Climate change is increasingly affecting cities, municipalities and rural regions. The danger of a decline in the quality of life due to heat islands or damage caused by heavy rainfall events, floods and dry periods therefore requires a change in urban and regional planning with a focus on a more targeted use of water as a resource – because climate change also means water change. Municipalities and cities that can absorb water like a sponge in the event of heavy rainfall and later release the stored water during longer dry periods are of increasing global significance.

On 15 November, the 3rd Hof Water Symposium of the Institute for Sustainable Water Systems took place at the Bavarian State Office for the Environment and presented the results of the research project SPORE (Smart SPOngeREgion Upper Frankonia) that is being financed by the Wilo-Foundation (here: as a Trustee of the WILO-Stiftung) and Hof University of Applied Sciences and is currently exploring such climate change adaptation measures. At the same time, concrete measures were developed in five pilot projects and evaluated continuously. In September, for instance, Germany’s first “purple roof” was installed at the Schauenstein primary school in the district of Hof. The purple roof is an innovative green roof concept that, compared with traditional green roofs, significantly improves water retention capacity.

In front of an audience of 80 guests, which included Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. Jürgen Lehmann (President of Hof University of Applied Sciences), Dr. Oliver Bär (District Administrator of Hof County), Eva Döhla (Mayor of the City of Hof) and also Thomas Lang (WILO SE) and David Höltgen (Wilo-Foundation), the project manager Prof. Günter Müller-Czygan of Hof University of Applied Sciences talked about the complex topic of the “sustainable sponge city and sponge region” and its systematic monitoring. The research findings show that all climate change adaptation measures have to take into account multiple perspectives and also require a holistic complexity analysis. 

The project was supported by the research groups of the Institute for Sustainable Water Systems at Hof University of Applied Sciences (abbreviated as inwa), which also included Nirupama Nair and Jasmine Mundackal, two Germany scholarship holders sponsored by the Wilo-Foundation (here as Trustee of the WILO-Stiftung) having successfully completed their Master’s course and earned their M.Sc. in Sustainable Water Management. The project collected the different solutions and activities across the state of Bavaria and Germany and made them available in a structured format. In addition, different further education, training and coaching offers were organised in the last few months with urban planners, architects and community actors for instance, enabling participants to aqcuire or enhance the necessary skills.

The Symposium also marked the launch of the Competence and Transfer Center Sustainable Sponge City and Region (KTnS) at Hof University of Applied Sciences. The President of Hof University of Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. Jürgen Lehmann, together with Prof. Dr. Manuela Wimmer and Prof. Günter Müller-Czygan, inaugurated the Center. It will store the acquired sponge knowledge and also offer advisory and coaching services for the planning of sponge city measures.