Courses - Archive

Lecture / Anna Growe, Carsten Keller, Jens Knissel, Gert Rosenthal, René Sahm and Britta Jänicke / Details on HisPos

The module consists of four sub-modules in which lecturers from different disciplines explain current challenges and the fundamentals of architecture, construction and planning. A central concept is the notion of sustainability, which is explained in the lecture from an ecological, economic and sociological perspective. In this way, the multi-layered connections and dependencies between society and the environment that must be taken into account in planning, Design and building processes become visible.

The sub-module "Ecological principles of planning and building" (Knissel) deals with the main ecological consequences of planning and building and the relevant methodological and technical elements. From the settlement to the building, questions of energy-efficient and sustainable planning and construction are discussed and examined in depth. Current developments and reactions form a bridge to understanding the necessity of this knowledge.

The sub-module "Ecology and Environment" (Jänicke, Rosenthal, Sahm) introduces the basics of ecology and explains current challenges and the concept of sustainability in relation to different ecosystems such as forest and urban ecosystems.

The sub-module "Economic principles of planning and building" (Growe) introduces students to economic thinking. General economic principles, such as the functioning of markets and price formation, are dealt with first. Spatial dimensions of economic principles are then examined, such as regional structural change processes. Finally, new trends in economics that deal with the concept of sustainability are presented.

The sub-module "Sociology" (Keller) provides basic knowledge of a social science perspective on architecture and planning. Based on the question of what constitutes the sociological perspective on space, models of urban development, urban and regional types as well as social theory and methodological approaches are explained. Current challenges are explained on the basis of various developments such as socio-spatial segregation, gentrification processes and participation procedures.

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Urban and Regional Sociology has been concerned with structures and processes of residential segregation since the Chicago School. Residential segregation is understood as the unequal spatial distribution of population groups in cities according to characteristics such as social status, national origin or household structure. Segregation patterns therefore reflect the social structure of a society at a spatial level. The forms and extent of segregation vary considerably both historically and internationally.

After an introduction to the concept and measurement of segregation, the seminar will look at current developments in social and ethnic segregation, initially in German cities. Is the hoped-for trend towards a diverse urban society emerging, or do current developments of gentrification, reurbanization and devaluation of certain residential areas point to an increasingly fragmented city? In addition to a discussion of the causes and consequences of segregation, international comparisons will play a role in the seminar. An excursus on the segregation of animals in cities is also planned, for which Annette Voigt will be invited to the seminar. In preparation for the seminar, participants should be prepared to read and prepare texts, also in English.

Project / Helena Cermeño and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The project investigates suburbanization and peripheralization as interrelated phenomena from the perspective of urban sociology and urban planning. Suburbanization refers to the migration of people, businesses and services from urban centers to suburban areas, driven for example by the desire for better living conditions and economic opportunities (Altrock et al., 2024). In contrast, peripheralization describes the socio-economic marginalization of areas often located on the outskirts of cities, resulting in less investment and limited access to basic services (Kühn, 2016; Naumann & Reichert-Schick, 2013). The project looks at how these processes shape urban landscapes and community dynamics. Students will carry out small research projects that analyse selected aspects of suburbanization and/or peripheralization in Kassel and the surrounding area.

Research topics include comparative analyses of suburban growth patterns in Kassel, the effects of suburbanization on the urban core, the socio-economic characteristics of marginalized suburban communities or the effects of gentrification in suburban contexts. The project pursues a multidisciplinary approach that integrates spatial analysis, qualitative interviews and case studies. By examining the interplay between suburbanization and peripheralization, it also aims to develop an understanding of how economic and demographic changes and political decisions influence urban dynamics. Both English and German can be spoken in the seminar, which is why a willingness to read English-language texts is a prerequisite.

Project / Maik Kiesler and Carsten Keller /Details on HisPos

The city is both a concrete and vague object. Everyone has a clear image in mind, which is characterized by various aspects: for example, the building structure, the density of people and infrastructure or simply the location and size. But the lifestyle of city dwellers in contrast to suburban or rural dwellers is also often referred to. Ultimately, the image of the city between individual citizens or even scientific disciplines will have just as many similarities as differences. So what is the city?

The introductory project addresses this question using Kassel as an example. What are the characteristics of a city? Where does it begin, where does it end? How does it differ from other settlement areas? And who actually lives there and how? To answer these questions, the students will first work together on the theoretical foundations, the state of research and methodological approaches (such as observations, surveys, interviews). In small groups, they will then plan independent empirical studies, carry out field research and finally evaluate them. In this way, a multifaceted view of the urbanity of Kassel should ultimately provide an answer to the key question of the introductory project.

Lecture / Floris Bernhardt and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The aim is to introduce students to basic methods of qualitative and quantitative social research and to apply them to spatial research questions. Students should acquire the ability to develop a scientific question and implement it independently in a suitable empirical research design. In particular, the following content should be taught:

• Basic concepts of empirical social research as well as urban and regional research
• Conception of a research process: development of a research question, choice of methods, implementation and evaluation
• Qualitative and quantitative survey methods: qualitative interview, focus groups, (non-)participant observation, standardized survey
• Methods of (software-supported) qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Use of existing quantitative and qualitative data sets

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Gentrification, the upgrading of residential areas combined with the displacement of low-income groups, was first discussed in German urban research in the 1980s. Inner-city neighborhoods were the main sites of such gentrification processes, and some urban researchers spoke of a "renaissance of inner cities" (Häußermann and Siebel 1987: 11). The diagnosis of a "renaissance of the cities" and "reurbanization" was then coined above all in the 2000s, when large cities surprisingly began to grow again and the real estate upgrades began to spread from the inner cities to the entire housing stock of the cities. Seen in this light, the gentrification of residential areas appears to be the harbinger of a process that has now spread to entire cities.

