At the Liechtenstein Congress for Sustainable Development and Responsible Investing in June 2013, the topic of sustainability in development will be to the fore. Liechtenstein is thus building on the future and taking the lead in international and regional sustainability initiatives.
At the Liechtenstein Congress for Sustainable Development and Responsible Investing in June 2013, the topic of sustainability in development will be to the fore. Liechtenstein is thus building on the future and taking the lead in international and regional sustainability initiatives.
Locally relevant and international: ways to development in building, planning and real estate
With the “Summit on sustainable planning” the organizers will demonstrate manifold ways to achieving sustainable development and aim to inspire both the business world and the general public. At the 2013 Liechtenstein Congress, international experts from around the globe will analyse and discuss who is determining the transformation towards sustainable development, how much of an influence building development, planning and energy systems have had so far and where society, business and politics will have to focus in the future. Visitors can discuss new impulses and ideas for sustainability, and actively exchange their thoughts on the basis of interesting and profitable examples. Together, current questions regarding sustainability will be examined and future-oriented measures discussed.
Well-planned residential areas are the future
Under the motto “Buildings, community and region of the future”, the first day of the congress will address the role of good residential planning, of urban development, building and open spaces as well as the role of new technology. In addition, opportunities for responsible investment in the area of real estate will be examined. In the evening, the Zurich Climate Prize for 2012 will be presented and the prize cycle for 2013 introduced.
On the second day, attention will turn to the topic of “Infrastructure, planning and economy of the future”. In the future, Liechtenstein and the Rhine Valley will establish themselves as a renewable country and as a regenerative region. It has been proven that the Principality of Liechtenstein could meet not only all of its own needs with renewable energies, but also those of the neighbouring Lake Constance region – important in times of an increasingly uncertain energy industry. Both the country and the region would thus make an active contribution to stabilizing the global climate.
Furthermore, results from the five-university project BAER (Bodensee/Lake Constance–Alpine Rhine Valley Energy and Climate Region) will be presented at the Liechtenstein Congress, focusing on the roles of energy infrastructure and a reduced ecological footprint in a world of responsible development models.
On the second afternoon, participants will have the opportunity to choose from a range of visits and excursions around the region. One of the destinations is the University of Liechtenstein itself, which is making great strides with its own sustainability programme UniGO and which has adopted the Liechtenstein Congress as part of the UniGO project.
Academics at a media conference on the programme of the 2013 Liechtenstein Congress
From left to right: Hugo Dworzak, Professor Dietrich Schwarz and Professor Peter Droege from the University of Liechtenstein with Professor Rolf Wüstenhagen from the University of St. Gallen.
Experts from across the globe in Vaduz
During the two-day congress, international experts will have the opportunity to exchange ideas from their specialist areas, but also across disciplines, in the personal atmosphere of the university. This year, participants are coming from Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, France, England, Denmark and the United States.
The globally renowned experts who will be arriving in Liechtenstein include internationally leading thinkers, such as Werner Sobek and Manfred Hegger, two top professors from Germany, the Danish community planners Ulrik Sylvest Nielsen and Jan Gehl, the English One Planet expert Conor Moloney, the sustainability guru in the French government Panos Mantziaras and the Viennese visionary Barbara Imhof.
Professor Peter Droege from the Institute of Architecture and Planning at the University of Liechtenstein is the initiator and in charge of the event. For him, what the event is all about was expressed when a speaker at the last congress stated that the Liechtenstein Congress “was a real quantum leap, where the principle of mutual enrichment is highly valued”.
The congress is supported by a large number of charitable and private organizations, which are partly based in the principality itself or have come to know the innovative location of Liechtenstein through the congress.
Further information on the 2013 Liechtenstein Congress and the complete programme to download can be found at www.uni.li/li-congress.