Change that connects: students and doctoral candidates explore ways to a fairer future
Freiburg, 08/12/2025
The closure of the Heineken brewery in Schiltigheim, France, offers an opportunity to create something entirely new on its inner-city site. 70 students and doctoral candidates from Germany, France and Slovakia explored how the site could be repurposed in a “just” manner in the workshop “A brewery site undergoing socio-ecological transformation?!”. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, art-based research and intercultural exchange, new perspectives emerged on how change can be achieved at the local level.
How should the Heineken brewery site in Schiltigheim, France, be reused when it closes at the end of 2025? Is a new school needed? Or rather an inner-city green space? These are questions that concern not only the residents of the former beer-brewing town. They were also the focus of the week-long excursion “A brewery site in socio-ecological transformation?!”, which brought together 70 students and doctoral candidates from the universities of Freiburg, Frankfurt, Strasbourg, and Bratislava in Strasbourg in mid-November. They are at home in the fields of empirical cultural studies, social and cultural anthropology, and social work. Together with media experts, the participants combined interdisciplinary and intercultural exchange with art-based research to support ‘Just Transition’ initiatives – action groups working for a just socio-ecological transition – on site.
Consider change from all angles
“The concept behind Just Transition goes back to American trade unions, which in the 1990s campaigned to ensure that workers in the fuel industry were not disadvantaged by the climate policy of the time,” explains Dr Sarah May, visiting professor at the Institute for Empirical Cultural Studies at the University of Freiburg and co-leader of the workshop. “The idea was subsequently rethought and broadened in various political contexts. Today, the concept aims to consider socio-economic upheavals at the global and local levels from all sides. The overarching goal is to shape transformation processes towards a sustainable, climate-friendly society in such a way that they not only serve the environment and the economy, but also take into account social issues – the third pillar of sustainability.” At the same time, the just transition approach strengthens people’s power to act and their skills, which is why it is more relevant than ever, adds May.
Big questions about the future tackled by small teams
Scientists conducting research in the field of ‘just transition’ do not merely analyse upheavals from a distance. Rather, they themselves pursue transformative goals and want to shape change – whether through research designs that actively integrate local actors into the process or through audiovisual methods that incorporate photos, videos and soundscapes (ambient sounds and conversations).
This is also reflected in the workshop week: the programme included courses on photography, video and audio production, in which participants learned, among other things, how to create and evaluate the above-mentioned media. Three students and/or doctoral candidates formed a media team that jointly posed a research question. With one person from Germany, France and Slovakia, the teams were diverse in terms of their professional and cultural backgrounds as well as their levels of knowledge. Together, they analysed, for example, utopian and dystopian future scenarios for the residents of Schiltigheim, ranging from parks and socially open spaces to high-rise apartment blocks and gentrification. They discussed issues relating to the cultural heritage of the ‘city of breweries’ with local stakeholders and searched for traces of this heritage in the cityscape. Last but not least, they spoke with people who lost their jobs when the brewery closed: disappointment and anger were emotions that came to the fore here, as were moments of satisfaction and expressions of self-efficacy when former employees spoke of joint practices and strike strategies in the face of the announced closure.
All research teams sought dialogue with residents, grassroots organisations, brewery employees, urban planners, social workers and other local actors – and thus gained an understanding of “just transitions” from the perspective of those involved in this change. In addition, they applied ethnographic and cultural studies methods and put the newly acquired skills learned during the courses into practice.
Learning by doing
“Large-scale, interdisciplinary and international research excursions are not commonplace in social sciences, humanities and cultural studies,” says May. “Our programme offered participants the unique opportunity to gain intensive practical research experience over several days. In the process, they were able to see that the theoretical methodological knowledge they had acquired actually enabled them to implement projects in practice.” May also believes that the participants gained new professional skills during the courses. “The participants learned a lot about people with different needs and backgrounds. This exchange showed them the multitude of possible perspectives on a topic and sensitised them to be open to transformations and new collaborations, to take a step back and look at the big picture from a distance.”
This is also confirmed by Lea Breitsprecher, who participated in the workshop as a doctoral student. “Working in an interdisciplinary, multimedia and intercultural way means quickly adapting to different and changing contexts, something you will certainly be confronted with again and again. This was challenging at times and accompanied by moments of negotiation and perseverance. Seeing the end product and learning that such a project can be successful also made us proud.”
Results will continue to be utilised
The workshop concluded with an exhibition showcasing the wide range of professional perspectives and content developed. A total of eight photographic chapters, four videos and seven soundscapes were created. Among other things, they show brewery employees on their last day of work, traces of past structural changes in Schiltigheim, and repeatedly focus on the perspective of the residents of the now former brewery site. Numerous research partners attended the exhibition opening at the University of Strasbourg on Friday evening. The participants in the research week are also interested in using the data to promote dialogue between science and society: students will develop a public blog, and the data will be used in scientific texts and theses. In addition, the group has made its results available to local cooperation partners for further development.