Lecture Series: Understanding Transformation. Challenges in North Hesse

The lecture series "Transformations and the Urban-Rural Relationship (in Northern Hesse)" focuses on different facets of the socio-ecological turnaround, including the region of Northern Hesse. Every week, two speakers from science and practice will give lectures and discuss with each other. One of the lectures will be devoted to a review of the general state of knowledge on individual aspects of the transformation. The second lecture will focus on North Hesse and discuss the challenges arising from the socio-ecological transformation for the region. The new urban-rural conflicts associated with the expansion of renewable energies, the challenges facing the North Hessian economy and the fact that the transformation processes not only have an economic side, but also change the North Hessian party and media landscape will be elaborated.

Organization: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schroeder, Head of the Department Political System of the FRG - Statehood in Transition

Topic on 25.10.2022: Understanding Transformation. Challenges in Northern Hesse
First of all, it is about an adequate understanding of what is meant by transformation and how it can be conceptually and substantively distinguished from the dimensions of development, change and processes of change. What are the historical reference points, current challenges, and current megatrends facing both urban centers and peripheral regions in Germany? To what extent do social, ecological and economic transformation processes shape and change the relationship between urban and rural areas? In order to approach these questions, the major transformation processes of our time will first be brought into analytical focus, in order to then reflect on the nature of the North Hessian region with its particular strengths and weaknesses in the context of the socio-ecological transformation.
Speakers: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schroeder (University of Kassel & WZB), Kai Georg Bachmann (Regionalmanagement NordHessen)