Design meeting:
GSC Living Lab - Green transitions in wetlands areas

GSC Living Lab: Green transitions in wetlands areas - Invitation to design meeting – everyone is welcome. Register here.

We need you to co-create and develop a new Green Solutions Centre (GSC) Living Lab focusing on rewetting of drained wetlands and carbon-rich soils. Please join with your professional discipline's perspective.

Based on  work done by UCPH cross disciplinary Green Network, REAS - Reducing emissions from agricultural soils the Green Solutions Centre is developing a new Living Lab, which will focus on the rewetting of drained wetlands and carbon rich soils.  We envision a lab that considers how rewetting wetlands and abandoning agricultural use in these areas may contribute to biodiversity, climate mitigation and through landscape planning increase recreational interests for landowners and other local actors. Moreover, we will focus on decision-making processes and the historical legacy of land use. The lab is open for all UCPH researchers.

The Living Lab focuses on rewetting drained wetlands in Store and Lille Åmose in western Zealand and it will be based on the needs and interests of landowners, local and national authorities, NGOs and other partners. Therefore, the design process* for the new Living Lab started with a meeting in Åmosen with these partners and the Living Lab design group.  At this meeting we identified 6 themes to focus the living lab on – these will be the center of discussion for this design meeting.

Please forward this email to anybody at UCPH who could potentially be interested in this process and topic.

Date, time and agenda

  • April 4 from 11 to 13 – including lunch
  • SAMF, Entrance from Gammeltoftsgade, Room: CSS 35.0.13 – map

Agenda

  • Welcome
  • What is a Living Lab
  • Presentation of the lab and 6 themes that the lab will focus on
  • Discussion of the 6 themes (see below) – During this discussion, we will pinpoint the most important topics, the needed disciplines as well as possible other themes.
  • Next step

A light lunch will be served between 12.45-13.00.

Register to the meeting here.

Why should I attend?

You should attend if you are interested in land use changes broadly speaking - but even more so if you are interested in exploring cross-disciplinary work and possible synergies between research projects and research interests.

The current six topics of interest:

  • Developing and testing a tool to uncover landowners' preferences, values, and interests regarding the rewetting of lowland soils in Åmosen.
  • Creation of maps illustrating the anticipated consequences of climate change (periods of increased rainfall and heightened drought) in the absence of intervention.
  • Formulation of scenarios for water level rise showed on maps.
  • Socio-economic analysis of the impact on land prices in connection with the rewetting (the land for rewetting is bought/compensated expensively but sold/valued cheaply afterward). This may be covered by the expert committee report on rewetting low-lying organic soils, so we start by examining their approach and if there will be any insights from them.
  • What happens to ecosystems when the areas are rewetted. Are they transferrable or do they move autonomously? How quickly do they recover? Mapping biodiversity potential in the area.
  • Creation of a comprehensive plan for this area, with scaling possibilities in mind.

Possibilities for teaching and supervision

Store and Lille Åmosen can be reached within one hour by car. As part of the lab, we will build network of relevant partners in the area. Moreover, it will be possible to include the area in teaching and student projects, which can be funded by the lab - up to 15.000 DKK per student.

* Design proces

  • Meeting (8/2) with local and national stakeholders relevant for the extraction of wetlands in Åmosen, to outline the needs and interests of the stakeholders.
  • A meeting (4/4) to engage more employees (researchers, students, and others) in the lab and to hear if perspectives are missing? Who can envision themselves in it? Is there anything that needs adjustment?
  • An elaborated description of the lab will be presented to the external partners in April or May. All researchers and students engaged in the lab are welcome to participate.
  • The Lab activities can start (hopefully in May)

The design group:

Nina Toudal Jessen (HUM)
Bjarne W. Strobel (SCI)
Martin Rudbeck Jepsen (SCI)
Stine Krøijer (SAMF)
Lars Båstrup-Spohr (SCI)
Jesper Riis Christiansen (SCI)
Inge-Merete Hougaard (SAMF)
Mette Frimodt-Møller (GSC)