City of the Future Dresden: Accompanying research on sub-project "New Economy - Sustainability"
As part of the project “Zukunftsstadt Dresden” eight citizens' projects are to be carried out to investigate how citizens, administration, industry and academia should work together so that cities can develop sustainably. As part of the subproject "Neue Ökonomie – Nachhaltigkeit unternehmen", which is scientifically supervised and supported by the Chair of Sustainability Management and Environmental Accounting, three pioneering companies (tjg: theater junge generation, Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH, FIRA group) are supposed to operate one day in a year as if they were already part of the sustainable city of the future with the aim to develop a playful and creative process for the transformation into a sustainable organization.
The research accompanying the transformation experiment aims to answer the following research questions: How can sustainability be integrated into the current business model of the companies? What are drivers and barriers for the transformation of the companies towards more sustainability? What effect do experiments have on learning and change processes at different levels in the company?
Based on these research questions, the accompanying research of the transformation experiment pursues two goals:
1. Analysis of the implementation potential of sustainability transformations in companies
By combining qualitative (interviews, focus groups) and quantitative research methods (such as assessing environmental figures based on corporate documents and data) prior to the experiment, the compatibility the existing business model with an ideal sustainable business will be demonstrated. The data obtained will also help to highlight drivers and barriers to learning and change processes both at the meso level (entire company) and at the micro level (managers, employees).
2. Evaluation of the effectiveness of transformation experiments in companies
Through the repeated implementation of qualitative and quantitative research methods, the effects of the transformation experiment on the meso and micro level will be systematically recorded. The aim is to evaluate to what extent transformation experiments can be drivers for learning and change processes in companies or help to overcome existing barriers.
Leadership
- Prof. Dr. Edeltraud Günther
deputy leadership
- Dr. Anne-Karen Hüske
Cooperation
- Sukuma arts e.V.
- plant values GbR
- Theater Junge Generation
- Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH
- FIRA
- Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IÖR)
- City of Dresden
Term
- 06/2019 to 12/2021
Financing
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Presentations
Hueske, A.-K. 2020. Participation of organizational members as driver for sustainable business model transformation. Dresden Nexus Conference 2020, June 2020, Dresden (Germany), virtuell.
Hueske, A.-K. 2019. How to measure the sustainability impact of living labs on integrating sustainability in business? Academy of Management Specialized Conference Responsible Leadership in Rising Economies, Oktober 2019, Bled (Slowenien).