What can the city of the future look like? What do visions of a sustainable resilient city encompass? As part of the contest "City of the Future" funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research 52 municipalities were developing their vision 2030+. This participatory process engaged citizens and further city actors such as associations or organizations to think holistically of their city in the future, give some recommendations for action and proposals for implementations. Together with the citizens the vision was graphically visualized.

On 6 June 2015 around 30 representatives and citizens of the municipality of Ahrensfelde joined the Workshop on the Future of Ahrensfelde. The municipality on the periphery of Berlin successfully participated in the "City of the Future" contest funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research and is one of 52 German cities that will build a vision of its future this year. The Ecologic Institute and the University of Applied Sciences in Eberswalde are supporting the vision building process and a potentially following reality lab. Doris Knoblauch moderated the kick-off workshop.

In this joint project commissioned by the European Environment Agency, the team at Ecologic Institute evaluates both technical aspects (e.g. cost-effectiveness) and implementation dimensions (e.g. barriers and enabling factors) of water demand management practices in Europe. The assessment focuses on measures implemented in Cyprus, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, Romania and Sweden. It also aims to update the knowledge on price elasticity of water demand via 10 case studies conducted at the local (water operator) scale. The countries covered in the case studies are the same as above plus the UK. The aim: to assess how EU Member States are already applying price and non-price measures to manage water demand, and to understand how such implementations can help take the EU further along the pathway to a sustainable future.

What is climate change adaptation? How can we best approach implementing it across Europe? What lessons can we learn from people already working on adaptation today? In this video from the BASE project, four young reporters from the fictional 'BASE Broadcast Studio' interview a group of 'adaptation professionals' from across Europe, to learn more.

The AQUACROSS website provides information on the AQUACROSS project, approach and case studies. Project outputs such as deliverables, policy briefs and publications are regularly promoted on the website. Ecologic Institute is responsible for the concept, design and programming.

Knowledge, Assessment, and Management for AQUAtic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services aCROSS EU policies (AQUACROSS) aims to support EU efforts to protect aquatic biodiversity and ensure the provision of aquatic ecosystem services. Funded by Europe's Horizon 2020 research programme, AQUACROSS seeks to advance knowledge and application of ecosystem-based management (EBM) for aquatic ecosystems to support the timely achievement of the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy targets.

R. Andreas Kraemer, Founder & Director Emeritus of Ecologic Institute, begins an 18-month fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam, Germany, during which he will work on a research project on "Thinktanking in Theory and Practice". Among other things, he investigates internal management and professional development in this sector, as well as transdisciplinary methods like those used by the IASS and other institutes. The results of this research will feed into different activities and publications.

Tröltzsch, Jenny; Manuel Lago; Josselin Rouillard et. al. (2015): Reviewing the Use of Non-monetary Metrics/Weights for Use in Decision-making of Adaptation to Climate Change Projects. Poster.

In the article "Why do we decide to live with risk at the coast?" recently published in "Ocean and Coastal Management", Dr. Grit Martinez of Ecologic Institute and Susana Costas and Prof. Oscar Ferreira of the University of Algarve explore risk perception in a community found in the vulnerable coastal region, Praia de Faro, on the southern coast of Portugal. The study addresses the identification of factors shaping risk perception and the reasons leading to settlement of high-risk coastal areas.

Grünig, Max et al. 2015: Milesecure 2050 Deliverable 3.2 - Report Describing Scenarios for Societal Energy Transition. Ecologic Institute, Berlin.

The objective of this report was to establish a starting position for potential advances in DRR strategies through review, data collection and historical analysis. In particular, the report reviewed (supra-)national DRR management plans for all CSs and analysed large-scale historical events to derive lessons-learned at RISC-KIT European CSs in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Italy, and France. Large-scale events like tropical cyclones and hurricanes were also analysed for Bangladesh and the USA. An interdisciplinary approach drawing on the physical, economic, social and historical sciences was used to ensure that all aspects relevant to the project were considered.

This report summarizes the potential prevention, mitigation, and preparedness measures for each of the eleven case studies included in RISC-KIT (Resilience – Increasing Strategies for Coasts – ToolKit). It includes a discussion with case study owners about potential measures as well as the identification and presentation of the measures according to what Disaster Risk Management (DRM) phase and dimension of disaster they address. Furthermore the report takes the nature of the measure into consideration.

'BeWater' is a three and a half-year EU-funded project, which investigates the opportunities of preparing adaptive management plans for river basins in four case studies based in the Mediterranean region: Pedieos (Cyprus), Rmel (Tunisia), Tordera (Spain) and Vipava (Slovenia). The aim of the project is to promote dialogue and collaboration between science and society for sustainable water management in order to facilitate adaptation to the impacts of global change in the Mediterranean. From May until July 2015, four participatory workshops were held in the aforementioned cities. Some of the outcomes of the workshops are summarized in the table at the end of the text.

Bausch, Camilla et al.. 2015. European governance and the low-carbon pathway: Analysis of challenges and opportunities arising from overlaps between climate and energy policy as well as from centralisation of climate policies. CECILIA2050 WP4 Deliverable 4.2. Berlin: Ecologic Institute.