Students develop a creative museum game about urban ecology in Konstanz

Students develop a creative museum game about urban ecology in Konstanz

An innovative seminar entitled “Science telling. An urban ecology museum project” will take place in the Lake Constance Nature Museum in Konstanz on April 14, 2025. Students at the University of Konstanz are working on developing a museum game in cooperation with the Natural History Museum. Seminar leaders are Anke Klaaßen, nature educator, and Dr. Albert Kümmel-Schnur, literary and media scientist. The seminar is part of the comprehensive urban ecology project “The Forest Comes to the City,” which is funded by the Baden-Württemberg Foundation.

The aim of this project is to find new ways to convey museum content. In this context, the museum game is developed over two semesters. The form of the game has not yet been determined and will be developed gradually. Students benefit from the support of renowned game designers and game industry professionals. Some parts of the seminar take place publicly in the museum, so that visitors can directly observe the students at work.

Public interest and education for children

The developing work process is documented and presented in a small special exhibition on urban ecology. An accompanying supporting program for primary schools and kindergartens focuses on urban ecology and its creative implementation. In addition, the project “The Forest Comes to the City” was awarded the State Nature Conservation Prize on April 5, 2025.

The heart of the project is a twelve-part tree path in Konstanz, which extends from Sea Life to Zähringerplatz. The stations address important urban ecological topics, including animals and plants, tree life, garbage, air pollution and climate change. The content is narratively linked in such a way that it is aimed particularly at children between the ages of 4 and 10. A story told in a picture book forms the basis for the planned game.

In another creative element, Kümmel-Schnur and Klaaßen will make a puppet film that will premiere in the seminar and later be shown in the exhibition. This is intended to underline the connection between science and artistic expression.

The importance of the Leiner Herbarium

Another important project in the city is the preservation of the herbarium that Ludwig Leiner (1830–1901), a pharmacist and city councilor in Konstanz, left behind. Leiner was the founder of the Rosgarten Museum and provided the city with a valuable plant collection with around 20,000 specimens, which mainly includes ferns and flowering plants from southern Germany. This collection is an important legacy of the Botanical Working Group Südwestdeutschland e.V., which worked on the restoration and cataloging of this collection between 2001 and 2004 with financial support from the Baden-Württemberg Nature Conservation Fund Foundation.

Many additional collections were added by the Leiner family, who were active from approximately 1820 to 1950. These valuable holdings can now be viewed online. A publication documenting the restoration and cataloging of the herbarium was published in 2004 and contains 278 pages.

In addition, the University of Konstanz attaches great importance to training specialists in the field of urban ecology. The master's program in urban ecology requires a first professional university degree in related disciplines such as ecology, environmental planning or urban and regional planning. The language of instruction is both German and English, although applicants with foreign educational qualifications must demonstrate knowledge of German.

The extensive initiatives in Konstanz demonstrate the commitment of the city and its educational institutions to environmental education and urban ecological topics. They not only promote scientific debate, but also the creative communication of complex content to younger generations.