Profile of the Unit Landscape Planning, Landscape Ecology, and Nature Conservation (LpLoeN)
Our work focuses on landscape-level spatial planning strategies that respond to land-use change, the biodiversity crisis, the climate crisis and related interactions. We aim to synergistically link ecological, social and economic interests to promote biodiversity, improve quality of life and increase sustainability and climate resilience. We attach great importance to linking research and education with practice, as this offers valuable opportunities for knowledge transfer.
We teach students the scientific and methodological foundations of landscape planning and nature conservation. In applied research, we develop and test forward-thinking approaches and concepts such as ‘green infrastructure’ and ‘nature-based solutions’.
Through inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches, we develop and test strategies, tools and methods for spatial planning and support stakeholders from politics and planning in their implementation to promote a transformative change towards multifunctional and resilient landscapes in rural and urban areas.
Our work is based on landscape ecology understanding landscapes as socio-ecological systems, encompassing biophysical and social factors—a system in which people and nature interact and affect each other.
We therefore focus our teaching on ‘reading the landscape’ to address the following key questions: What forces and processes have shaped and continue to shape landscapes? What plant and animal communities are found in specific landscapes? How do human activities affect landscapes, and what ecosystem services result from these interactions?
Another focus of our teaching is research into the behaviour and ecological interactions of different animal species in landscapes and survey and assessment methods. To this end, we regularly offer seminars, excursions and further training opportunities.
