We use space, design it according to our interests and thus create new spaces. However, people are also shaped by spatial conditions, or experience these powerlessly as affected persons and feel “left behind”.
Social, ecological and economic innovations must therefore take into account local needs and conditions as well as regional, national and international connections. This is because central social conflicts and challenges of the present and the future have a highly differentiated spatial impact: increasing social inequality, dealing with and being affected by socio-ecological crises or the transformation from an industrial to a knowledge society – space plays a central role everywhere.
The Leibniz Research Network Spatial Knowledge for Society and Environment – Leibniz R analyzes social, ecological and economic processes and their interactions in their spatial contexts. It points out space-related options for action and contributes to anchoring spatial knowledge more broadly in society and politics and making it more usable.