First meeting of the two living labs in METAscales: Nordstrand team visits Wremen
A part of the living lab team from Nordstrand in Schleswig-Holstein travelled to the Wurster North Sea coast in Lower Saxony on Friday 30 October 2026, where they were warmly welcomed by the Wremen living lab team. During a joint tour to explore the area, the Nordstrand team gained their first insights into the local conditions both in front of and behind the dyke. Afterwards, a theater performance by the Wremen kindergarten on the topic of storm surges got all the living lab team members in the spirit for the weekend together. The focus of Friday was on reviewing the past year: What have both teams achieved so far in their living lab, what experiences have they gathered and what challenges have they faced? Besides getting to know one another, a lively discussion soon unfolded, which continued as they enjoyed a cozy dinner together at the Wremer Fischerstube.
The objective on Saturday was to look ahead and collect ideas for potential living lab experiments, both indoors and outdoors. In a potential second phase of the METAscales project, starting in 2027, activating the local community is intended to become a key focus of both living labs. While the first phase initially focused on raising awareness for the living labs at the respective locations and sensitizing people to the issue of disaster preparedness, the two teams now seek to move towards concrete actions. Through the upcoming activities and living lab experiments new routines are to be tested and long-term established within the different approaches taken in Nordstrand and Wremen, thus gradually strengthening the resilience of coastal communities to natural hazards. Following a brainstorming session in the plenary, individual ideas, such as the ‘summer festival without electricity’ or a workshop on the art of making preserves called ’Munching like at Mum's’, were further developed in smaller groups.
Which of the collected ideas will actually be taken up and further developed later in each of the two living labs remains to be seen. However, the weekend showed the similarities of the two locations, and how valuable the mutual exchange is. The two teams were able to learn a lot from each other and received new inspiration for the work on their living lab activities. Everyone agreed that resilient coastal communities are not created solely through effective plans and strategies, but above all through an active community that builds networks and takes collective action.
Comments