Chapter 12
Knowledge Management
for Sustainability: The Spatial Dimension
of Higher Education as an Opportunity
for Land Management
Jens Schulz, Thomas Köhler, and Thomas Weith
Abstract The production and dissemination of knowledge are seen as essential
elements of sustainable land management (Salet 2014; Kaiser et al. 2016). Digitalisation creates a variety of opportunities for knowledge creation and communication. Knowledge cooperation and digitalisation for governance of land is a concept
coined by the various and perhaps diverse interests of diverse stakeholders. In the
era of digitalisation, new developments trigger further changes that may be of a
challenging nature. However, digitalisation also offers innovative options for collaborative activity in land use, bringing together these diverse interests and eventually
enabling new patterns of collaboration. The authors address principal patterns of
collaboration in multi-stakeholder networks that have only recently been considered meaningful for research. Concepts from both domains—higher education and
land management—are advantageously combined, allowing new interpretations of
spatial and digital artefacts. Digitalisation is dramatically changing the knowledgerelated domain itself at the end of the 2010s. Besides encouraging new teaching and
learning activities, new technologies also have an impact on knowledge spaces and
on the institutional and personnel knowledge carriers established therein. However,
the institutional and sectoral development of academic education practice has rarely
been addressed in the context of higher education research. To illustrate the new
way in which knowledge management is directed under such conditions, the authors
briefly present digital networks from both sectors. Obviously, different layers of
J. Schulz
Institute of Knowledge Transfer and Digital Transformation, University of Applied Sciences,
Technikumplatz 17, Mittweida, Germany
e-mail: Schulz3@hs-mittweida.de
T. Köhler (B)
Faculty of Education, TU Dresden, Weberplatz 5, Dresden, Germany
e-mail: Thomas.Koehler@tu-dresden.de
T. Weith
Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie, University of Potsdam, Campus-Golm,
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, Potsdam 14476, Germany
e-mail: Thomas.Weith@zalf.de
Working Group “Co-Design of Change and Innovation”, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural
Landscape Research, Eberswalder Str. 84, Müncheberg 15374, Germany
© The Author(s) 2021
T. Weith et al. (eds.), Sustainable Land Management in a European Context,
Human-Environment Interactions 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50841-8_12
227
Knowledge Management
for Sustainability: The Spatial Dimension
of Higher Education as an Opportunity
for Land Management
Jens Schulz, Thomas Köhler, and Thomas Weith
Abstract The production and dissemination of knowledge are seen as essential
elements of sustainable land management (Salet 2014; Kaiser et al. 2016). Digitalisation creates a variety of opportunities for knowledge creation and communication. Knowledge cooperation and digitalisation for governance of land is a concept
coined by the various and perhaps diverse interests of diverse stakeholders. In the
era of digitalisation, new developments trigger further changes that may be of a
challenging nature. However, digitalisation also offers innovative options for collaborative activity in land use, bringing together these diverse interests and eventually
enabling new patterns of collaboration. The authors address principal patterns of
collaboration in multi-stakeholder networks that have only recently been considered meaningful for research. Concepts from both domains—higher education and
land management—are advantageously combined, allowing new interpretations of
spatial and digital artefacts. Digitalisation is dramatically changing the knowledgerelated domain itself at the end of the 2010s. Besides encouraging new teaching and
learning activities, new technologies also have an impact on knowledge spaces and
on the institutional and personnel knowledge carriers established therein. However,
the institutional and sectoral development of academic education practice has rarely
been addressed in the context of higher education research. To illustrate the new
way in which knowledge management is directed under such conditions, the authors
briefly present digital networks from both sectors. Obviously, different layers of
J. Schulz
Institute of Knowledge Transfer and Digital Transformation, University of Applied Sciences,
Technikumplatz 17, Mittweida, Germany
e-mail: Schulz3@hs-mittweida.de
T. Köhler (B)
Faculty of Education, TU Dresden, Weberplatz 5, Dresden, Germany
e-mail: Thomas.Koehler@tu-dresden.de
T. Weith
Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie, University of Potsdam, Campus-Golm,
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, Potsdam 14476, Germany
e-mail: Thomas.Weith@zalf.de
Working Group “Co-Design of Change and Innovation”, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural
Landscape Research, Eberswalder Str. 84, Müncheberg 15374, Germany
© The Author(s) 2021
T. Weith et al. (eds.), Sustainable Land Management in a European Context,
Human-Environment Interactions 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50841-8_12
227