1. understanding history
1.1. 22. car culture and american cities
1.1.1. 22. How has car culture contributed to the development of American cities
1.2. 63. environmental justice- how come and to fix?
1.2.1. 63. Can you identify an example of a significant “environmental injustice” in your own city? What is the history of this problem, why did it emerge, and how might community and/or governmental action remedy the injustice?
1.3. 46. Wildlife in cities. how attitudes have changed and what that means
1.3.1. 46. What is the history of managing, conserving, and restoring wildlife in the urban environs of Tempe/Phoenix and Lüneburg/Hamburg? How does this history reflect changing societal attitudes and values toward certain species (e.g., predators, non-native species, etc.) as well as the evolution of conservation science and policies concerning wildlife/biodiversity?
1.4. 74. why'd the native americans die?
1.4.1. 74. Phoenix has a very interesting cultural and social history that starts with the native American settlements. What were the drivers for the collapse of their societies?
1.5. 75. what can history teach us?
1.5.1. 75. What we can learn from the history of our cities to understand their current urban and social structures?
1.6. 81. 'best practice' cases
1.6.1. 81. What are the implications of supposed 'best practice' cases where social sustainability is neglected?
1.7. 84. individualism creating cities
1.7.1. 84. How did individualism as a value contribute to shape American cities? How did American cities develop?
2. Policy
2.1. 3. policy options for climate adaptation
2.1.1. 3. How do policy options for urban climate adaptation/mitigation look like? In how far are they possible to generalize?
2.2. 13. top down or bottom up
2.2.1. 13. Which can we organize change in cities? What are top down changes and what are bottom up changes? What role do top-down processes (government) have in the implementation of strategies for change?
2.3. 16. urban governabce
2.3.1. 16. What is urban governance? What are the degrees of self-, co- and hierarchical governance?
2.4. 17. what are urban regimes?
2.4.1. 17. What are urban regimes? How can you interpret such regimes under unsustainability considerations?
2.5. 26. sustainability categories for cities
2.5.1. 26. What are sustainability categories for cities and how do urban sustainabiltiy assessments look like?
2.6. 31. Institution/sustainability
2.6.1. 31. What institutional structures promote sustainable urban planning and which ones are impede it?
2.7. 60. governance and sustainability
2.7.1. 60. How much are urban governance and urban regime theories detrimental or beneficial for enforcing urban sustainability issues?
2.8. 62. players in decision making process
2.8.1. 62. Who is involved in the decision making process (e.g., experts? communities?)? What roles do these decision-makers play? What are the levels of stakeholder involvement (e.g., transparency? active engagement?) in these cities? Are different arrangements of these elements of governance more effective in different cities or situations?
3. Technology
3.1. 18. tech to use UHI
3.1.1. 27. What are inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches to change the current metabolism of cities?
3.2. Research
3.2.1. 27. interdisciplinary approaches to research
3.2.1.1. 27. What are inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches to change the current metabolism of cities?
3.2.2. 72. influence of universities on sustainabilites
3.2.2.1. 72. What is the influence of universities on urban sustainability? What role do they play in transformation processes (e.g. using them as living laboratory)?
3.2.3. 77. Scientific theory of cities?
3.2.3.1. 77. Is a scientific theory of cities possible and if so what would be its elements?
3.3. 36. Innovation dillemma
3.3.1. 36. What is the innovation dilemma in (urban) sustainability?
3.4. 37. dynamics of innovations
3.4.1. 37, What are the dynamics of urban innovations today in the context of sustainability and in the past? What are the differences between the two?
3.5. 64. unintended consequences of innovation
3.5.1. 64. What are unintendend consequences of innovations? What are possible solutions to solve/foresee unintended effects of technological innovations?
3.6. 69. What is an innovation?
3.6.1. 69. What is an innovation more generally?
3.7. 70. Innovations and unintended consequences
3.7.1. 70. Do innovations always have unintended consequences and what does this mean for sustainability?
3.8. Adaptation
3.8.1. 12. vulnerability to climate change
3.8.1.1. 12.In what ways is Tempe/Lüneburg vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change? Are there populations within your city that are especially at risk due to projected or possible climate impacts? Why? To what degree is this differential vulnerability discussed/acknowledged by the media, government, social and environmental advocates, civic groups, etc.?
