At the Leuphana Sustainability Summit, which will be held in Lüneburg, Germany, from 29 February - 2 March, 2012, LIAISE will organise two events:

1. Special session on "Policy Assessment – How to Include Scientific Knowledge in Political Decision Making"

Policy assessment can be defined as a methodological framework and an administrative process for predicting or evaluating the impacts of policies. Ultimately, this should lead to better informed policymaking. Policy assessment can also contribute to integrate the concerns of sustainable development into the various sectors of policy making and can uncover otherwise overlooked side effects and long term impacts. In practice, however, the impact of policy appraisal on actual decision making falls far short of expectations. The results of policy assessment are not sufficiently taken into consideration, they are taken to legitimize a course of action which has been already decided, or policies become subject to political bargaining and compromise without taking into account the study results.

Apparently, there is a mismatch between the process of policy making and the provision of the knowledge basis. The session will explore options how this can be better reconciled: What are opportunities for the provision of scientific knowledge which fit better in the decision making process? What institutions have been set up to create incentives and opportunities for better consideration of evidence for policy making? How does this work in practice?

Speakers in this session will be:

• Sabine Weiland (Freie Universität Berlin): "Introduction to policy assessment and the LIAISE ('Linking Impact Assessment Instruments and Sustainability Expertise') Network"
• Klaus Jacob (Freie Universität Berlin): "Institutional demand for sustainability knowledge: A comparative analysis"
• Wolf-Michael Catenhusen (former State Secretary, Vice-chair of the German National Regulatory Control Council): "Impact Assessment in practice – opportunities and challenges for reaching sustainability"

2. "Tools to Support Sustainability Transition in a Rural-urban Context"

This workshop focuses on the role of impact assessment tools in a rural-urban planning context. Demographic change and the increasing urbanisation in Europe require the need for an improved understanding of the interfaces between rural and urban regions, particularly with regards to the demand and supply structures of ecosystem services. Tools can support the assessment in that they analyse and illustrate this interface. The workshop will focus on tools developed in two different research projects:

The research project PLUREL focuses on new strategies, methods and tools that are essential for developing sustainable rural-urban land use relationships. These strategies and toolswill support the analysis of urbanisation trends in the EU so that ways can be identified of both supporting this process and mitigating its negative impacts. In contrast to the general European approach of  PLUREL, SUSMETRO focuses on the role of food planning as one of the key services of Dutch metropolitan landscapes. The specific geographic and socio-economic characteristics of the Netherlands as one of the global Delta-Metropoles with a large area of peri-urban landscapes pose both challenges and opportunities when setting targets for sustainable development.

The workshop will be introduced by two presentations, followed by a discussion:

• Annette Piorr (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research): "PLUREL – Peri-urban Land Use Relationships  - Strategies and Sustainability Assessment Tools for Urban-rural Linkages"
• Dirk Wascher (Freie Universität Berlin): "SUSMETRO – Sustainable Perspectives for Metropolitan Regions. Impact Assessment Tools for Sustainable Planning and Decision Making"
• Chair: Katharina Helming (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research)