German Institute for Urban Studies

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German Institute for Urban Studies

logo
legal form Profit company
founding 15th February 1973
Seat Zimmerstrasse 13–15
10969 Berlin
Germany
management Carsten Kühl
Number of employees approx. 200
Branch research
Website difu.de

The German Institute for Urban Studies ( Difu ) is the largest scientific institute in Germany that deals with municipal topics.

structure

The Difu was founded in 1973 in Berlin on the initiative of the German Association of Cities . It is supported as a community institution by the federal government , the state of Berlin and more than a hundred German cities, regional and surrounding associations and planning communities. The sole shareholder of the institute, which is run as a non-profit company , is the Verein für Kommunalwissenschaften e. V. , whose members are named by the German Association of Cities and the State of Berlin.

Until the end of 2009, the Difu was located in the Ernst-Reuter-Haus in Berlin , and since the beginning of 2010 the institute's headquarters have been in Zimmerstrasse 13–15 near Checkpoint Charlie . The branch in Cologne , where a large part of the environmental research department is located, is located in the street Auf dem Hunnenback 3 on the north-south route not far from the Maternushaus .

The nonprofit and independent institute studied in research projects in local government issues and research topics. In addition, it develops recommendations and bases for the work of local administrations and local politics .

Another central task of Difu is the advanced training of primarily municipal executives in the form of practice-oriented seminars, research seminars , workshops, conferences or specialist meetings at the institute's own locations or on site in the municipalities. In addition to imparting knowledge, the focus here is on exchanging experiences.

The Difu is organized in a flat hierarchy , in addition to the institute management there are research and service areas in which research, training and information activities are bundled:

  • Research area urban development, law and social affairs
  • Research area infrastructure, economics and finance
  • Research area mobility
  • Research area environment
  • Training area
  • Knowledge management area

The press and public relations , editorial and general administration departments are directly attached to the institute's management.

The institute is advised by a scientific advisory board. He advises the management and the shareholders' meeting in professional terms, especially with regard to matters that are of particular importance for the professional and scientific work of the institute, in particular the work and training program, projects and products, the guidelines for the professional activities of the company as well as the long-term strategic direction and development of the company.

Knowledge transfer

In addition to its advanced training activities, Difu also imparts its knowledge through numerous print and digital publications, press and public relations measures, its extensive website and social media channels (via Facebook since 2011 and Twitter since 2020). The institute also makes information available to the municipalities via the Orlis database and documents, for example, relevant literature; Orlis is available free of charge on the Internet for the municipalities affiliated with the Difu, so-called donor cities.

The results of our own research projects (sometimes also external authors) are published in several series of publications and journals:

  • Magazines
    • Difu reports
    • Modern City History - MSG (specialist journal appears twice a year in German)
  • Series of publications
    • Edition Difu - City Research Practice (formerly: "Difu contributions to urban research" and "Writings of the German Institute for Urban Studies")
    • Difu-Impulse (formerly: "Materials" and "Environmental Advice for Municipalities")
    • Difu work aids (practice-oriented handouts, including checklists, overviews)
    • Difu-Papers (formerly: "Current Information", "Occasional Papers")
    • Special publications (often individual publications of larger research projects that are also available online)

Institute director

Project examples

Difu works on projects for various clients as well as from its own funds. The focus of all projects is practical.

The service and competence center: Kommunaler Klimaschutz (SK: KK for short), located at Difu, is at the side of German municipalities with questions relating to climate protection. The advice center was located at Difu in 2012 and continues the service that has been offering there since 2008 : municipal climate protection expanded. The following are offered or carried out, among others:

  • Advice on the funding program for municipalities within the framework of the municipal guidelines (guideline for funding climate protection projects in social, cultural and public institutions within the framework of the National Climate Protection Initiative) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) as well as initial advice on other funding programs (e.g. . of the federal states )
  • Specialist, advanced training and networking events
  • An annual municipal climate protection competition with prize money between 40,000 and 20,000 euros
  • Specialist publications and publication of practical examples on municipal climate protection

The Difu also runs the bicycle academy .

Since 2012, Difu has been involved in the organization and implementation of the Forum for German Business Development in Berlin as a cooperation partner of the German Association of Cities, the German Association of Economic Promotion and Development Companies, the Association of German Cities and Municipalities and the Association of German Districts .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://difu.de/publikationen/2009/difu-berichte-3-2009 Difu reports 3/2009, p. 2
  2. ↑ https://difu.de/institut/organisation-gremien
  3. ↑ https://difu.de/reports Free quarterly magazine of the institute, as print and PDF version
  4. ↑ http://www.difu.de/projekte
  5. ↑ FdW 2020 on the Difu website , accessed on April 11, 2020

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 26.7 ″  N , 13 ° 23 ′ 19.6 ″  E