Since 2021, Volker Linneweber has been working together with STAHM-Architekten (Braunschweig/Mülheim) on regional development projects (e.g. Freiheit Emscher in North Rhine-Westphalia). The special feature of these projects is the linking of science and business with the aim of sustainable regional development. STAHM architects are proven experts in master plan management, so science management and master plan management come together in the joint projects.

The stakeholders involved in Freiheit Emscher, for example (the cities of Bottrop and Essen and Ruhrkohle AG Montan Immobilien GmbH) have agreed to focus on the following topics

• Water / valuable water

• Digitalization & AI as municipal infrastructure

• Climate resilience and biodiversity

• Circular economy / energy and material flows

• Urban logistics, people mobility

Further projects, e.g. with a regional focus, which are characterized by responsibility for sustainable development, are in preparation.

For various scientific disciplines and institutions, the approach offers the opportunity to establish living labs. These help to bridge the „valley of death“ between research and application and enable the institutions to make a contribution in the sense of their increasingly demanded “third mission”.

For the region, the approach offers the opportunity to develop its infrastructure, its economy, the use of resources and value creation in a scientifically supported and sustainable way.

Environmental psychology (see brief portrait) and science management (see brief portrait) can be used profitably here.