Dear Colleagues, We cordially invite you to participate in the workshop Regions 2048 - Balancing Societal Needs and Nature . This workshop will be held from Oct. 15, 2006 until Oct. 17, 2006 in Austria, Schloss Seggau (Castle of Seggau) near Graz., Austria
Please find further information on the rationale behind the event, the aims, the program and organisational details can be seen at: http://rns.tugraz.at/index.php?lang=&node=&scheme=10700 The workshop builds directly on the research activities that have been initiated by the symposium series REGIONS - CORNERSTONES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. Research within the framework of ENSURE (European Network for Urban and Regional Sustainable Development Research) and in the project REGIONET, commissioned by the European Commission, has established the unique role that regions play for the implementation of sustainable development. The recent SHARE conference (with a follow up in 2007 and 2009) has focused on the link between regional sustainable development and the goals of the Gothenburg and Lisbon council resolutions in the European context. An increase in economical as well as societal and cultural activities on the regional level however has dramatic repercussions on the interaction between nature and society as regions will strengthen their reliance on natural resources within their own borders. This fact will only be exacerbated by the need to broaden the raw material base for industry, as fossil raw materials, especially crude oil, becomes increasingly costly and scarce. The management of natural resources in a way that allows reinvigorated regional development and at the same time increases the non-fossil supply of society with energy and industrial raw materials will put considerable strain on the ability of regions to chart their sustainable development. The competition for regional resources from various sectors like the food sector, the energy sector and industry will require careful planning as well as new political approaches to reconcile development dilemmas on the regional level. The natural endowment of regions and especially their ability to wisely utilize it will decide about their position in the global market just in the same way as their knowledge base. The workshop will address this hot spot of sustainable development by bringing together experts from different fields and providing the platform for an interdisciplinary discussion about the options regions have at their disposal to meet these challenges. Further details are available at: http://rns.tugraz.at/index.php?lang=&node=&scheme=10700 Prof Walter Leal, TuTech Innovation, Harburger Schlossstrasse 6-10, D-21079 Hamburg, Germany.
