KLIMAKARTEN: Visualisation of Local Climate Futures

A collaboration between the daily newspaper "taz" and UCLAB aimed at communicating future climate scenarios through various channels using data visualisations. To this end, both physical and digital postcards featuring visualisations of various aspects of climate protection in Germany were designed and produced.

Fünf Karten mit Visualisierungen zu Energie, Mobilität, Abfall, Landwirtschaft und Gebäude

Project status:

finalised

Period:

30/04/2022 – 27/02/2023

Type:

Research project

Profile:

Digital Space – Data, Interaction, Knowledge

Organisational Unit:

Course:

Interface Design (BA)

Cooperation partners:

taz Verlags und Vertriebs GmbH

Project participants:

Jean-Philipp Baeck Marian Dörk Anna Eschenbacher Johanna Hartmann Jelene Malkowski Francesca Morini Lalon Sander Luise Strothmann

How well is Germany doing in containing the climate crisis? Where is the most progress being made? In which sectors does more need to be done? To answer these questions, climate protection postcards can be explored for all 401 German districts and all 16 federal states in the five areas of energy, mobility, buildings, agriculture and waste. The digital maps are available interactively on websites and in social media. The physical maps are displayed in public places such as cafés in Potsdam and Berlin as well as on the campus of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

The aim of our research is to investigate how readers engage with data visualisations on the topic of climate protection - across different media channels. A central requirement is that the communication of climate change does not trigger fear, anaesthesia or even shock among readers, but rather arouses interest and they engage with climate change and its effects on the spot.

The research is embedded in the BMBF project "VIDAN: Visual and dynamic arrangements of news", which is investigating the potential of interactive data visualisations to communicate complex issues.