3.8.2. 40. resilience in cities
3.8.2.1. 40. What does resilience look like for cities? What would be a definition of resilience? What are the balancing factors in a city's development to enforce/strengthen the resilience?
4. society
4.1. Lifestyles
4.1.1. 20. rural or urban? global nomad or rooted?
4.1.1.1. 20. What is your vision of future life: rural or urban? global nomad or rooted?
4.1.2. 24. big city life and diversity
4.1.2.1. 24. What are the virtues connected to big city life and diversity within the city?
4.1.3. 39. consumer behaviour and urban metabolism
4.1.3.1. 39. What is the relationship between consumer behaviour and urban metabolism? How and how far can they reshape one another?
4.1.4. 58. a shared common sustainability understanding
4.1.4.1. 58. How dop we build a shared common sustainability understanding among actor groups? What effects does this understanding have on lifestyles and participatory development of solution options?
4.1.5. 65. how do personal values change
4.1.5.1. 65. What are personal values and how are they changing for future generations? What implications does this raise for developing solution options?
4.2. community
4.2.1. 52. communities in the city
4.2.1.1. 52. What is a community? How do communities shape cities? How do cities shape communities?
4.2.2. 59. facilitating communication
4.2.2.1. 59. What facilitates communication between people / different actor groups through different social spheres? How can we develop solution through participatory mechanisms?
4.2.3. 82. cohesiveness
4.2.3.1. 82. What are cohesive cities and are they necessarily sustainable? (Heterogeneous vs. Homogeneous cities, common goals...) What balance of community and diversity; of interaction, compromises and/or consensus may foster social sustainability?
4.3. 57 urban heat island and culture
4.3.1. 57. What effects do UHI mitigation techniques and changing aesthetics have on urban identidy, urban culture?
4.4. 65. changing personal values
4.4.1. 65. What are personal values and how are they changing for future generations? What implications does this raise for developing solution options?
4.5. 68. innovation hub
4.5.1. 68. Why are cities innovation hubs and how would you define an innovation hub?
4.6. 83. private, public, and open space and right to the city
4.6.1. 83. How do private spaces, public space, and common spaces relate to social classes/categories in the city and to contested rights to the city?
4.7. Social Change
4.7.1. 9. leaders, citizens, and other city dwellers effect change
4.7.1.1. 9. What strategies do leaders, citizens, and other city dwellers use to effect change in different urban areas? What are specific strategies used in Tempe/Phoenix or Lüneburg/Hamburg? How would you identify appropriate strategies to select, adapt, and implement in a different cultural/urban context?
4.7.2. 10. best practices in terms of urban planning?
4.7.2.1. 10. How can we evaluate examples of best practices in terms of urban planning? How do you select, adapt, and implement solutions options that exist around the world (e.g., those mentioned in the Sustainable Cities video Masdar, IBM Smart Cities, Urban Omnibus) to a different local context (in this case, Phoenix or Lüneburg)?
4.7.3. 34. social innovations for sustainability
4.7.3.1. 34. Are there social innovations (if yes, what kind of) that facilitate transition to sustainabilty and complement technical solutions. And what unintended side effects?
4.7.4. 61. government decrees vs participatory activism
4.7.4.1. 61. Can governmental decrees or participatory activism support cultural sustainability as a long-term process of changing attitudes and behavior towards sustainable behavior?
4.7.5. 67. raising awareness
4.7.5.1. 67. From not knowing to knowing: What do we need to raise awareness in people so that their behaviors can change accordingly? What does "sustainable knowledge" entail?
5. Built Environment
5.1. Psychology
5.1.1. 7. what is city life
5.1.1.1. 7. What is city life? How does city life affect/influence the mind life of the people that live in a city? What about the difference with rural life?
5.1.2. 8. unconscious efficiencies
5.1.2.1. 8.What are the “unconscious efficiencies” within cities that allow urban dwellers to be more sustainable than rural residents? Should the search for sustainability be more about encouraging a more “conscious” set of behaviors and a more explicit ethic of sustainable living? Why/why not?
