Socio-ecological transformation

The RCE Graz-Styria initiates, accompanies and researches socio-ecological transformation processes. In this way, we work for a long-term development path that is compatible with nature and people. Concrete social challenges are our starting point. Through close cooperation between civil society, practice and science we generate transformative knowledge for the socio-ecological transformation of society.
We support the participatory implementation of intervention and transformation strategies. In addition, we promote their further development through evaluation and adaptation. We analyse concrete sustainability initiatives. In this way, we make it possible to transfer solution approaches to other fields of application. In doing so, we take into account complex systems with their manifold feedback effects. On this basis, we identify the prerequisites for a sustainable design of social conditions.

Contact person:
Mag. Dr. Thomas Höflehner (coordination)

Relevant publications:

• Exner, Andreas; Kumnig, Sarah; Hochleithner, Stephan: Capitalism and the Commons. Just Commons in the Era of Multiple Crises. Routledge. 2021.
• Exner, Andreas; Strüver, Anke (2020): Addressing the Sustainability Paradox: The Analysis of "Good Food" in Everyday Life. In: Sustainability 12(19):8196. Doi 10.3390/su12198196.
• Dzudzek; Iris; Strüver, Anke: Urbane Gesundheitsgerechtigkeit: Öko-sozialepidemiologische Forschungsperspektiven für eine kritische Stadtgeographie verkörperter Ungleichheiten. In: Geographische Zeitschrift (online first: doi:10.25162/gz-2020-0005)
• Strüver, Anke (2020): Urbane Metabolismen Verkörperte Politische Ökologien des e/Essens. In: sub\urban 8 (1-2), 99-116. doi:10.36900/suburban.v8i1/2.497.
• Ermann, Ulrich; Strüver, Anke (2020). How to do good food. Nachhaltige Ernährung zwischen Kommunikation und Konsum aus Perspektive der geographischen Ernährungsforschung In: Godemann, Jasmin; Bartelmeß, Tina (Hrsg.): Ernährungskommunikation:  Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven – Theorien – Methoden. Wiesbaden: Springer Nature (online first: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-27315-6_29-1)
• Strüver, Anke (2019): Von der Inkorporierung und Verkörperung des Sozialen zur Somatisierung der Umwelt: Posthumanistische Überlegungen zum biosozialen Subjekt. In: Geographica Helvetica 74, (2), 223–233. doi.org/10.5194/gh-74-223-2019. 
• Höflehner, Thomas & Friedrich M. Zimmermann: URB@Exp: Urban Labs as a New Form of Participation and Governance. In: Clark, Julie & Wise, Nicholas (Hg.): Urban Renewal, Community and Participation - Theory, Policy and Practice. Basel, Switzerland. Springer International Publishing. 2018. 219-239. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-72311-2
• Francesca Cellina, Roberta Castri, Mario Diethart, Thomas Höflehner, Nicola Da Schio, Marc Dijk: Constraints on upscaling and social inclusion in smart city living lab experiments and ways to anticipate them: lessons from four “smarter” labs. In: ENoLL - European Network of Living Labs (Hg.): Research and Innovation Conference Proceedings. Brüssel, Belgien. ENoLL - European Network of Living Labs. 2018. 11-25.
• Christian Scholl; Joop de Kraker; Thomas Höflehner; Petra Wlasak; Thomas Drage; Mette Agger Eriksen: Transitioning Urban Experiments: Reflections on Doing Action Research with Urban Labs. In: Gaia: ökologische Perspektiven in Natur-, Geistes- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften. Volume 27, Issue S1. 2018. 78-84. doi:10.14512/gaia.27.S1.15
• Rosol, Marit; Strüver, Anke (ed.) (2018): Themenheft „(Wirtschafts-)Geographien des Essens: transformatives Wirtschaften und alternative Ernährungspraktiken“. Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie 62, 3-4.
• Exner, Andreas; Held, Martin; Kümmerer, Klaus (Hg.): Kritische Metalle in der Großen Transformation. Heidelberg. Springer. 2016.
• Exner, Andreas; Politti, Emilio; Schriefl, Ernst; Erker, Susanna; Stangl, Rosemarie; Baud, Sacha; Warmuth, Hannes; Matzenberger, Julian; Kranzl, Lukas; Paulesich, Reinhard; Windhaber, Markus; Supper, Susanne; Stoeglehner, Gernot: Measuring regional resilience towards fossil fuel supply constraints. Adaptability and vulnerability in socio-ecological Transformations - the case of Austria. In: Energy Policy. 91. 2016. 128-137. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2015.12.031

• Exner, Andreas; Lauk, Christian; Zittel, Werner: Sold Futures? The Global Availability of Metals and Economic Growth at the Peripheries: Distribution and Regulation in a Degrowth Perspective. In: Antipode: a radical journal of geography. 47,2. 2015. 342-359. doi:10.1111/anti.12107