2023
TU Dortmund / Social Research Centre; TU Dortmund / Institute for Spatial Planning; German Institute of Urban Affairs; BEW - The German Education Centre for the Supply and Waste Management Industry gGmbH; ZDF Digital; University of Twente; the districts of Wesel, Steinfurt, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Soest, Minden-Lübbecke, Coesfeld, and Lippe; the municipalities of Kampen and Zwartewaterland (NL)
The ‘Evolving Regions’ research project focussed on the implementation of climate impact adaptation in local action. Prognos supported the project by monitoring the activities and developing concepts for a total of nine regions.
How can climate adaptation processes be implemented more effectively in local action? How can we raise awareness of the need to adapt to the consequences of climate change?
Prognos researched these questions from July 2019 to July 2023 together with six partner institutions in the EU-funded ‘Evolving Regions’ project. Seven districts in North Rhine-Westphalia and two regions in the Netherlands served as real-world laboratories for new concepts and methods.
‘Evolving Regions is the answer to the specific challenges of climate adaptation at the spatial level of the districts in North Rhine-Westphalia. The aim was to use regional roadmaps to develop and implement a target path for climate adaptation strategies and measures. The population was directly involved.
Prognos accompanied the project with an evaluation and monitoring of the implemented measures. The regions were also enabled to carry out further monitoring independently. In this way, adaptations to the consequences of climate change were anchored in the regional development strategy in the long term.
A central element of the monitoring was the creation of regional impact structures for climate adaptation. The measures adopted and implemented in the regional processes were clustered according to fields of action and categorised within these so that synergies and antagonisms between the measures could be mapped in terms of target achievement.
In addition, an indicator-based evaluation of the measures was carried out on the four levels of inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts. This made it possible to analyse the efficiency and effectiveness of the measures implemented in achieving the climate adaptation goals set by the regions themselves.
The project was managed and coordinated by the Social Research Centre at TU Dortmund University. In addition to the districts of Steinfurt, Wesel, Coesfeld, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Lippe, Soest, Minden-Lübbecke and the Kampen and Zwartewaaterland regions, other project partners included the Institute for Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund University, the German Institute of Urban Affairs, the BEW training centre for the utilities and waste disposal industry, the University of Twente and ZDF digital.
The project was funded by the EU environmental programme LIFE and co-financed by the NRW Ministry of the Environment.
To the project website (evolvingregions.com)To the project description on the website of TU Dortmund´s Social Research Center (in German)More information about the LIFE funding programme
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Partner, Head of Environmental, Circular Economy & Climate Change
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Prognos is one of the oldest economic research centres in Europe. Founded at the University of Basel, Prognos experts have been conducting research for a wide range of clients from the public and private sectors since 1959 – politically independent, scientifically sound.