The Common Grounds Lab is dedicated to the research, design, and reflection of communicative spaces in regional, particularly rural contexts. It focuses on forms of public participation, cultural negotiation processes, and digital transformation – always with an emphasis on what is shared: shared spaces, shared concerns, shared responsibilities.

The lab positions itself as an open space for interdisciplinary collaboration, co-creative research, and dialogue between academia, cultural practice, and civil society.

The goal of the Common Grounds Lab is to develop concepts, methods, and formats that make communicative participation in rural regions visible, negotiable, and shapeable. It engages both with the analysis of regional publics and with the collaborative exploration of new communicative practices – at the intersection of research, knowledge transfer, and regional cultural work.

As a platform for experimental approaches, long-term collaborations, and context-sensitive research, the lab contributes not only to describing regional communicative spaces, but to rethinking them together with local actors. Central questions include:

• How are publics constituted in regional contexts?
• What conditions foster participation?
• How can digital transformation be understood and shaped in place-based ways?

The Common Grounds Lab practices research as public engagement: It seeks to create an open and accessible academic practice, actively engages in dialogue with diverse publics, is rooted in local contexts, and aims to generate meaningful social impact.

Team: Ricarda Drüeke, Corinna Peil, Elke Zobl

Activities:

ETHNOFARM: Generationendynamiken und AgriTech-Transformation. Gefördert vom FWF 1000-Ideen-Programm (Ricarda Drüeke, Corinna Peil). Link zur Projekt Website