City Planning - Architecture - Society

Editors: Prof. Dr. Harald Bodenschatz, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Barbara Schönig

ISSN 2191-0472

City planning and architecture shape every step of our everyday life. They open up scope, but also restrict it. Traditionally, few people - owners, entrepreneurs, politicians, administrators - decide on urban development and architecture. They decide within the framework of the given social conditions and according to their interests and abilities, and despite democratic structures, by no means always to the satisfaction of the population. Today, city planning and architecture are increasingly becoming the subject of broad social debate. This in turn changes the decision-making processes. This is fundamentally to be welcomed. For social debate is necessary - especially in view of the current dramatic challenges facing city planning and architecture.
We all know: Our cities are undergoing profound economic and social change. The more or less precise keywords of this change are climate change, energy shortages, globalization, an aging society, increasing social differentiation, dwindling public resources, partial shrinkage of cities. Central features of post-war industrial societies, such as relatively short periods of education, clearly defined lifestyles of certain age groups, stable jobs, a certain daily rhythm, a certain annual rhythm, long-term partner relationships, a firm place in political and social institutions, comparatively stable sources of public sector income, low energy prices, etc. are disappearing. But what these changes mean for architecture and city planning in detail is anything but clear. What is sustainable architecture, sustainable urban development? What should city planning and architecture do for society in the future? This has to be discussed critically, new objectives have to be worked out in open discourse, the right ways and means have to be fought over together.
The dispute about one's own city, one's own district, one's own street or one's own house is often conducted in isolation: Not In My Backyard (NIMBY), as the Americans like to say. Such an attitude is not very sustainable, but it can also draw attention to fundamental problems. What is needed above all are strategies that benefit the entire city, the entire city region, and ultimately the entire planet. In order to be able to lead this dispute successfully, comprehensive knowledge, an intensive exchange of historical and international experiences is required.
This series of publications on the tension between city planning, architecture, and society aims to contribute to this.

The editors:
Harald Bodenschatz:
Studied sociology, political science, psychology and economics in Munich and Berlin. Since 1972 teaching at the RWTH Aachen and the TU Berlin. 1978 Doctorate on the topic "Urban land reform in Italy. The debate on land law and Bolognese municipal planning" at the University of Oldenburg. 1986 Habilitation at the TU Berlin with the habilitation thesis "Platz frei für das neue Berlin! History of urban renewal since 1871". 1995 Appointed Professor of Planning and Architectural Sociology at the TU Berlin; Visiting Professorships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1997) and Lima, Peru (2000). Since 1980 work as an urban planner (specialising in the preservation of historic city centres), from 2004 - 2009 spokesperson of the Schinkel Centre for Architecture, Urban Research and Monument Preservation, since 2005 member and since 2009 spokesperson of the Transatlantic Research Training Group Berlin - New York "History and Culture of Metropolises in the 20th Century". Main areas of research: Urban redevelopment and urban preservation, centre planning in post-industrial society, urban planning in suburban space, urban development and dictatorship.

Barbara Schönig:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. M.A., literary scholar and graduate engineer in urban planning. 2009 PhD at the TU Berlin, since 2002 research assistant at the TU Berlin (Department of Planning & Architectural Sociology), since 2009 at the TU Darmstadt (Department of Spatial and Infrastructure Planning), since 12/2009 research assistant at the TU Darmstadt (Department of Spatial and Infrastructure Planning); since 2012 Professor of Urban Planning at the Bauhaus University Weimar. Main areas of research: Suburbanisation and reurbanisation; governance and planning in metropolitan regions; civil society and planning; urban development in the USA.