From global pressures to local strategies: How can transdisciplinary research contribute to building more sustainable regions?

T. Tötzer, W. Loibl, S. Sedlacek (2007): From global pressures to local strategies: How can transdisciplinary research contribute to building more sustainable regions? Abstract eingereicht bei der ERSA 2007 N. Local dimensions of sustainable development and Global Warming From global pressures to local strategies: How can transdisciplinary research contribute to building more sustainable regions? In a globalised world each region, each city has to compete with other attractive regions worldwide. Globalisation and global change exerts high pressure on local stakeholders as they are in charge for a sustainable future development of their region. Thus, it is a crucial challenge for political and civil stakeholders to develop strategies to anticipate and cope with globally induced changes. In this paper we will present first experiences from the research project 'future.scapes', which is a transdiciplinary research project that aims to support local stakeholders in developing strategies for a sustainable regional development. The project explores the situation in three Austrian regions struggling with different aspects of global change: an alpine winter tourism region affected by climate change, an agricultural region confronted with climate and structural change and an industrial city region dependent on a few large international companies. For finding local strategies to cope with globally induced changes and pressures, an inter- and transdisciplinary approach has been chosen. The interdisciplinary research team of future.scapes applies several methods in order to guarantee a fruitful knowledge exchange between scientists and local stakeholders: desk research, interviews, field work, cooperation with primary schools, photo elicitation, workshops and scenario building. The objective is to develop jointly with local practitioners new concepts for achieving resilient land use and adaptable social and economic structures. In this paper first project experiences will be presented giving a more detailed description of one case study, the industrial city of Steyr, which is embedded in a highly dynamic region in Upper Austria and has to compete on different geographical levels, namely within the region and internationally as location of internationally acting companies in the automotive sector.