Category: Lan Use / Rural and Urban Development

26 & 27 Nov + 3 & 4 Dec 2020 Online event

Well-being & the Good Life – The Human Being in Sustainability Transformations

This event is the 4th iteration of the Indo-German Dialogue on Green Urban Practices series (IGD). It is conceived as a continuous series of an annual interaction of academics, civil society activists, government officials, policy makers, and the corporate sector where appropriate. Its key objective is to provide a platform of sharing and exchange of experiences of social urban innovative change in Germany/Europe and India in order to leverage action towards new transdisciplinary research and practice projects.

Some key questions that will be addressed:

1. What are our underpinning principles, values, worldviews, beliefs, ethical-moral guidelines that inform the work we do?
2. What are our personal and collective inner resources, capacities and skills that we apply or intend to utilise in our activities?
3. What kind of methodical techniques and practices can be used to support personal and collective inner transformation?
4. How can these inner resources, etc. be honed, grow and developed further to leverage sustainable urban futures?
5. How can we perform awareness based social action research?

Approach and Methods of Interaction:

In the past, the format of the IGDs has been participatory and interactive, with the programme being co-designed and conducted by the delegates. We will retain this approach for the digital event as well as far as possible by deploying an array of tested methods in online interaction. For example:

• Expert talks
• Digital field visits
• Group work
• Sharing and discussions
• Exchange and practice of methods of inner work

Contact:

Dr. Christoph Woiwode christoph.woiwode@geo.rwth-aachen.de

Prof. Dr. Petra Schweizer-Ries Petra.Schweizer-Ries@hs-bochum.de

Tanja Cimador Tanja.Cimador@hs-bochum.de

Fireflies Intercultural Centre
January 9 – 12, 2020 in Bangalore

Organised annually by Pipal Tree of Fireflies Intercultural Centre near Bangalore, more than 60 participants from India and abroad met to discuss and share their views on climate change and environment along the key questions of the title “What Hope? What Action?…in the Anthropocene”.

These dialogues are part of a global initiative Dialogues in Humanity to bring to the fore the human dimensions which are often neglected and marginal in sustainability and climate change response such as fear, grieving, and the multiple religious, spiritual and ethical aspects.

IGCS-Postdoc Dr. Woiwode was invited to give a talk on “Exploring Levers of Inner Transformations towards Sustainability Transitions” in the session Processes that lead to Inner Transformation . The format of the event facilitated guided morning meditations and reflective one-to-one, small group and large group interactions along the overall theme “Inner processes from spirituality, religion and secular humanism to re-imagine, re-enchant, strengthen resolve and commitment to alternatives”. The venue was ideally located on a large, beautifully designed, forested retreat campus on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Urban Resilience 2: Coastal and River Management, Vulnerability and Sustainability
October 20-23, 2019 at IIT Madras in Chennai

Continuing discussions from 2017 on the influence of climate change on flooding at rivers and coastal areas Indian and German researchers met for the round table Urban Resilience 2. 15 German scientists from Geoverbund ABC/J, under lead of RWTH Aachen University, met a again delegation of Indian researchers at IIT Madras to continue discussions on the influence of climate change on flooding at rivers and coastal areas. Many Indian scientists from different parts of the country were invited, e.g. from IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur in Golgata; Anna University in Chennai, NIOT & NCCR in Chennai, and Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu.

The presentations covered many highly relevant topics, such as the establishment of the coastal flood forecasting system for Chennai ‘CFLOWS’ after the devastating floods of 2015 and coastal vulnerability and socio-economic effects in large cities after extreme events. This was also discussed in light of distribution patterns and toxicity of various pollutants, e.g. pesticides from agricultural areas in river catchments and coastal areas after flooding events. Other presentations covered the following topics

• Urban and Coastal Resilience
• Climate Change and Coastal/Riverine Flood Hazards
• Bio- and Ecohazards
• Social and Environmental Impacts, Adaption and Governance and its Dynamics

In October 2017, IGCS started a discussion on Urban Resilience on coastal and river floods or extreme events affecting megacities and settlements in coastal low lands. More than 1.5 billion people are currently living within 100 km of the coastal zones of the Earth, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. And the number is still growing, due to economic and social attractiveness as large-scale urbanization and mega-city development within the coastal zone is expected to be more rapid than in other areas in the near future.

Almost all future scenarios of climate change and sea level rise point to a higher frequency of extreme weather and climate events in near future, and that this will reveal significant vulnerability and exposure of coastal cities to the current climate variability. Climate change also affects monsoonal patterns, which seem to cause an intensification of the seasonal rainfall that fortifies inundation/floodings/droughts in India regularly during the last years (e.g. 2015 Chennai, 2018 Kochi).

Besides the Indian coast is prone to tsunamis, as the Makran subduction zone may cause earthquakes and tsunamis affecting the Indian west coast, as e.g. in 1945. In 2004, the east coast has been affected by the Sumatra tsunami inducing landfall in the Tamil Nadu coast. Besides the primary destructive effects, the widespread contamination of coastal areas due to the pulsed transport of immense pollutant loads during the floodings may seriously affect the coastal ecosystems. This clearly affects increasing population and urbanization in particular along coastlines and urban or even critical infrastructure, as a consequence adaptation, decision analysis and governance of manifold administrational levels.

At the roundtable, many new collaborations for prospective research projects between Indian and German researchers evolved.

Venue

IIT Madras, Chennai, India

Date

October 20 – 22 2019 (until October 25 incl. excursion to Pichavaran )