Our projects, experiments and activities

The Real-World Lab Quartier Zukunft – Labor Stadt provides a framework for a wide range of activities, projects and experiments for a culture of sustainability.

This page is still under construction, but you will soon find more information about our activities and experiments here.

Bild Titel Kurzbeschreibung
climatechallenge logo

The #climatechallenge project is based on a workshop format. Participants are supported in making changes and making their lifestyles more climate-friendly. The focus is on two change experiments, also known as challenges. They are designed to bring more effective climate protection into everyday life and consolidate structural transformation approaches.

Logo of Sustainability Innovation Campus with initials "sicn" in blue-green gradient and text on the right.

The start-up project is part of the "Sustainability Innovation Campus", which has been in existence since 2024 and aims to make the Upper Rhine region an internationally visible beacon in sustainability research. Researchers from the University of Freiburg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) want to work together with practice partners to contribute to the sustainable development of society, taking into account economic aspects, the common good and social justice. The aim of the project is to contribute to climate protection, resource conservation, fair and beneficial operating structures along supply chains and in communal catering facilities, and to support a plant-based, wholesome and healthy diet.

KARLA project-logo

Integrating sustainability into everyday life, testing climate protection locally and activating more people in Karlsruhe to get involved in creating a city worth living in - that is what KARLA stands for. KARLA wants to use experiments to promote sustainable climate protection in Karlsruhe and contribute to lasting change in the city.

lupe

An investigation of the social impact of real-world laboratories using an actor-centered approach

Our society is currently facing many challenges that require a rethink and fundamental transformation processes towards sustainability: Biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, (over)ageing society, inequality and more. In the efforts to support the process towards a more sustainable society, real-world laboratories have increasingly become the focus of science and the public in recent years.

KuNaH logo

In recent years, a variety of initiatives and approaches have been developed and tested at German universities to implement the guiding principle of sustainable development. Although new knowledge, concepts and methods for implementation have been developed, there is still a lack of integrative approaches that systematically combine the various university fields of action as a whole-institution approach and promote a comprehensive "culture of sustainability" at universities.

Hand-drawn balcony with solar panel and German text Dein Balkonnetz, energy creating community.

The energy transition offers great opportunities for sustainable change. "Dein BalkonNetz - Energie schafft Gemeinschaft" explores the questions of what a socio-ecological energy transition could look like and how more sustainable energy generation affects everyday life.

Ethikkodex für Reallabore

Codes of ethics and ethical guidelines are intended to guide scientific practice in research and teaching - at a general level (such as the DFG Code of Good Scientific Practice), at the level of individual disciplines (for example the ethical principles of the engineering profession of the VDI) or in relation to specific types of research (such as the "Nuremberg Code" on experiments on humans). New types of research and development require new guidelines and codes. This also includes real laboratories.

Logo of co-creation of sustainable food supply chains

Coordination of transdisciplinary and transformative research on sustainable local and regional food supply chains in five hubs and with six teams in Turkey, Thailand, Taiwan, Sweden, Germany and the USA. The aim is to assess the status quo of current food supply structures and, based on this, to develop sustainable structures, for example through cooperative business and governance models.