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On Wednesday, 2 July 2025, the transSCAPE team cordially invites you to the fifth Town Hall Meeting. This open format brings together stakeholders from the the academic, urban, and cultural communities to actively shape the future of Magdeburg's Port of Science.

A student agency will be created in the coming years as part of the transSCAPE workshop. This year, for the first time, its focus areas will be piloted: spatial localisation and forms of cooperation with partners outside the university.

The event starts at 5 pm on the site of historic ships in Magdeburg's Port of Science. Visitors will experience the current changes around the northern harbour area and discover the newly designed culture beds - an instrument created as part of the urban development funding in Magdeburg Neustadt that combines urban gardening with creative interim use. You can also look forward to the results of two semesters of transdisciplinary university teaching, including findings on the biodiversity of bean varieties and the question of how generations can learn together. Last but not least, you will gain insights into the history of the former commercial harbour, artistic stagings of its transformation as well as student project plans and visions for the future of a medical technology ecosystem in the Port of Science.

During the programme and after it closes at 7 pm, visitors can meet up in a relaxed atmosphere with cool drinks at Café Treibgut.

Join us for a participatory workshop with Dr Christina Horvath exploring the entangled legacies of colonialism, plant transfers, and Western scientific thinking as they are embedded in the landscapes of Magdeburg. Taking place in the Gruson-Gewächshäuser and the adjacent Klosterbergegarten, this session invites participants to reflect critically on how our lives and environments have been shaped by 18th- and 19th-century colonial travels, botanical collecting, and imperial knowledge systems. We will use methods of Co-Creation to facilitate "multispecies placemaking," expanding the concept of community to include non-human species. The workshop will integrate theories of decoloniality, multispecies and socially engaged art to discuss co-creation and participation from a multispecies perspective.

Together, we will consider three key questions:

• How have we lost our connection to earlier cosmologies through colonialism?
• How can we find and support nature in the city – enhancing biodiversity and sustainability?
• How might rethinking erased spiritual and cultural relationships with nature help us imagine more just and sustainable futures?

In preparation for the workshop, we ask participants to visit the site beforehand and select one feature — a plant, building, or monument — that stands out. Consider any potential colonial or global connections it may have. Take a photo or make a drawing, conduct some preliminary research, and write a short text (ca. 100–150 words) describing what you found and why it matters. Please upload your work to our shared Padlet (link to be provided upon registration).

Workshop Structure:

• Meeting point: Entrance to Gruson-Gewächshäuser (Schönebecker Straße 129b, 39104 Magdeburg)
• 14:00–15:00: Collaborative creation of a decolonial walking guide using participants' material
• 15:00–16:00: Performative group walk: sharing and reciting texts on site

The workshop outcomes will contribute to the creation of a downloadable, self-guided tour of the area that offers new, decolonial ways of seeing and moving through Magdeburg’s green spaces.

This workshop is open to all and does not require prior knowledge of decolonial theory or botany — just curiosity and a willingness to reimagine the world around us. If you are interested in joining, please register until 20 June 2025 via mail to PD Dr Nora Pleßke ().

Dr Christina Horvath is a Reader in the Department of Politics, International Studies and Languages at the University of Bath. Between 2021 and 2023, she led the Botanical Encounters project, which critically engaged with plants and green spaces from socio-historical and cultural perspectives. The project explored how botanical knowledge has evolved over time and how it has been shaped by history, global exchanges, and the displacement of plants from their original contexts. It included a talk series, five urban walks, and five art workshops, culminating in a collective exhibition featuring works by ten artists. Christina also designed a decolonial walking map of St James’s Park, London, and - together with Dr Ben Van Praag and a group of students - co-created the walk Bath’s Uncomfortable Past, which uncovers some of the city’s entanglements with transatlantic slavery.

Dr Sally Flint and Professor Corinna Wagner, University of Exeter, will host a workshop on 14 May 2025 titled "Entanglements and Transformations: Creative Writing and Eco-Art" from 2pm to 4pm (full two hours!) at Magdeburg's Port of Science.  The workshop seeks to co-create new climate themed narratives that connect science, health, education, local/global experiences, observations, research, art, culture, facts and feelings to motivate action to restore and repair our planet. Be inspired to collage words, create images, write poems, stories, micro fiction, lyrics, rap, draw, cartoon, ... in this transdisciplinary workshop. There is no requirement to have done any creative writing before - or to share anything, unless you want to! Please bring pens, paper and your imagination; other art materials are provided. The workshop is free of charge and open to all interested parties but requires registration. A few spots are still open, those interested may please register with PD Dr Nora Pleßke ().

Workshop Plan

Part One: Building New Narratives

Part Two: Transforming Time, Image and Text

After the workshop writing and artwork can be submitted for weaving in the We Are the Possible programme’s anthology to be showcased in policy and public spaces at COP30 climate conference in Brazil (November 2025). (No one poem or story in the anthology will be attributed to one person, as the anthology is collaborative. Contributor’s and supporter’s names appear in an appendix.) Please direct email questions and submissions to: .

We Are the Possible is an international award-winning programme launched since COP26 that co-creates new narratives to imagine a liveable future for all. Working at the interface of science, health, education, culture and the arts, it has brought together millions of people around the world to reflect upon the plight of our planet and deliver a creative and inspiring response to catalyse climate action and solutions at COP Climate Change Conferences and beyond.
We Are the Possible creative outputs are at the heart of our pioneering approach, connecting policy makers, children, youth leaders, teachers and the public to forge a greener, healthier, and equitable Earth for all.

We Are the Possible COP30 anthology is funded by the Met Office UK and British Council and supported by the University of Exeter, UK and the Planetary Health Alliance. The creative writing and eco-art workshop in Magdeburg is sponsored by transSCAPE as part of the transPORT initiative.

Since 2017, the Inklings-Gesellschaft für Literatur und Ästhetik e.V. (Inklings Society for Literature and Aesthetics) has been publishing a newsletter in irregular cycles, which is dedicated to the review of fantastic primary texts. The Inklings Society was founded in 1983 and is primarily dedicated to the study and dissemination of the works of the Inklings, a group of authors around J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers, George MacDonald and G.K. Chesterton, but also to the analysis of the fantastic in literature, film and art in general.

From 2022 onwrds, the newsletter will be edited by Marthe-Siobhán Hecke, M.A., M.Ed. (University of Bonn), and Carsten Kullmann, M.A. (Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg), offerering a platform for the review of newly published primary texts (e.g. literature, film, series, etc.) that belong to a genre of the fantastic (e.g. fantasy, science fiction, horror, Gothic, dystopia). The editors are currently looking for student reviewers who would like to become part of the editorial team and contribute (academic) reviews of such primary texts for the newsletter. The reviews can be written in German or English. Review copies of literary works will be provided if possible. If you are interested, please contact Carsten Kullmann (). An overview of past newsletter issues can be found here.