From "Planning and Building in Developing Countries" to "International Urbanism": A critical history of teaching and research at German universities on planning and building in a global context from the 1960s to 2015 – Topics, Influences, Paradigm Shifts, Actors

• Applicant: Dr.-Ing. Dan Teodorovici
• Subject Area: City Planning, Spatial Planning, Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, Landscape Planning ; Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 504972019

A comprehensive critical study of the development of research and teaching on „International Urbanism“ at German universities is a research desideratum. The complexity and scope of the topic call for limitation, though. The present project thus suggests to focus on the development at West German universities from the origins of the discipline in the 1960s to a landmark of the recent present, the adoption of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the UN in 2015. Thanks to its professional expertise and its basic inter- and transdisciplinary orientation, International Urbanism should to be able to provide decisive impulse for advancing global sustainable urban development according to the SDGs. Teaching and research at architecture and urban planning faculties in Germany have recently experienced an increase in internationalization and interdisciplinary collaboration, across a wide range of chairs. Chairs that date back to the pioneering work on „planning and building in developing countries“ of the 1960s and 1970s make an important contribution. The current term „International Urbanism“ suggests a thematic and structural development with broadening horizons (strategic planning, participation, globalization, climate change, migration, informality, gender-responsive planning, urban governance, empowerment, etc.). The development of this discipline raises multi-faceted questions: (1) about causes, contexts, structures, networks, key figures, and interactions; (2) about institutionalization and professionalization in the university context; (3) about content-related, strategic, and methodological paradigm shifts of the discipline, and (4) about the scientific applicability of the research results. This research project traces these topics from a critical-historical perspective and with empirical methods of analysis: literature research, archival studies and expert interviews with German and international contemporary witnesses. The scope and diversity of the subject complex suggest that its developmental strands should be examined using selected case studies. and their consideration should in turn be embedded in the national and international context. Institutions at three universities which have are now among the leading German chairs in the field of International Urbanism commend themselves as case studies: Institutions at the Faculties of Architecture and Urban Development at the TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt and the University of Stuttgart. Research findings will be discussed at a project-specific workshop at the University of Stuttgart. The research report is then to form the basis for a book publication (German-English) by transcript-Verlag.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants