My name is Davide Brocchi. I am an independent social scientist researching processes of societal transformation in both theory and practice, with a particular focus on social and cultural sustainability. My work explores, among other things, how systemic resilience can be strengthened in times of polycrisis and how a good life can become possible without coming at the expense of others, including future generations and the natural world.
My work brings together analysis, practical experience and public engagement. Alongside my activities as a researcher, author and lecturer, I support transformation processes as individual and collective learning processes in social and cultural institutions, initiatives and organisations, as well as in cities and regions.
I was born in 1969 in Rimini, Italy, and grew up in a rural community between the Adriatic coast and the Apennine Mountains. My formative years were shaped by Italy’s socio-cultural movement (ARCI), the environmental and peace movements, and student collectives. In 1992, I moved to Germany and have been living in Cologne since 2007. After studying philosophy (including under Umberto Eco), sociology and psychology at the Universities of Bologna and Düsseldorf, I completed a doctorate at the Institute for Cultural Policy at the University of Hildesheim. In recent years, I have also completed professional trainings in Systemic Supervision at the INeKO Institute of the University of Cologne and in Change Management at the ibo Akademie in Wettenberg.
My biography combines a concern for local rootedness with the intellectual mobility and shifting perspectives of the migrant. For me, sustainability is not only about innovation; it also involves preservation and exnovation. After all, every solution requires the capacity to detach oneself from the problem.
I understand and seek to facilitate social transformation as both an individual and a collective learning process. For many years, I have initiated, developed and supported the co-creation of participatory living labs and experimental spaces for alternatives in neighbourhoods, municipalities and regions. These initiatives are based on broad civic networks and innovative alliances, including citizen–public partnerships between residents and institutions.
My idea of the annual »Day of the Good Life« (Tag des guten Lebens) as a catalyst for participatory urban transformation towards sustainability has been realised every year in Cologne since 2013, in Berlin since 2020 and in Wuppertal since 2021. The initiative demonstrates how public space can become a place of learning, dialogue and experimentation, fostering peaceful coexistence in diversity on a finite planet. In recognition of this work, I received the »Dialog Kölner Klimawandel« Award in 2011. In 2017 the Cologne initiative was awarded the First »German Neighbourhood Prize« (Deutscher Nachbarschaftspreis).
How can a finite being such as the human person cope with complexity? How can we transform the very culture in which we ourselves have been socialised? Questions such as these lie at the heart of my research on societal transformation. I advocate a systemic and critical approach, focusing on spatial development and ownership, power and inequality, democracy and participation, as well as education, media and cultural diversity. These themes are explored in my book »By Disaster or by Co-Design? Sustainability Transformation as Social and Cultural Challenge« (2026).
Practice offers some of the most valuable opportunities for learning how sustainable transformation can work. Through the scientific monitoring and evaluation of processes and projects, I seek to document, reflect upon and share new experiences, insights and lessons. This work has informed publications such as »Urban Transformation« (2017) and »Great Transformation within the Neighbourhood« (2019). Selected books, studies, articles and essays can be consulted and downloaded via this website.
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 © 2026 Dr. Davide Brocchi
