Ceremony at Lemgo City Hall: Following five intensive workshops with a steering group comprising representatives from many sectors of the city’s community, the draft of the city’s sustainability strategy is now complete. The process was coordinated at City Hall by Anja Kern and Ronja Post, with support from Hauke Kessler, Mona Steinhauer, and Paul Platner of the State Working Group Agenda 21 NRW (LAG 21).
The strategy development was funded by the Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Transportation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the “Sustainability Process Chain” project. Alongside the Old Hanseatic City of Lemgo, nine other municipalities developed sustainability strategies, including the city of Paderborn.
Representing TH OWL, Professor Dr. Yvonne-Christin Knepper-Bartel, Vice-President for Education and Sustainability, attended both the kickoff and closing events. Sustainability Manager Christian Einsiedel was able to contribute the university’s perspective to all five workshops.
Mayor Markus Baier summed up the successful process with a quote from the Lemgo physician and botanist Engelbert Kaempfer (1651–1716): “We all see one sun, tread upon one earth, breathe one air. No boundaries of nature, no laws of the Creator separate us from one another.”
In this spirit, over 150 concrete goals have been established for five areas of action in urban sustainability. They are now being finalized by the LAG 21 team, are to be formally adopted at an upcoming council meeting, and will then be continuously implemented and expanded as part of a “rolling strategy.”
Background:
- Sustainability activities of the City of Lemgo:
www.lemgo.de/bauen-umwelt/klima-umwelt/nachhaltigkeit
- LAG 21’s “Sustainability Process Chain” project:
www.lag21.de/themen/prozesskette-nachhaltigkeit-nrw