Lecture Series, WiSe 2024/25
Prof. Anke Hagemann, Prof. Dr. Philipp Misselwitz

Global City Local Spaces 

Cities do not develop as planners want: Since the origins of modern planning the discipline struggles to position itself between the paradigm of control and the more messy reality of application. With the critique of modernist planning, new approaches and role definitions have been formulated which expose planning not as an isolated, hermetic discipline, but as a complex, dynamic, multi-disciplinary, situated and mostly open-ended process involving a multitude of voices and actors.

Photo © Gaoli Xiao

Decision-making in planning is deeply influenced by broader political and societal contexts, while urban managers, politicians and a multitude of private and public actors exert control over many urban processes and sites.
This lecture series will focus on different theoretical and analytical approaches to urban settlements, global urbanisation and transformation as well as on the practice of urban planning. It is structured in three blocks, addressing key questions such as: How can one define the urban as a field of inquiry and planning practice in a planetary perspective? How is the knowledge base of planning generated by different disciplines and across geographies of expertise and power? How can one build an understanding of the co-production of urban space as a toolbox for more inclusive, sustainable and just planning and design strategies?

The principle of making the co-production and the open borders of urban planning knowledge explicit also informs the set-up of the lecture series: In order to represent the spectrum of approaches to urban design and research at Habitat Unit, the lecture brings together multiple voices of researchers and practitioners in the fields of planning, architecture, urban studies and sociology. Students are encouraged to develop a (self)critical awareness of the broader context and multidisciplinary field in which planners operate. This should facilitate (not limit) his/ her creative involvement in forging more beautiful, just, and sustainable urban environments.

Download poster here.