My name is Davide Brocchi, and I am an independent sociologist based in Cologne, Germany. My research – both theoretical and practice-oriented – focuses on processes of societal transformation, with a particular emphasis on social and cultural sustainability.
I was born in Rimini, Italy, in 1969 and grew up between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennines. I studied Philosophy, Sociology, and Psychology at the Universities of Bologna and Düsseldorf, and obtained my doctorate from the Institute for Cultural Policy at the University of Hildesheim.
Since moving to Germany in 1992, I have worked in a wide range of contexts – collaborating, for example, with communal culture offices and social movements, with universities and neighbourhood initiatives. In addition to being a researcher and author, I also work as a lecturer and consultant, as a facilitator of transformation processes and systemic supervisor.
My biography combines the question of local rootedness with the intellectual mobility and changing perspectives of the migrant. For me, sustainability is not only about innovation, but also involves preservation and exnovation – since every solution requires the capacity to let go of the problem. I understand and seek to facilitate social transformation as both an individual and a collective learning process. I have initiated, developed, and supported the co-creation of living labs in various regions, cities, and neighbourhoods – based on broad networks and new alliances, including citizen–public partnerships. My idea of an annual »Day of the Good Life« (Tag des guten Lebens) as a catalyst for participatory transformation towards sustainability in cities has been realised each year in Cologne (since 2013), Berlin (since 2020) and Wuppertal (since 2021). In 2017, the initiative was awarded the »Federal Award for Neighborhood Associations«.
How can we live together peacefully in all our diversity on a finite planet? This is one of the central questions of our century – and of my publications. Border walls and defence strategies will not protect us from growing environmental disorder, as its key drivers lie within our own societies.
Neither artificial intelligence nor electric vehicles will save the world. My publications propose a broad understanding of sustainability – closely linked to resilience and a good life that does not come at the expense of others. Sustainability requires cooperation over competition, a plural economy instead of a neoliberal monoculture, and bridges rather than walls.
Every great transformation in human history has been preceded and accompanied by a cultural revolution. I show why the same holds true for the sustainability transformation – and why education, science, the arts and the media play a central role in it.
Available from early 2026
Impulse für eine nachhaltige Transformation als soziale und kulturelle Aufgabe. Bei Fragen oder Interesse an einer Zusammenarbeit nehmt bitte Kontakt auf. Ich freue mich darauf!
Copyright © 2025 Dr. Davide Brocchi