School of sustainability

Project description

In spite and because of the technological and economic progress in the last decades, humanity is facing a major challenge: Social justice, economic development, and the conservation of natural cultural heritage are to be secured on a global level for future generations in spite of increasing raw material shortages, environmental crises, and diverse positive and negative consequences of globalization.

It is becoming increasingly clear that technological progress and a related increasing economic performance alone will not suffice in order to establish a sustainable development. The recognized and recognizable consequences and impacts of our western civilization cast more and more doubt on them. A transformation of our unsustainable way of life into a culture of sustainability is crucial. This achievement will not be possible without reflections, enlightenment, education in sustainable development, and without having a focus on ourselves.

The school of sustainability undertaken by ITAS and the House of Competence (HoC) provides trans-disciplinary offers for deep study of sustainability directed to students, staff members, and external participants. Theoretical conceptual knowledge on sustainability, as well as rather application oriented knowledge, and competencies for a sustainable development, both of which will be imparted. Complementary, the attempt will be made to make (un)sustainable development knowable and experienceable as well as to nurture the subjective perception of oneself and of the environment.

This diversity is reflected in the diverse course offers of the school. Here are some examples:

  • Sustainability, portraits of people and personal skills (seminar 2011)
  • Mobility, infrastructure, urban development for a sustainable society (summer university 2011)
  • Green Campus – the Karlsruhe way to a sustainable university (seminar 2010)
  • Refreshingly sustainable – experiencing water (summer university 2010)
  • Sustainable enterprises need staff trained for personal sustainability (seminar 2009)
  • Sustainability at first hand (annual series of lectures)

At the school of sustainability, societal responsibility for the environment, for the social world, and for posterity, as well as for self-care, the very own lifestyle, is pursued. For a culture of sustainability can be established step by step only by interconnecting societal and individual spheres. Beside ethics of sustainability, aesthetics of sustainability constitute a second indispensable pillar of the school as the ability to perceive and beauty are important elements of a worthwhile future.

As a pioneer undertaking, the school of sustainability also requires research. To a limited extent, questions on interconnecting the individual to the collective sphere for the purpose of a sustainable development, on the image of man as "homo sustinens", on adequate ethics and aesthetics, and on the basic question "Is it feasible to be sustainable?" are pursued in a trans-disciplinary way.

Within her integral alignment, the school (from lat. schola = leisure, halt) devotes herself to sustainability likewise with head, heart, and hand and contributes in this way to a humane and livable future.

With the end of this project, the follow-up project "Karlsruhe School of Sustainability" has started, which continues and expands the educational activities for sustainable development.