5.1.3. 14. urban alienation/identification
5.1.3.1. 14. What is urban aliention? What is urban identification? How do they relate to each other?
5.1.4. 15. experience of specific places
5.1.4.1. 15. What kind of experience is connected to specific places (Shopping mall and other consumer spaces, transit spaces or non-spaces, park, streets and back alleys)?
5.1.5. 23. walkability of city
5.1.5.1. 23. How does being able to walk in a city affect the way we perceive and understand it? How many ways of walking in a city do you know of?
5.1.6. 45. connection between man and nature
5.1.6.1. 45. How could the connection between man and nature in the urban environemnt be re-established and made visible? What effects does nature-awareness have on people and their behaviour?
5.1.7. 50. parks effect on urban life
5.1.7.1. 50. What effect does nature (parks, gardens etc) has on urban life? How can nature in cities contribute to the enhancement of cultures of sustainability?
5.1.8. 53. phenomenology of urban experience
5.1.8.1. 53. With respect to the urban experience, what are the states of minds of an individual? What do we mean if we talk about the phenomenology of the urban experience?
5.1.9. 54. unsustainable psychological experience
5.1.9.1. 54. Using a social psychological perspective, how can you describe an (un)sustainable urban experience?
5.1.10. 55. psychological stress in urban environ
5.1.10.1. 55. How can psychological stress characterize the urban experience. When and how are happiness and social cooperation part of the urban experience?
5.1.11. 73. greening the city/psychological wellbeing
5.1.11.1. 73. Are attempts to green or naturalize the city really vital to human wellbeing? Do we need to encounter nature in our daily lives in order to develop a meaningful sustainability ethic in urban areas? Can we achieve urban sustainability without getting citizens and decision makers to care more about nature?
5.2. Urban Planning
5.2.1. 56. sustainability of urban crowding
5.2.1.1. 56. What kinds of unsustainable social conditions contribute to the urban crowding effect or syndrom? Or are there conditions when urban crowding is sustainable?
5.2.2. 4. Role of zoos and gardens
5.2.2.1. 4. What roles do Zoological parks and gardens have in the sustainable city (of the present and future)? What can we learn from a comparison of the histories of the Hamburg and Phoenix Zoos with respect to the evolution of the zoo and garden landscape within urban areas? How do (and should) such institutions function as centers of science, education, entertainment, and conservation in a changing urban and cultural environment?
5.2.3. 1. Issues with UHI and Biodiversity strategies
5.2.3.1. 1. Creating ventilation pathways (UHI mitigation) and/or biodiversity corridors: Where are potential synergies and issues/priorities?v
5.2.4. 19. UHI mitigation/integration
5.2.4.1. 19. How are UHI mitigation/adaption technologies integrated in urban planning policies, what are current problems and how can the implementation be improved?
5.2.5. 47. Addressing Gentrification
5.2.5.1. 47. How do we address gentrification as a perverse and (un)intended effect of neighborhood renewal?
6. Ecosystems
6.1. Complexity
6.1.1. 2. role of order
6.1.1.1. 2. What is the role of order in our ideas of a perfect city? How is the idea of order connected to our perception of safety?
6.1.2. 71. interrelatedness of sustainability
6.1.2.1. 71. We’ve identified that almost all of the sustainability challenges in Phoenix are complex and interrelated. How do we evaluate trade-offs among different potential solutions and how do we envision these solutions solving the sustainability challenges they are designed to address?
6.1.3. 76. In what way are cities complex adaptive systems?
6.1.3.1. 76. In what way are cities complex adaptive systems?
6.2. 6. biodiversity in the city
6.2.1. 6. There are many attempts to foster biodiversity in the city and to reintroduce about nature in urban environments (e.g. "Civic Ecology" initiatives and biocultural diversity). What are the solutions-outcomes a a social and cultural level of these attempts?
6.3. Food
6.3.1. 11. sustainable food
6.3.1.1. 11. What are sustainable options for food provision in big/mega-cities? (How far-reaching a Hinterland is still sustainable?) What are frontiers of the urban metabolism in light of sustainability principles?
