The seventh annual emergenCITY Week took place on May 7–8, 2026, at the Lichtenberg-Haus in Darmstadt. Following successful editions since 2020, the event once again brought together researchers, partners, and guests to showcase the latest advances in resilient digital cities and crisis management research.
The event is part of the LOEWE Center emergenCITY, one of Hessen’s major interdisciplinary research initiatives on the resilience of digital cities and infrastructures, which will continue until the end of 2026.
With many persons attending throughout the two-day event, emergenCITY Week provided a platform for interdisciplinary exchange and presentations from all program areas. Professor Christian Reuter, Deputy Speaker of emergenCITY, introduced the INF program area and highlighted current research activities and collaborations.
Among the featured presentations, Markus Henkel from PEASEC presented recent research results on Smart Home Warnings, focusing on innovative approaches to improving warning communication and citizen preparedness in connected home environments.
Also the emergenCITY Collaboration Awards were announce. We are happy that PEASEC researchers are pat of the first and the second place:
The User Perspective on Island-Ready 6G Communication: A Survey of Future Smartphone Usage in Crisis-Struck Areas with Local Cellular Connectivity
Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) (Honorable Mentions) Yokohama, Japan.
How to stay Connected: Citizens’ Needs on Digital Self-Organization in Neighborhoods during a Crisis
Mensch und Computer 2025 – Workshopband . doi:10.18420/muc2025-mci-ws01-131
A special highlight of the event was the participation of Prof. Dr. Tina Comes (DLR and Delft University of Technology). As part of TU Darmstadt’s “Ruzena Bajcsy Lecture,” she delivered a keynote entitled “Navigating Uncertainty: AI and Decision Support for Crisis Management,” addressing the role of artificial intelligence and decision-support systems in handling complex crisis situations.
The event underlined the continued growth and impact of emergenCITY as a leading research initiative dedicated to strengthening the resilience of digital infrastructures and urban systems in times of crisis.
Further details can be found at: https://www.emergencity.de/
Fotos: Sacha Mannel
