URBAN DESIGN STUDIO, WS 2018/2019
Prof. Dr. Philipp Misselwitz, Aine Ryan

For what it's worth II

The Great Transformation

By 2050, 70% of the world’s population is likely to live in city-like concentrations. Our climate will have radically changed and natural resources will have dramatically depleted. Digitalisation will even more profoundly impact on how we communicate with each other and organize our societies. Much of this future remains uncertain although we know for sure that radical change is immanent. What impact will this have on Berlin neighbourhoods? What are the right strategies to respond to uncertain change here and now?

The urban design studio returns to the Mühlenkiez district in Prenzlauerberg building on the results and close networks with local residents groups, the district administration and planning experts of the previous studio. Urban transformation and new housing continue to be our focal points. This year, however, we will look at the site from a speculative vantage point of the year 2050. How can this perspective help to inform our decisions for the more immediate future? What transformation knowledge (existing and new) is required to prepare our cities for radical change? Can the Mühlenkiez be considered an experimental model ‘ecological and social’ urban quartier which guides transitioning?

The studio will be taught in collaboration with ‘dieNachwachsendeStadt’ network. The Urban Design Studio was awarded the 2018 prize for exemplary teaching by Die Gesellschaft von Freunden der TU Berlin.