Publications


2015
Book Chapters
Grunwald, A.
The imperative of sustainable development: elements of an ethics of using geo-resources responsibly
2015. Wyss, M. [Hrsg.] Geoethics : Ethical Challenges and Case Studies in Earth Sciences Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2015, 26–35 
2013
Presentations
Banse, G.
Neue Medien, kulturelle Praxen und Identitätsbildung
2013. CULTMEDIA-Jahrestagung, Potsdam, 22.-25. September 2013 
Parodi, O.
Nachhaltigkeit als Weisheitslehre? - Personale Nachhaltigkeit als Schnittstelle zum Yoga?
2013. Reihe “Yoga für den Westen? Wie kann eine alte indische Weisheitslehre in unserem modernen Leben wirken?” (2013), Karlsruhe, Germany, December 12, 2013 
Parodi, O.
Die anderen Seiten der Nachhaltigkeit - Eine Einführung
2013. Vortrag im Rahmen des Seminars ’Zu Tisch! Essen in Zeiten der Nachhaltigkeit’, Karlsruhe, 5. November 2013 
2012
Presentations
Kopfmüller, J.
Sustainable development: universal or contextual guiding principle?
2012. Strategies for Sustainability : Institutional and Organisational Changes ; 3rd Internat.Sustainability Conf., Basel, CH, August 29-31, 2012 
Kopfmüller, J.; Barton, J.
Strategic integrative planning for sustainable metropolitain development: the case of Santiago de Chile
2012. 32nd Internat.Geographical Congress, Köln, August 26-30, 2012, 32nd Internatational Geographical Congress (IGC 2012), Cologne, Germany, August 26–30, 2012 
2011
Book Chapters
Banse, G.; Nelson, G. L.; Parodi, O.
Preface
2011. Sustainable development - The cultural perspective: Concepts - aspects - examples. Hrsg.: G. Banse, 9–14, edition sigma 
Grunwald, A.
Sustainable Development. An issue of the office of technology assessment at the German Bundestag
2011. Sustainable development - The cultural perspective. Concepts - aspects - examples. Ed.: G. Banse, Banse, G. [Hrsg.] Sustainable Development - the Cultural Perspective : Concepts, Aspects, Examples Berlin : Edition Sigma, 2011 (Gesellschaft - Technik - Umwelt ; N.F.15), 279–289, edition sigma 
Hauser, R.; Banse, G.
Culture and culturality. Approaching a multi-faceted concept
2011. Sustainable Development - the Cultural Perspective : Concepts, Aspects, Examples, 31–50, edition sigma 
Hauser, R.; Banse, G.
Culture and Culturality. Approaching a Multi-faceted Concept
2011. Sustainable Development - Relationships to Culture, Knowledge and Ethics. Ed.: O. Parodi, 33–51, KIT Scientific Publishing 
Kopfmüller, J.
The integrative sustainability concept of the Helmholtz association. The ’risk habitat megacity’ project as a case of application
2011. Banse, G. [Hrsg.] Sustainable Development - the Cultural Perspective : Concepts, Aspects, Examples Berlin : Edition Sigma, 2011 (Gesellschaft - Technik - Umwelt ; N.F.15), 137–148 
Kopfmüller, J.
From the Cultural Dimension of Sustainable Development to the Culture of Sustainable Development
2011. Sustainable Development - Relationships to Culture, Knowledge and Ethics. Ed.: O. Parodi, 93–106, KIT Scientific Publishing 
Parodi, O.
Personal sustainability - including body and soul. The Karlsruhe school of sustainability
2011. Banse, G. [Hrsg.] Sustainable Development - the Cultural Perspective : Concepts, Aspects, Examples Berlin : Edition Sigma, 2011 (Gesellschaft - Technik - Umwelt ; N.F.15), 223–238 
Robertson-von Trotha, C. Y.; Parodi, O.; Hauser, R.
Perspectives of cultural interplays in sustainability research
2011. Banse, G. [Hrsg.] Sustainable Development - the Cultural Perspective : Concepts, Aspects, Examples Berlin : Edition Sigma, 2011 (Gesellschaft - Technik - Umwelt ; N.F.15), 377–381 
Presentations
Banse, G.
Nachhaltigkeit und Kultur - eine erweiterte Sicht
2011. Internat.Workshop ’Nachhaltige Entwicklung in Theorie, Praxis und Didaktik’, Poznan, PL, 28.März 2011 
Parodi, O.
Ansätze der Schule der Nachhaltigkeit
