The challenges posed by climate change are particularly noticeable in the most densely populated areas of the world: cities. They are responsible for a large proportion of greenhouse gas emissions and are affected by increasing heat, heavy rainfall and drought. In Bavaria, too, this poses a major challenge for people and nature.
In order to effectively counteract changing environmental conditions, the causes of climate change must be reduced and preventive and intensive measures must be taken to respond to the emerging effects of climate change. Securing and promoting urban nature is a key task in this regard, as it forms the basis for biodiversity and natural processes that cool the air through shade and water evaporation, for example. Contact with diverse nature is a prerequisite for healthy living in the city.
The Centre for Urban Nature and Climate Adaptation (ZSK) conducts research into ways of using urban nature to achieve a high quality of life in sustainable and climate-resilient cities. To this end, the ZSK combines the fields of urban and landscape planning, architecture, engineering, sociology, biology, ecology, health care and water management in its research projects. It brings together the diverse expertise of natural, social and engineering sciences at the Technical University of Munich with other research institutions and local authorities in order to address the topic of ‘climate change in the city’ in an interdisciplinary, holistic and practical manner.
The ZSK was funded between 2013-2024 by the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection (StMUV) and coordinated at the Technical University of Munich. Currently, and until 2026, the funding is provided by the TU Munich.
The ZSK is coordinated by the coordination office (Mar Vergara Martín, M.Sc.) and a five-member committee from various universities:
- Prof. Dr. Stephan Pauleit (Chair for Strategic Landscape Planning and Management, TUM)
- Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig (Professorship for Green Technologies in Landscape Architecture, TUM)
- Prof. Dr. Johannes Kollmann (Chair of Restoration Ecology, TUM)
- Prof. Dr. Simone Linke (Urban planning and landscape, University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf)
- Prof. Dr. Heiko Paeth (Institute of Geography and Geology, Working group Climatology - Team Climate, University of Würzburg)
