News

DE-US.net Webinar “Community Engagement"

With this webinar, DE-US.net again brought stakeholders from across the pond together to discuss approaches to public participation. The session was started with the showcasing of the over-arching strategic approach to integrated urban development being pursued in the City of Leipzig. Co-production by the citizens was exemplified by two projects of "Bürgerbahnhof Leipzig" (Eng: "Citizen Station Leipzig") as well as the "WiQ - Wir im Quartier" (Eng: "We in the District"). The presenters from Fresno, CA then talked about the effectiveness of the ABCD approach - Asset Based Community Development - to focus on existing community strengths as a starting point for community engagement. Practical examples from the Elm Avenue Cooridor in Fresno as well as the needs for the southwest portion of Fresno were elaborated upon. 
 
The webinar was moderated by Aimee Storm (USEPA) and Karl Eckert (German Environmental Agency). The full recording can be found under "Webinar".

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DE-US.net Webinar “GIS and Tools"

With this webinar, DE-US.net brought together stakeholders from Germany and the US to discuss the different approaches to brownfield and vacant land development with the use of tools. The German presentations focused on innovative and scientific approaches to create valuable data related to brownfields for the entire nation. Methods such as cadastral evaluations as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning play a critical role in this. The US approach highlighted here looked into the development of a community engagement and a community perspective with tools. This was seen as an essential part to successful projects in the Lousiville region.
 
The webinar was moderated by Ann Caroll (USEPA) and Karl Eckert (German Environmental Agency). The full recording can be found under "Webinar".

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DE-US.net Webinar “Tradable Development Rights"

Both Germany and the US pursue goals which aim at reducing urban sprawl. The benefits are manifold: reduction of land and soil sealing, less traffic, lower costs for infrastructure, protection of biodiversity, among. On the one hand, the Federal Government of Germany has approached the topic by setting the political target to reduce land consumption to less than 30 hectares per day (roughly 75 acres per day) by the year 2030. Not having a comparable goal in the US, there are still parts of the country where an increasing sensitivity concerning the conversion of agricultural or forest land into settlement structures can be observed.
 
The webinar allowed for the explanation of the German political goals related to reducing land consumption as well as practical testing of this regulation on the state and municipal level were discussed. Public and private entities in the US presented their approach to the topic as well and the working scheme for tradable land rights. In conclusion, participants were able to learn about both approaches and the intersections to each other.  The webinar was moderated by Sarah Sieloff (Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc.). The full recording can be found under "Webinar".

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DE-US.net Webinar “Integrated land management should help transition towards sustainable reuse”

Land use, especially in urban-rural regions, is dynamic; municipalities need to adapt to changing societal needs and opportunities (for jobs, health, living standards, logistics, etc.). Further, municipalities are challenged to provide resiliency against environmental stresses caused by climate change. For this, both private and public perspectives are important to consider.
 
During the webinar, speakers such as Kersten Roselt (Jena GEOS) & Ingo Quaas (quaas stadtplaner) from the German side presented on successful industrial site reuse in Germany with a particular focus on the Zeiss industrial site in Jena. Jon Grosshans (USEPA) from the United States presented best practice examples from the Appalachia Just Transition program in the eastern US and also highlighted the role of "playbooks" for discussing the topics with community members.
 
The discussion with participates was moderated by Doug MacCourt and Uwe Ferber (StadtLand GmbH). The full recording can be found under "Webinar".

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INSPIRATION follow-up: Workshop Partnering for Sustainable Land Recycling

New impulses for German-American cooperation will be gathered from the upcoming INSPIRATION / DE-US.net Event “Partnering for Sustainable Land Management”. The event will be held in the City of Erfurt on the 18th of December, 2019.

The INSPIRATION coordination and support action has recently released a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) for Europe (www.inspiration-agenda.eu). The SRA is based on research and innovation needs for land and soil management identified by over 500 stakeholders from across Europe. It looks to meet the challenges of climate change mitigation and adaptation, increasing demands on non-renewable natural resources as well as environmental justice, meanwhile also providing for societal demands for food, drinking water, energy production, shelter and infrastructure. The workshop will explore the outreach of SRA research items across the pond and identify future perspectives for cooperation under the umbrella of DE-US.net (www.de-us.net).

DE-US.net is a platform for professionals from the US and Germany that facilitates networking and developing ideas about the “Zukunftsstadt – Future City”. The network enables the exchange of thoughts as well as the access to expert knowledge and markets in Germany and the USA. Members will be motivated to provide solutions for sustainable land management and better living in the city of tomorrow.
 For more information, please see the attached agenda for the planned event.

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DE-US.net Webinar July 1st 2019: Smart Cities - Beyond Technology

Safe the Date for our next webinar which seeks to expand the Smart Cities conversation from its current focus on smart technologies and IoT to cities as Smart socio-ecological systems that continuously increase their performance, interconnected behaviors, biocapacity, resilience, regeneration and ability to thrive. Our speakers are Professors John Motloch and Scott Truex.

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DE-US.net Webinar 6/6/2019: Redevelopment Assistance to Brownfields Communities in the US and Germany

Brownfields are an issue both in the US and in Germany. During this webinar, speakers provide an overview of available and free redevelopment assistance to communities dealing with brownfield issues in both countries.
Particularly for the U.S., Dr. Sabine Martin, president of CTOR Solutions, and Johanna Roth, Center for Creative Land Recycling - CCLR, introduce the national Technical Assistance to Brownfield Communities (TAB) program assistance to support brownfield redevelopment. For Germany, Dr. Roland Arnz, AAV Association for Land Recycling and Remediation, introduces how AAV supports brownfield recycling in the State of North-Rhine-Westphalia.
 

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