City, urban climate and climate change

During heavy rainfall events, when a certain amount of rain is exceeded in just a short time, cities can  face challenges of urban flood risk. However, this depends not only  on the amount of rainfall, but also on the land’s ability to deal with this water: how absorbent is the urban soil? Is...

Providing shade and cooling the air, trees are vital to the quality of human’s life in Hamburg. However, our trees face challenging conditions along streets – and with climate change. In particular, freshly planted trees are thus subjected to stress, indicated by slow growth and failure gain...

In Germany, ca. 77 percent of the populace live in cities. There, new buildings are constructed, people heat their homes, and waste is produced. In addition, cities are particularly affected by the impacts of climate change – above all, heat, extreme precipitation and flooding. Although many...

Sawing, gluing, and hunting down data: it took months before my miniature version of Hamburg was ready. First I had to find out what each and every building between the Elbphilharmonie concert hall and the Großmarkt (wholesale market) looked like – how tall it was, what its roof was shaped...

Rambling through Hamburg and its environs, you will discover a landscape sculpted by the ice ages. Glaciers of the past pushed large amounts of scree shaping today’s hilly countryside northeast of the City. Meltwater leached the glacial Elbe valley and wind-blown sand deposits piled up into...

My agents don’t wear dark sunglasses, and most don’t even drive a car. Except for Bob: when he needs to go somewhere, he prefers to drive there. In contrast, Alfred likes to bike through the city (as long as it’s not raining), and Earl tends to use public transportation.

Day in and day out...