Urban development, land use planning and design processes

The Research Group of Urban Development, Land Use Planning and Design Processes deals with current issues of urban development, the transformation of city and landscape and the restructuring processes of entire urban quarters and individual locations in teaching and research. At the chair urban planning, land use planning and design processes are integratively linked with each other. Research and teaching focus on the development and communication of spatial and, above all, urban design qualities and their implementation.

For the transformation and intergenerational justice of urban and rural living environments, urban planning and land use planning are essential components for the spatial shaping and design of spatial planning and urban development. As two sides of the same coin, urban planning and land use planning form the basis of the built environment we experience every day: the physical and social quality expressed in space and the normative determination that conditions it. Spatial planning operates at the intersection between engineering and social sciences. Urban design, in turn, constitutes the interface with artistic and creative disciplines. For us, it is crucial to educate on these interfaces and to advance the integration of interdisciplinary perspectives in research but also in teaching.

• Inter- and transdisciplinarity: Urban design is already an interdisciplinary field in which spatial and urban planners have a cross-sectional function. In order to accomplish the ongoing task of transformation, cities and regions must be understood as a common intersection of the many disciplines involved. In view of the differentiating landscapes of actors and specifications, this function must be further developed on the basis of a multi-layered disciplinary understanding. Thus, we at the research group Urban Design Unit (SBP), rely on inter- and transdisciplinary teaching and research constellations.

• Process design: Equally important is the ability to communicate purposefully in this intersection. A processual understanding of urban design and land use planning will increasingly be an essential qualification of people working with cities, space and planning. In dealing with future challenges such as climate adaptation, demographic change, digitization, sustainability, environmental and equal opportunity, knowledge of process design is essential, especially with regard to transversal, i.e. broadly accessible and participatory planning procedures and the associated actors and forms of cooperation. It is important to understand these complex interrelationships in order to be able to intervene them in an innovative and future-oriented way.