2011. Veranstaltung für Ideen e.V. im Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung und Systemanalyse (ITAS) des KIT (2011), Karlsruhe, Germany, August 5, 2011 
Parodi, O.
Vom mangelden Kulturbezug in Nachhaltigkeitskonzepten
2011. Theorie(n) der Nachhaltigkeit : Workshop des Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam, 4.-5.Mai 2011 
Parodi, O.; Beecroft, R.
The school of sustainability
2011. Higher Education for Sustainable Development : Moving the Agenda Forward ; Conf., Lüneburg, September 14-16, 2011 
Stelzer, V.
Schule der Nachhaltigkeit am KIT
2011. Eröffnungsveranstaltung des Kontaktstudiums zum Fächerverbund ’Naturwissenschaftliches Arbeiten’, Karlsruhe, 10.Oktober 2011 
2010
Book Chapters
Kopfmüller, J.
Von der kulturellen Dimension nachhaltiger Entwicklung zur Kultur nachhaltiger Entwicklung
2010. Parodi, O. [Hrsg.] Wechselspiele: Kultur und Nachhaltigkeit : Annäherungen an ein Spannungsfeld Berlin : edition sigma, 2010 (Global zukunftsfähige Entwicklung - Nachhaltigkeitsforschung in der Helmholtz- Gemeinschaft ; 15), 43–57 
Parodi, O.
Drei Schritte in Richtung einer Kultur der Nachhaltigkeit
2010. Parodi, O. [Hrsg.] Wechselspiele: Kultur und Nachhaltigkeit : Annäherungen an ein Spannungsfeld Berlin : edition sigma, 2010 (Global zukunftsfähige Entwicklung - Nachhaltigkeitsforschung in der Helmholtz- Gemeinschaft ; 15), 97–115 
Stelzer, V.
’Kultur’ in der systematischen Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung
2010. Parodi, O. [Hrsg.] Wechselspiele: Kultur und Nachhaltigkeit : Annäherungen an ein Spannungsfeld Berlin : edition sigma, 2010 (Global zukunftsfähige Entwicklung - Nachhaltigkeitsforschung in der Helmholtz- Gemeinschaft ; 15), 237–59 
Conference Proceedings
Parodi, O.
Towards resilient water landscapes - design research approaches from Europe and Australia
2010. Proc.of the Internat.Symp.on Water Landscapes at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, AUS, October 2009 Karlsruhe : KIT Scientific Publ., 2010 
Presentations
Parodi, O.
The Karlsruhe School of Sustainability ... in a Technological Surrounding
2010. International Greening Education Event (2010), Karlsruhe, Germany, October 27–29, 2010 
Parodi, O.
Personal sustainability - including body and soul: the Karlsruhe school of sustainability
2010. Sustainability 2010 : The Cultural Dimension ; 7th Workshop of the Forum on Sustainable Technological Development in a Globalizing World, Berlin, June 9-12, 2010 
Stelzer, V.
Schule der Nachhaltigkeit am KIT
2010. Campustour 2010, Karlsruhe, 8.Juni 2010 
2009
Book Chapters
Kopfmüller, J.
Von der kulturellen Dimension nachhaltiger Entwicklung zur Kultur nachhaltiger Entwicklung
2009. Wissenschaftliche Berichte, FZKA-7497 (September 2009), 25–37 
Parodi, O.
Drei Schritte in Richtung einer Kultur der Nachhaltigkeit
2009. 9.Weimarer Kolloquium ’Interdependenzen zwischen kulturellem Wandel und nachhaltiger Entwicklung’, Weimar, 30.-31.Oktober 2008 Wissenschaftliche Berichte, FZKA-7497 (September 2009), 55–69 
Journal Articles
Nierling, L.; Parodi, O.; Behrendt, M.; Biesecker, A.; Ergenzinger, A.; Friese, M.; Hofmeister, S.; Knothe, B.; Kruse, S.; Mölders, T.; Schön, S.; Scurrell, B.; Winterfeld, U. von
Behrendt, M.; Biesecker, A.; Ergenzinger, A.; Friese, M.; Hofmeister, S.; Knothe, B.; Kruse, S.; Mölders, T.; Schön, S.; Scurrell, B.; Winterfeld, U. von: Blockierter Wandel? Denk- und Handlungsräume f. eine nachh. Regionalentw. München, Oekom 2007
2009. Zeitschrift für angewandte Umweltforschung, 19 (1-2), 222–223 
Presentations
Parodi, O.
Drei Schritte in Richtung einer Kultur der Nachhaltigkeit
2009. 9.Weimarer Kolloquium ’Interdependenzen zwischen kulturellem Wandel und nachhaltiger Entwicklung’, Weimar, 30.-31.Oktober 2008 Wissenschaftliche Berichte, FZKA-7497 (September 2009) 
2008
Presentations

Contact

Dr. Oliver Parodi
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS)
P.O. Box 3640
76021 Karlsruhe
Germany

Tel.: +49 721 608-26816
E-mail