ZeStuR Cluster 3: ‘Social Cohesion and Participation’ launched

The Centre for Structural Change and Regional Development (ZeStuR) aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of Lusatia’s structural transition from a coal-mining region to new futures, and to support this transition both academically and through practical action. In doing so, it combines interdisciplinary research with transdisciplinary collaboration to develop, together with regional stakeholders, new pathways towards a sustainable, democratic and liveable Lusatia. ZeStuR brings together various disciplines from Faculties 4, 5 and 6 of the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg in five thematic clusters and is funded by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Space from November 2025 to October 2030.

ZeStuR Cluster 3, ‘Social Cohesion and Participation’, is based at the Technology and Environmental Sociology chair within Faculty 5 – Economics, Law and Society – at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. From November 2025 to October 2030, Cluster 3 will investigate how social cohesion, quality of life and democratic participation in Lusatia are changing under conditions of structural change, and what approaches exist for their long-term strengthening.