District Future" contributes, among others, its theoretical and practical experience in the field of participation and sustainability research. ITAS scientists specifically support the "Future Labs" in conceptual design and realization, provide advice on dealing with conflicts of objectives and evaluate the Freiburg Sustainability Compass according to the ITAS "Integrative Concept of Sustainable Development".

The Freiburg Sustainability Compass – providing the conceptual basis and regulatory measures for the Freiburg District of the Future – is based on Freiburg’s 60 sustainability targets which were agreed by the municipal council in 2009 as binding basis for a sustainable urban development policy. (14.01.2015)

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