Sustainable & Resilient Urban-Rural Partnerships – URP2020: Session 16

A session organised by Habitat Unit, TU Berlin in collaboration with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig.

S16: Urban-rural (dis-)continuities: Better understanding the urban-rural interactions to ensure equitable, green and healthy urban transitions in Europe and China through nature-based solutions

Ellen Banzhaf, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ)
Philipp Misselwitz, TU Berlin, Department of International Urbanism and Design (Habitat Unit)

Topic
This conference answers the call for new integrated territorial planning approaches and people and place-based development at the urban-rural interface that aligns with the localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA). The session assesses recent attempts to develop new approaches that account for manifold interrelations and linkages between urban and rural spaces. During rapid urbanisation processes, intricate urban-rural metabolisms can exacerbate environmental, social and economic sustainability problems. In this context, Nature-based Solutions (NBS) offer a useful conceptual framework to readdress multidimensional and multi-scalar contemporary challenges facing urban and rural areas, such as how to build climate resilience, address biodiversity loss, and promote better social equity.

The session invites an assessment of innovative sociotechnical and nature-based solutions facing socio-economic and environmental challenges by building on approaches including air pollution, noise, water risk and water quality management, waste management, resource efficiency, ecological food production, eco-tourism and the revitalisation of cultural and built heritage at the urban-rural interface. What are specific conceptual and/or practically-tested solutions? How do they impact the sustainable transformation of urban and rural spaces? Exemplifications may relate to the EC-funded REGREEN project for Europe and China (https://www.regreen-project.eu/) and the BMBF-funded Sino-German research project “Urban-Rural Assembly (URA)” (https://urbanruralassembly.com).

Session Format and Call for Contributions
We will identify speakers for our session and invite contributions that adequately fit the topics, resulting in a URP2020 call for abstracts and contributions. This format will consist of one introductory talk (max. 10 min) followed by short presentations and critical questions (5–7 minutes presentation – can be linked with a poster). The presentations concentrate on exploratory and ongoing research through short or experimental case studies in China and Europe. The format aims at close interaction with the audience and actively encourages critical discussion.

Deadline for Abstract Submission
May 31, 2020 (closed)

For more information about the conference please visit the URP-2020 website.