Program summer term 2026: Local sustainability policy
Local politics forms the foundation for shaping the immediate living environment of the population. Protected under constitutional law by the right to local self-government (Art. 28 II GG), it is the central arena where (global) challenges intersect with specific policy areas such as social, cultural, health and economic issues.
In light of advancing urbanization – more than half of the world’s population already lives in cities (Statista 2024) – pressure is mounting on infrastructure, housing and climate adaptation, among other areas. The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda provides the normative framework for this: In particular, SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) offer key points of reference for sustainable energy strategies and local climate protection measures.
Cities and municipalities are not only places where sustainability is practically negotiated and implemented, through horizontal and vertical upscaling, they can also provide crucial impetus for national and global policies (Kern, 2019). In this way, they play a key role in implementing the 2030 Agenda by developing local solutions while simultaneously driving structural changes at higher political levels. Through their own sustainability strategies, cities and municipalities systematically link different areas of action, such as sustainable administration, participatory urban planning, and resource conversation. In this way, global goals are translated into everyday policy processes and anchored for the long term.
Through dialogue between guest speakers, researchers and students, sustainability is to be made tangible as a local task of shaping the future. With the series of events offered for the summer term of 2026, we address current dynamics and examine “local sustainability policy” at the context of normativity and normality.
Events in the summer term 2026
The following events are planned for the summer term of 2026:
Local Environmental and Spatial Planning
Keynote presentations followed by a discussion
Prof. Dr. Andreas Klee and Natalie Nikolaus (JMU)
Wednesday · 10.06.2026 · 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Room 00.107 · Wittelsbacherplatz 1
Book Discussion: "Natural resources: On Exploitation and Socialization"
Book Discussion
PD Dr. Anna Meine (University Münster), Dr. Philipp Gieg, PD Dr. Verena Frick and Prof. Dr. Isabel Feichtner (JMU)
Wednesday · 17.06.2026 · 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Room 02.102 · Wittelsbacherplatz 1
Book Discussion: "The Climate Warriors: Ideas for Saving the Global Climate"
Book Discussion
Dr. Christoph Mohamad-Klotzbach (JMU)
Wednesday · 01.07.2026 · 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
online via Zoom
From Legislation to Practice: The Reform of Philantropic Incentives across Two Studies of the Spanish Non-Profit Sector
Guest lecture (in English)
Ana Colomer Segura (University of Valencia)
Thursday · 09.07.2026 · 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Room 00.107 · Wittelsbacherplatz 1
The events will be organized in interdisciplinary cooperation with the Chair of Social Science Sustainability Research, the Department of Political Theory, the Chair of International Relations and European Studies, the Chair of Public Law and International Economic Law, Chair of Human Geography and the WueLAB. In terms of content, the events follow on from the debates from the winter term 2023/24 on „Sustainability as a challenge for deliberative democracy”, the summer term 2025 on „Negotiation, mediation, and legalization of global sustainability goals“ and the winter term 2025/26 „Sustainability policy on the defensive?!".
