Research
In view of pressing global challenges, current discourses on geography education are forming an understanding of transformation at the interface between social theory and pedagogy. At the core of this perspective is the assumption that, despite increasingly uncertain perceptions of the future, social processes can still be actively shaped by people and that the future therefore remains transformable. However, applying this to specific spatial education issues has so far remained largely a desideratum.
The research of the working group addresses this desideratum. It is based on the conviction that geographical science should not only analyse socially relevant transformation processes, but also actively help to shape them. At the interface of specialist science, subject didactics and teaching practice, we investigate how knowledge about human-environment relationships, spatial inequalities and global interdependencies can be prepared and communicated in such a way that it enables a democratic, emancipatory and sustainability-oriented shaping of the future. The central question is how different actors – in schools, universities, urban society and the public sphere – can be supported in critically negotiating and responsibly shaping alternative futures.
The research projects in this field give concrete form to this aspiration by combining critical geographical research with transformative educational approaches and innovative methods of communication.
Research projects
„SFB Future Rural Africa. Subproject Z05: Negotiating African Futures“
Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Collaboration partners: Prof. Dr. Michael Bollig (University Cologne), Dr. Gabriele Zipf (Futurium – House of Futures, Berlin)
Duration: 07/2026-06/2029
Idea: The Negotiating African Futures project is a collaboration between the Collaborative Research Centre 228 Future Rural Africa and Futurium – House of Futures, Berlin. The aim is to translate key research findings from the Collaborative Research Centre into an accessible format for science communication, conveying perspectives on shaping the future in rural Africa to a broad European and African audience as part of an exhibition at Futurium. The exhibition aims to stimulate discussions about the diverse ideas, challenges, and global interdependencies that shape the course of future.
You can find more information under Eva Nöthen or here: https://crc-trr228.de/
„Scientific Network: Transformative Geographic Education“
Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Collaboration partner: Prof. Dr. Verena Schreiber (University of Education Freiburg)
Duration: 01/2026-12/2029
Idea: Transformative approaches to teaching and learning have become important drivers of geographical education. With their consistent focus on key socio-ecological problems and crises, as well as their critical and emancipatory educational goals, these approaches point to the need to contribute to a just and future-oriented transformation of society and human-environment relations, and to question existing educational concepts. Against this background, the Scientific Network aims to harness the pedagogical, methodological, and practical potential of transformative education for German-speaking geography and its didactics, thereby linking it to international debates on transformative teaching and learning.
You can find more information under Eva Nöthen.
„Educational communities for sustainable development, democracy, and language in North Rhine-Westphalia (ComeNEDeS_NRW)“
Funding: Ministry of Culture and Science of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW)
Collaboration partners: Prof. Dr. Jochen Lange (University Siegen), Prof. Dr. Dorothee Gronostay (University Dortmund), Prof. Dr. Vivien Heller (University Wuppertal), Prof. Dr. Miriam Morek (University Duisburg-Essen), Prof. Dr. Björn Rothstein (University Bochum), Prof. Dr. Inga Gryl (University Duisburg-Essen), Prof. Dr. Stefan Rumann (University Duisburg-Essen), Dr. Günther Wolfswinkler (University Duisburg-Essen), Charlyn Lipke (University Duisburg-Essen)
Duration: 04/2026-03/2029
Idea: ComeNEDeS_NRW aims to establish long-term, reliable structures within the university to facilitate cross-phase cooperation between the phases and institutions involved in teacher training. Inititally, this will take the form of a prototype involving the development and testing of training concepts and related materials to promote skills in the three areas of language, democracy, and education for sustainable development (ESD). Building on the ComeIn project, the further development of content and structure will complement the BMBF's funding for “Competence Centres for Digital and Digitally Supported Teaching in Schools and Continuing Education.”
You can find more information under Eva Nöthen.
„BACK:LAB. Laboratory for Artistic Urban Research“
Funding: Bonn city center management
Collaboration partner: Jun.-Prof. Miriam Hamel (Alanus University for arts and social sciences)
Duration: 09/2025-12/2025
Idea: The Marthashof in the centre of Bonn is an intensively used, largely sealed-off backyard where different social groups with sometimes conflicting interests come together. It therefore provides a space for residents, businesses and other urban stakeholders to share their perspectives. The project "BACK:LAB. Laboratory for Artistic Urban Research" project addresses this situation, using the location as an experimental real-world laboratory for co-creative urban development. Current uses, historical influences, and future potential are recorded and analyzed together with the neighborhood and local stakeholders. Based on these findings, ideas for a socially just, climate-conscious, and liveable future for the Marthashof are developed in collaboration with the urban community.
You can find more information under Eva Nöthen.
„Unearthing Atlanta's Past: Learning Urban History with Collaborative Digital Projects“
Funding: Collaborative Research Grant
Collaboration partners: Prof. Dr. Christina Crawford, Dr. Alexander Cors, Dr. Bailey Betik (Emory University, Atlanta)
Duration: 01/2024-12/2025
Idea: The urban development of North American cities and the associated social-(spatial) processes have been the focus of geographical research for decades – and are firmly anchored in German curricula. Funded by the University of Bonn's Collaborative Research Grant, the Didactics of Geography working group is collaborating with an interdisciplinary research team at Emory University in Atlanta on the Open World Atlanta web tool. This tool allows users to digitally explore the history of the city of Atlanta, its socio-spatial structures, and how they have changed over time. Historical maps processed with GIS form the starting point for exploring a city whose development has been shaped by industrialization and suburbanization, but also by segregation and marginalization processes due to racial discrimination. Although the initial focus during the development of the website was on technical issues, the given information is now to be prepared for educational purposes and made available in the form of teaching materials for a wide variety of educational contexts.
You can find more information under Julia Klumparendt, Tobit Nauheim or Eva Nöthen.
„Earth System Science & Transformative Geographical Education. Linking Theories – Experimenting in Practice“
Funding: German-Israeli Society Bonn (DIG Bonn), Bonn Centre for Teacher Education
Collaboration partners: Prof. Dr. Nir Orion (Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv), Ariel Meroz (Dead Sea and Arava Science Center/Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
Duration: 04-05/2025
Idea: Against the backdrop of complex global challenges, the approaches of Transformative Geographic Education and Earth System Education develop different strategies to empower learners to engage in responsible and self-reflective civic practice, thereby closing the gap between knowledge and action. While Earth System Education, which is strongly science-oriented, aims to promote students' ability to take action by encouraging systemic thinking, Transformative Geography Education takes a future-oriented approach, encouraging critical reflection on social structures and commitment to sustainability and social justice through transformative measures. Lectures will discuss the potential of theoretical contact, while workshops will offer the opportunity to test the different approaches in practical, didactic settings.
You can find more information under Julia Klumparendt, Tobit Nauheim or Eva Nöthen.
