A new group of 7 enthusiastic master students from Al-Faraby Kazakh National University, Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences and Department of Geography, Landmanagement and Cadastre visited Leipzig (in the faculty cooperation frame between the two universities) to attend actively at a WinterSchool on Planning and Mapping of Land Use in Leipzig organized by PD Burghard C. Meyer and GeoWerkstatt Leipzig e.V. in Leipzig. The WinterSchool was additionally supported by the lecturers Vera Schreiner and Ronny Schmidt and a visit in the landscape planning consultancy Adrian Landschaftsplanung. Here you can read more about our activities.
The third time this year GeoWerkstatt Leipzig e.V. organised a specialised WinterSchool for Kazakh geography master students interested in the theory and practice of land use mapping and in land use planning for a balanced and sustainable urban development. This WinterSchool, especially developed on the basis of the master students thesis thematic(s), was a mixture of theory in the classrooms holding topics important in geography and environmental sciences, GIS work with the computer, mapping and practice examples and discussions in environmental planning, data management, simple predictive modelling of landscape functions, landscape planning, water systems analysis and management and nature conservation.
The summer school holds content on:
• Environmental planning based on natural conditions and land use functions of new land use systems
• Landscape planning based on digital data, remote sensing and GiS
• Social and economic assessment of environmental ecology in ecosystem context
• Modern planning technologies on remote sensing and GIS data by optimisation of land use for agro-landscape purposes
• Water catchment assessment in context of quality and quantity of ecosystem services
• Low resource use planning in urban for recreation and tourism
• Landscape remediation in former lignite mining and former glacial/moraine areas around Leipzig
• Flood prediction and flood protection systems
• Nature conservation in floodplain forest
• Recreation area planning and problems in a growing city
The winter 2018 was dominated by the still ongoing strong meteorological, agricultural and ongoing hydrological drought in Europe. The participants learnt to investigate land uses based on biotope types and its mapping done on several field visits and practice units at Leipzig Harbour, Leipzig Plagwitz, Clara-Zetkin-Park, Marienbrunn, Rosenthal, Markkleeberg Mining lake region and active mining South East of Borna as well as in Leipzig City Centre. Units of practice rounded the learning in the classroom by theoretical and GIS classes as well as in the visit of landscape planning consultancy to demonstrate the practice in knowledge application.
It was a very successful WinterSchool activity.