about us
creative sustainability tours berlin are coordinated by
id22: Institute for Creative Sustainability.
our philosophy
These pioneering tours help you discover Berlin’s unique, local initiatives – not the tourist highlights:
open-source-urbanism, grassroots projects including cooperative housing, community gardens, ecological architecture, self-organized cultural spaces and much more. These best practices demonstrate that social ecology, transformation and sustainability are not just academic concepts, but a visible part of our daily lives in Berlin.
creative sustainability tours berlin are suitable for both residents and visitors, experts, students, activists as well as youth, and are presented in both English and German (other languages by request).
our guides
Dr. Michael A. LaFond
I am a multidisciplinary independent working at the intersections of common good and collective ownership in the urban lab known as Berlin.
My projects begin with the theory and practice of social ecology, emphasizing dialogue, self-organization and local urban initiatives.
Important to me are strategies of community development and conviviality.
I coordinate a range of educational services, networking events and publications exploring Cooperatives and CoHousing as well as related fields like Community Land Trusts and Community Gardening in the context of a post-growth, democratic urban development. Projects include the new interactive eBook SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL COOPERATIVE HOUSING, CoHousing Cultures, EXPERIMENTDAYS, CoHousing-Berlin, CoHousing Inclusive, Creative Sustainability Tours, etc.
Personally active for decades with Community-Led Housing and for years with the Stadtbodenstiftung, Berlin’s CLT – a nonprofit, urban land foundation. Since 2011 involved in the development of the Spreefeld Housing Cooperative as well as the Spreeacker initiative with its edible landscapes and food forests. Happily at home in the Spreefeld’s Spree WG 1 shared-living group.
Inés Lauber
Inés Lauber operates at the intersection of design, art and gastronomy. She runs her own food design studio, which deals with food culture on all levels. Among other things, she organizes dinners, pop-up restaurants or bars. Inés uses only local, organic and preferably seasonal ingredients.
In the context of our Tours, she can lead groups on topics such as Urban Farming and Urban Gardening, Sustainable Urban Development and Architecture, and Alternative Living and Housing. She is also our expert in the context of Edible Urban Nature and Wild Herbs and can lead tours to many interesting places in the city.
She also offers workshops in Zero Waste and climate friendly cooking, Urban Gardening as well as cooking with wild herbs.
André Sacharow
André Sacharow conducts practical research into the various approaches to community-development and, self-organization (“commons”) in Berlin and the role cooperatives play in this. In his project development work with a cooperative, he looks in particular at the significant history of self-organization in Berlin and how community housing models can be more than just a niche. In the past years, he helped found the Stadtbodenstiftung and was active in neighborhood organizations.
