R2K consortium at workshop

From 27 to 28 June 2024, a workshop was held in Heidelberg to present further interim results and discuss the next steps together with the project consortium of the BMBF-funded R2K-Klim+ project.
 
Global climate change has an impact at various spatial levels, from entire regions to individual communities. In recent years, localised extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall with small-scale flooding or heatwaves, which are a burden on people, have increased. At the same time, larger regions are also affected by extreme events caused by climate change, which have far-reaching consequences. Floods and low water levels on rivers often affect not just one region, but the entire catchment area. The effects of these and other climate change-related events and the potential damage vary greatly depending on various factors such as the geographical location or the economic structures of the affected areas. However, there is often a lack of a sound basis for decision-making at regional and municipal level.
 
Building on this, a decision support system is being developed for the city of Duisburg as part of the BMBF project R2K-Klim+. The six-member consortium, coordinated by FiW, is building on the results of the first funding phase and is working on the further development of the cross-sectoral decision support system KLAUS (Climate Adaptation of Urban Systems) for Duisburg. The prototype of the EUS can already be viewed online (r2k.geomer-maps.de). In the second funding phase, which began last year, the focus is on the further development of the evaluation and prioritisation of adaptation measures. To this end, the IPCC climate scenarios and selected types of measures are being integrated into the models. A particular focus is on transferring the methods and results to other local authorities, associations and companies. In addition, topics such as the methodology for evaluating measures and target group-appropriate scientific communication will be explored in greater depth.
 
In a total of six modules, the project partners presented their respective work packages with the current work status and introduced the further methodology, which was then discussed. On the first day, a generalised and hybrid AI flooding model was also presented by Dr.-Ing. Julian Hofmann (RWTH/FloodWaive), followed by decision support in practice by the city of Duisburg. After the lunch break, the programme continued intensively with the determination of transport costs for low water on the Rhine by Prognos, a new urban climate model for Heidelberg with applications for planning practice by the City of Heidelberg (external speaker: Joachim Fallmann) and a risk workshop and damage potential analysis by geomer. The presentations were followed by a joint dinner at the Saigon Sonne in Heidelberg. The second day began with the presentation of FiW's integrated assessment methodology. The event was concluded by gaiac with a presentation of the planning of measures and a concept for ecological damage potentials. As always, all modules were accompanied by intensive and extremely productive discussions, which provided important suggestions for further technical work.
 
After the technical part, the partners also took part in the 25th anniversary celebration of geomer GmbH - congratulations from FiW and the entire R2K consortium!