The IZS introduces itself
The IZS pursues a transdisciplinary approach in which the identification of research needs, the production of knowledge and the application of new solutions, for example for the revitalization of small and medium-sized cities, take place together with actors from urban and regional development. For this purpose, permanent cooperation agreements have been concluded with the city of Görlitz as well as with the municipal housing association. Other local partners from civil society and business are regularly involved in the work of the IZS on a project basis.
Like many other university and research locations in medium-sized cities, Görlitz and Zittau have developed dynamically over the past decades. In 1992, the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz was founded, at that time as the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz (FH). In the vicinity of the university, partly in cooperation with regional companies, a diverse research landscape has developed since the 1990s. Today, both locations are home to institutions of the Leibniz, Helmholtz and Fraunhofer societies, among others.
The following five theses for successful urban development based on cooperation between municipal practice and science are based on experience gained at the IZS in Görlitz in recent years.
Thesis 1: Educational and research institutions play an important role in the development of peripheral and structurally weak cities because they create prospects for residence and immigration.
Balanced spatial development and equal living conditions are important paradigms of spatial planning in Germany (§1 para. 2 ROG). For their implementation, various decentralization strategies have been pursued in the federal states, including the localization of federal and state institutions as well as universities and research institutions in the cities of the peripheral area. Based on the assumption that population losses in peripheral or peripheralized cities and regions are due, among other things, to a lack of attractive training and employment opportunities, such a decentralization strategy can have a stabilizing effect.
Thesis 2: In order to be effective locally, it is crucial that research institutions be embedded in the regional context and that specific advantages of their location be exploited.
A prerequisite for positive local effects seems to be embedding the research institutions in the regional context. This includes networking and clustering with existing, complementary institutions from research, business, politics, administration and civil society, but also an awareness of the regional labor market. Transparent, high-profile communication of one's own work, in the local media or at events, can also increase acceptance among the population and open up further potential for cooperation. Finally, it is important to highlight and exploit the specific advantages of living away from the metropolises in order to attract qualified employees - such as a high quality of life due to short distances and proximity to nature or the availability of attractive and affordable housing. If these conditions are not met, commuting to nearby major cities threatens the desired revitalization effects locally - with negative consequences for the acceptance of research institutions, social cohesion and the reputation of the locations as a whole. Against this background, the currently planned large research facilities in Görlitz and the surrounding area, which are to be established as a result of the coal phase-out in Lusatia, are to be viewed ambivalently. Here, too, IZS is conducting research as part of a BMBF-funded project, in close cooperation with the state governments of Saxony and Brandenburg, with Lusatian municipalities, and with civil society (https://transformation-lausitz.ioer.eu/).
Thesis 3: Local research institutions can make a contribution to increasing capacities for future-oriented municipal development.
As a result of the shrinking processes, capacities have been reduced to a considerable extent in public administrations, among others. At the same time, local authorities are facing complex and overlapping challenges: Demographic change, climate protection and climate adaptation, changes in the world of work and digitization, the energy transition and structural change, as well as societal changes are core concerns of a future-oriented urban development policy. What is needed to master these challenges is networked thinking and action, intermunicipal exchange of experience, intersectoral coordination and participation of different social actors, and a willingness to break new ground and allow experimental approaches. In all these challenges, research institutions with a transdisciplinary and transformative approach can make important local contributions. In smaller cities, shorter (administrative) distances and a manageable landscape of actors, who are generally familiar with each other, are a favorable prerequisite for this.
Thesis 4: Continuous, institutionalized and trusting cooperation is the prerequisite for a fruitful partnership between research and local government.
Collaborations between research institutions and non-scientific institutions are often project-bound and thus not continuous. However, trusting and continuous cooperation is a prerequisite for long-term and mutual added value of such collaborations. This is because the logics and goals of public administration and science are quite different. On the one hand, they are concerned with compulsory tasks and the implementation of political guidelines; on the other hand, they are interested in knowledge and strive for a scientific reputation through publications - preferably in English - and international conference contributions. Mutual understanding and recognition of these logics are therefore important. This requires an open and regular exchange as well as the formulation of common interests and goals within the framework of institutionalized cooperation. On such a cooperative basis, topics can be identified which are of practical and scientific relevance at the same time, and which can thus be made fruitful for both sides. Building on this, activities can be planned and implemented in which knowledge is generated co-productively and new solutions are brought to bear.
Thesis 5: Joint experiments between science and practice can help to address complex municipal challenges.
Experiments are, by definition, associated with the risk of failure and thus initially contradict administrative action geared to legal certainty and efficiency. At the same time, the complex challenges mentioned above require unconventional approaches. The lack of success in municipal climate protection, for example, shows that the instruments available to date are not sufficient to initiate the far-reaching change that is urgently needed. Through cooperation between municipal practice and science, experiments can be better legitimized, specifically adapted to the local context and critically monitored during implementation. The lessons learned and improvements achieved should be shared with other municipalities and with an expert scientific audience.
Three project examples of experimental, collaborative approaches in the field of urban development between the IZS and the cities of Görlitz and Zittau are briefly presented below. In addition, the close integration of research and teaching at the IZS will be discussed.