Transformation and Sustainability

The research line on Sustainable Tourism and Destination Design aims to tackle the pressing challenges facing the tourism industry with forward-thinking solutions. Adopting a transformative research approach, it seeks to facilitate the active engagement of stakeholders across different levels of governance through co-creative and participatory methods. The overarching objective is to evaluate the multifaceted impacts of tourism on the environment, society, and economy, pinpoint key developmental trends, and foster the design and implementation of sustainable practices.

The research line on Social-Ecological Conflicts and Inequalities explores the dynamics of contemporary processes of social-ecological transformation, examining the societal conflicts and (new) social inequalities they give rise to, and the extent to which existing relations of power and domination are called into question and reshaped in the process. It is grounded in the understanding that societal transformations under the guiding principle of ecological sustainability are to be understood as inherently political rather than purely technical or managerial challenges and are therefore always also contested.

The research line Beyond Modernity: Critique and Alternatives focuses on the fabrication of nature in late modern societies. Technological domination of nature and economic logic of incessant escalation are thematized as essential features of contemporary societies. In the face of planetary boundaries and climatic changes, we investigate how nature is made available and controllable in sociotechnical dispositives. As an example, artificial snowmaking in ski resorts could be mentioned. With climate change impacts already irreversible, the focus is on how societies cope with experiences of ecological loss.