Archive

20.01.2025 – PhD thesis successfully defended

Fishing for Litter – Circular Sourcing Strategies in Networks of Markets

The transition from a linear economy to a circular economy requires the management of complex, interconnected resource flows. From a systemic perspective, value chains that were previously considered in isolation form a complex network of communicating markets. This complexity makes it difficult to effectively use a mix of instruments to manage material flows, such as political persuasion and information strategies, state funding in the form of subsidies and tax incentives and, above all, state regulation in the form of laws, ordinances, bans and prohibitions. Using illustrative case studies from the plastics and wood sectors, Dr. Emma Gothár‘s dissertation project examined analytical approaches for identifying leverage points for the efficient implementation of a circular economy at the micro level of companies, the meso level of markets and the macro level of market design.

25.10.2024 – Excursion

„Students amazed by rural innovations in Eisenbach“

At the invitation of Karlheinz Rontke, mayor of the town of Eisenbach in the Upper Black Forest, students in the “Sustainable Regional Development” module learned about the innovative capacity of communities in rural areas. The regional newspaper reported in detail. In winter semester 24/25, the lectures on the principles of sustainable regional development in rural areas will also be illustrated by insights into the work of the Southern Upper Rhine Regional Planning Association and further excursions to the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Black Forest, the Southern Black Forest Nature Park and the Kaiserstuhl region.

07.05.2024 – PhD thesis successfully defended

Industry associations as the key to cascading utilization as part of circular economy

The German bioeconomy strategy aims to establish closed material cycles and to use existing natural resources as efficiently as possible. A particular obstacle to the formation of biomass cascades is the lack of cooperation within the value chains. In her dissertation, Dr. Chiara Iurato used the timber industry as an example to highlight the crucial role played by industry associations in implementing cascading use.

Mehrere weiße Carsharing-Autos stehen auf einem Parkplatz in einer Reihe

01.12.2023 – Publication

Where the sharing economy works – and where it doesn’t

The term “sharing economy” has been around since the 1990s. But what exactly is the sharing economy? Dr. Martin Ritter attempts a definition and evaluates car sharing in netzwerk südbaden.