KoMet Conference (KoMet-Tag)

 ^{_{Photos: Thorsten Wiechmann}}

The Ruhr Area - a model for metropolitan transformation?

The 6th KoMet Tag took place on December 6, 2024 at the BAUKUNSTARCHIV NRW (Ostwall 7, 44135 Dortmund). Almost 45 participants exchanged views on the various contributions that are to be published in the planned Ruhrband at the end of 2025.

The experts from the metropolitan research competence field of the University Alliance Ruhr shed light on the dynamic transformation processes and changing spatial structures in the Ruhr Region from different perspectives. The topics were presented as 6-minute elevator pitches and then togteher discussed.

The planned English-language RuhrBand will include the following topics:

_The industrial cultural landscape of the Ruhr: its zones, structures and functions
_What should we know about structural change?
_The Ruhr literary region: communication, institutionalization, transformation
_A region is written: Strategic narratives and narrative strategies in image films to promote the Ruhr region
_Spatial-functional division of labor in the Ruhr region
_Structural change in the Ruhr area: On the way to a knowledge-based economy?
_City, country or city-country? Architecture and urban development in the Ruhr region
_Social inequality and the “shame of privilege” in Dortmund-Hörde
_Soccer in the Ruhr area. A history of men's and women's sport
_Mobility and traffic in the Ruhr area - past, present, future
_Local measures for sustainability transformation in a disadvantaged, super-diverse arrival district: insights into transformative governance in Duisburg-Hochfeld
_Strategies of the Emscher conversion
_Environmental justice: An approach to urban health justice in the Ruhr area
_Hydrogen instead of coal: hopes and doubts
_The Ruhr region - a model for the transformation of metropolitan areas?

The overall aim of the book is to answer the question of the extent to which the Ruhr region can or wants to be a model for the transformation of metropolitan areas. Last but not least, the Ruhr region is regarded by experts as a prime example of innovative transformation. The International Building Exhibition Emscher Park, the redesign of the Emscher river system and the conversion of the industrial heritage are internationally recognized showcase projects.

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This event was again supported by the Emschergenossenschaft and NRW.BANK. Thank you very much!                                                                                             

On December 7, 2023, the 5th KoMet-Tag took place on the topic Transformative Science - What Role for Real-World Laboratories? This year's event was jointly organized by the two KoMet academics Prof. Dr. Petra Schweizer-Ries (Bochum University of Applied Sciences) and Prof. Dr. Renée Tribble (TU Dortmund University).

At KoMet Tag 2023, the concept of the "real-world laboratory" was to be sharpened, but also questioned and specified from different perspectives. KoMet-Tag 2023 focused on the following questions: Who are researchers, who are co-researchers? In terms of a collaborative research approach - such as that of participatory action research - can all steps from formulating the question to evaluation actually be developed and carried out in co-formats? At the same time, real-world laboratories in the city are not laboratories in the scientific sense, but are unique in terms of location, time, knowledge and individual participants. In contrast to experiments in laboratories, it is not possible to return to the initial state, as changes in experiential knowledge are always generated, which trigger an inner transition. In view of this, should we speak of "laboratories" at all? What understanding is needed for real-world laboratories as transformative science? 

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This event was again supported by the Emschergenossenschaft and NRW.BANK. Thank you very much!                                                                                             

Cities are complex adaptive systems. The constitutive element are the manifold interactions between heterogeneous actors whose behaviours change throughout time, as they react and adapt to other actors actions and changed environmental conditions. Since the 1980s cities around the world have been studied in a complex manner.
In this context the 4th KoMet Conference was designated to the thematic framework of “Urban Complexity – Complexity and transformation science perspectives on sustainable urban development”, aiming to gain a better understanding of how cities emerge, develop, grow or shrink, what promotes or inhibits social as well as technological innovations in cities and which planning and managing instruments are necessary for their formation.

The summary of the Conference can be found HERE.

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This event was supported by the Emschergenossenschaft and NRW.BANK. Thank you very much!                                                                                             

"Smart Metropolitan Solutions – Pathways to Climate-Neutral and Resilient Cities" was the topic of the 3rd KoMet Conference. Against the backdrop of the EU Commission's European Green Deal, the discussion focused on the following central questions: How can smart city approaches be used to deal with current challenges of a climate neutral and resilient city development from a technological, economic, social and ecological perspective? Which (un)desired side effects are connected to the concept of the smart city? How can resilience and sustainability be brought together in an intelligent way?

The summary of the KoMet Conference can be found HERE.

The 2020 Conference of the Competence Field Metropolitan Research (KoMet) was dedicated to past as well as present images of metropolitan futures: What do desirable futures for metropolitan regions look like? What has become of earlier visions about the future? And what does the concept of "narrative" actually imply? During the conference entitled "Future Narratives for Metropolitan Regions" held on December 14, 2020, academics and practitioners discussed ideas for the future of metropolitan spaces both in the Ruhr Region and internationally. The event supported by the Emschergenossenschaft and Stiftung Mercator. Approximately 180 participants took part in the virtual event.

Reliable, environmentally friendly, efficient, healthy, smart - there are many expectations for the mobility of tomorrow. The measures and strategies required for the Ruhr region and how other metropolitan regions in Germany and abroad are dealing with similar challenges was the subject of discussion among experts from academia and practice at the first KoMet Conference in Essen at the Zollverein World Heritage Site on November 4, 2019. Visions, innovative approaches and feasible solutions to current challenges in the field of transport were presented by KoMet in cooperation with its partners Emschergenossenschaft, Stiftung Zollverein, Stiftung Mercator and Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr.