Research

Soil-Bio-Divers raises awareness of how land management and climate change affect soil biodiversity and ecosystem services among pupils in agricultural schools. Building on established partnerships with Biosphere Reserves from the SoilBioClimPol project, we will work with three schools in the Lungau–Nockberge Reserve and in the Wienerwald Reserve. In agreement with school leadership, one class per school (~30 pupils) will participate. After an on-site introduction by the core team, each pupil will act as a citizen scientist and investigate: (i) earthworm abundance and biomass as indicators of soil health (aeration, nutrient cycling), (ii) water infiltration as a key ecosystem service reflecting the soil’s response to extreme rainfall, and (iii) DNA metabarcoding of earthworm samples to profile soil biodiversity iv) social science data through a short questionnaire survey and a diary work. Findings will be fed back into lessons and local management dialogues.     

On the one hand, density is a characteristic, a point of identification, and a determining factor for urban development; on the other hand, it is both a prerequisite and an obstacle to high-quality urban development. Density is often a measure of the efficiency of urban technical and social infrastructure, as well as of affordable housing. Higher density is also associated with a reduction of land take. On the other hand, however, too much density can lead to a loss of quality of life. For decades, urban planners have advocated for “moderate density” without being able to define exactly what “moderate” means. The goal of this research project is to examine “moderate density” from various perspectives using the Vienna metropolitan area as a case study, and to answer the question of what is meant by “moderate density” and what criteria could be used to define it.

Paradigm change towards sustainable transition to a climate-neutral society requires forward-looking ways of curbing and meeting energy demands (connected particularly to spatial and mobility planning) at strategic levels AND prioritize nature-positive decision-making, explicitly accounting for nature’s contribution to people. In practice, planners face increasing intensity of competing societal demands and strong pressure on land as a resource. At the same time, they are confronted with a lack of reliable and recent data to base their decisions upon. BIOGAIN surveys how far novel (digital & AI supported) data and knowledge on changes in ecosystems reflecting complex dynamics are a way out of these deficiencies towards net-gain planning. BIOGAIN enhances transparency of how predicted effects of renewable energy on species and their habitats are integrated with preference-trade-offs to inform planning decisions. It investigates what prioritization is needed to follow a net-gain strategy reflecting the various competing interests and need for multi-functional land use. Additionally, it surveys the acceptance of models accounting complex interferences occurring due to multiple land use changes related to energy transition and evolving preferences, values and trade-offs related to societal transformation. To this aim BIOGAIN identifies and analyses social tipping points towards a net-gain planning system in a transdisciplinary actors-centred approach. BIOGAIN seeks efficient use of economic resources to achieve net gain in biodiversity (as encouraged by the Taxonomy) instead of no-net-loss (i.e., mitigation, compensation). Involving private companies, consultancies and public authorities in a real-planning-simulation both in the development and the testing of a serious game prepared by a collaborative decision analysis and accompanied by a DCE as well as in a “living-lab setting” with explicit spatial-optimization in three case study regions, that employ digital biodiversity data and models within, allows for investigating deep leverage points in public-private cooperation along with barriers and opportunities from a procedural, values/ mindset, power-dynamics and also economic perspective.