6.4. Economies
6.4.1. 28. urban economic infrastructure
6.4.1.1. 28. Which urban economic infrastructure (supply chains, etc.) is required to improve urban metabolism? And what are generic criteria that could be generalized? (What role do local currencies play?, How are "buy local intiatives" to be evaluated in terms of imporving the urban metabolism?
6.4.2. 43. sustainable economy
6.4.2.1. 43. How do we make sure to internalize social, ecological and cultural phenomena into a sustainable economy?
6.4.3. 42. regionalized economy
6.4.3.1. 42. Is a regionalized economy a prerequisite to sustainable cities. How can we deal with the globalized competition of cities?
6.4.4. 44. supply chains and metabolizm
6.4.4.1. 44. Reshaping material flows and production and what are implications for supply chains and businesses?Supporting local businesses by local currency, what does this mean in the reshaping of urban metabolism?
6.5. 32. city as an ecosystem
6.5.1. 32. What does it mean to view the city as an ecosystem? How should an urban ecosystem look like? How do urban-ecosystem services contribute to urban governance?
6.6. 33. designed nature
6.6.1. 33. What is the difference between Authentic nature and designed nature?
6.7. 38. new urbanism
6.7.1. 38. in what way is dealing with the new urbanism the main sustainability challenge of the 21st century?
6.8. 48. The INTERNET
6.8.1. 48. What effect does the internet have on system changes and how can it be used to inform participation and responsibility in decision making?
6.9. 78. scaling laws
6.9.1. 78. How do scaling laws apply to cities?
6.10. 79. increased size of cities
6.10.1. 79. What are the consequences of increased size of cities and increased number of major cities for our global systems -- economically,ecologically, socially?
7. ethics
7.1. 5. For whom is a city good?
7.1.1. 5. For whom is a city good? For whom should a city be good?
7.2. 21. is sustainability anthropogenic?
7.2.1. 21. Will the focus on urban sustainability favor more human-centered interests that will weaken support for endangered species & wilderness in the long run? How can an urban environmentalism be developed that is in step with and supportive of a more nature-centered approach to valuing wild species and landscapes?
7.3. 25. place-specific environmental ethic
7.3.1. 25. hat are the key elements of an appropriate urban environmental ethic for Tempe/Lüneburg? In what ways has this ethic already been put into practice, and in what ways is it being ignored or rejected by developers, city managers, politicians, and citizens?
7.4. 29. metaphors for understanding cities
7.4.1. 29. What role do metaphors (such as Urban Metabolism) play in our understanding of cities?
7.5. 30. Why sustaianbility?
7.5.1. 30. Why should we seek to be sustainable in the first place? It is often assumed that sustainability is unequivocally good, that we know exactly what it means, and that we should just get to it. But what specific goods and conditions, processes and values are we trying to sustain – and why? And how do different urban stakeholders (e.g., citizens, managers, scientists, politicians, activists, corporate leaders, etc.) understand and prioritize “sustainability” in their future visions and goals for Tempe/Phoenix and Lüneburg/Hamburg?
7.6. 35 ethical innovations for climate change/mitigation
7.6.1. 35. What would ethical innovations be for climate change mitigation/adaptation and would they diffuse through society?
7.7. 41. local level dealing with "perfect moral storm"
7.7.1. 41. What can be done at the local level to counteract the “perfect moral storm” surrounding climate change action as described by Stephen Gardiner? Are there realistic and tangible ways to reduce the complexity of climate ethics and science at the community or city level that can help motivate significant actions for mitigation and adaptation?
7.8. 49. intergenerational ethics
7.8.1. 49. One of the difficulties confronting the development of a sustainability ethic is the problem of our ignorance of the preferences and identities of future generations. How can we talk about specific moral duties to the future in the face of this ignorance? In more practical terms, how can we plan, design, and remold urban environments for the future if we are so uncertain about the wants and needs of future generations? Are there really concrete decisions, designs, and actions that we can take today in cities that we can be sure will benefit future generations? What would these be?
7.9. 51.values and ideas/city structure
7.9.1. 51. What values and ideas characterize the planning and structure of cities?
7.10. 80. Eco-apartheid/environmental justice
7.10.1. 80. Identifying eco-apartheid and equality issues - How can we achieve Environmental Justice and integrate it in sustainability solutions?