On the one hand, the seminar will reconstruct this recent history of urban upgrading processes and discuss theoretical models and empirical findings on gentrification and reurbanization. On the other hand, the background, including in particular the so-called financialization of the housing market, will be examined in order to be able to assess which forms of control can counteract a further revaluation and valorization of the city and housing.

Block seminar/ Nitin Bathla / Details on HisPos

Traditional boundaries within landscape and urban studies have often hindered interdisciplinary dialog, sensory engagement, and imagination. "Researching Otherwise" seeks to explore the potential of employing sensory, collaborative, and restorative methodologies to create spaces for generating knowledge from diverse perspectives. These methodologies aim to bridge the gap between researchers and their subjects, fostering opportunities for transformative and regenerative futures.

The workshop will showcase innovative research methods including drawing, photography, sound recording, filmmaking, walking, and cartography. Through these approaches, participants will embark on journeys exploring multi-species environments, employing cinematic and performative modes of inquiry, uncovering hidden narratives within architectural spaces, and engaging in collaborative ethnographic studies with vulnerable communities.

Participants in the workshop will gain insights into creative research methodologies, opening up fresh avenues for comprehending and interacting with the built environment in meaningful and impactful ways.

Project / Floris Bernhardt and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

In the context of the current housing shortage, Olaf Scholz called for new districts: "For the whole of Germany, you could say that we probably need 20 new districts in the most sought-after cities and regions - just like in the 1970s" (Olaf Scholz 2023)

The project aims to ask whether these historical planning projects have the potential to answer the pressing housing issues of the present without falling victim to the social, infrastructural and ecological pitfalls of the past.

The participants in the project will also take a look into the past. The focus will be on the development of the neighborhoods and their original planning intentions. To this end, settlements from the 1950s to construction projects of the early 2000s will be examined. The aim is to develop a demarcation of the historical, social and structural developments by decade (50s, 60-70s, 80s, 90s-00s) and between East and West Germany and to work out their various conditions, potentials and problems in the present and for the future.

The procedure in the project involves smaller groups selecting one or more large housing estates according to these criteria and compiling detailed descriptions of the historical, social and structural aspects of the large housing estates. These descriptions are then used to develop concrete research questions that focus, for example, on the relationship between the current social and structural situation in comparison with the planning projects, the pursuit of guiding principles, the development of the social composition and the shaping of local neighborhood communities.

The final analysis of the research results will serve to compare, systematize and assess the opportunities, potentials and problems of the large housing estates and their planning bases for future urban development.

Lecture / Maik Kiesler, Anna Growe, Jens Knissel, Gert Rosenthal and René Sahm / Details on HisPos

The module consists of four sub-modules in which lecturers from different disciplines explain current challenges and the fundamentals of architecture, construction and planning. A central concept is the notion of sustainability, which is explained in the lecture from an ecological, economic and sociological perspective. In this way, the multi-layered connections and dependencies between society and the environment that must be taken into account in planning, Design and building processes become visible.

The sub-module "Ecological principles of planning and building" (Knissel) deals with the main ecological consequences of planning and building and the relevant methodological and technical elements. From the settlement to the building, questions of energy-efficient and sustainable planning and construction are discussed and examined in depth. Current developments and reactions form a bridge to understanding the necessity of this knowledge.

The sub-module "Ecology and Environment" (Rosenthal) introduces the basics of ecology and explains current challenges and the concept of sustainability in relation to different ecosystems such as forest and urban ecosystems.

The sub-module "Economic principles of planning and building" (Merkel) introduces students to economic thinking. The first sessions are dedicated to general questions such as the functioning of markets, the economic principle, aspects of economic ethics in relation to sustainability and the fundamentals of micro- and macroeconomics as applied to planning and construction. As the lecture progresses, external effects, economic cycles, cycles and crises, structural change and economic policy as well as facets of economic justice issues in their significance for planning and construction are discussed. Finally, typical issues of the real estate industry as well as regional and urban economics are dealt with.

The sub-module "Sociology" (Keller) provides basic knowledge of a social science perspective on architecture and planning. Based on the question of what constitutes the sociological perspective on space, models of urban development, urban and regional types as well as social theory and methodological approaches are explained. Current challenges are explained on the basis of various developments such as socio-spatial segregation, gentrification processes and participation procedures.

Block seminar / Alejandro de Castro Mazarro / Details on HisPos

Despite the recent emergence of renowned and impressive urban design projects within informal settlements worldwide, the enduring growth and resilience of slums present a significant epistemological challenge for spatial disciplines. To address this pressing issue, this seminar will combine theoretical and practical insights into pivotal episodes of international development planning and architecture addressing informality. Through the presentation of case studies and key texts, students will actively participate in structured debates, with each day featuring a themed introduction by the instructor and group reading preparations. The seminar's core focus will revolve around four historical debates concerning urban design's stance on informality within mainstream culture. To facilitate an in-depth understanding of these debates, the instructor will pose questions related to the assigned readings before and during each class lecture, ensuring students are well-prepared for robust discussions.

Block seminar / Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

Project / Timo Baldewein and Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

Children and young people are groups with their own needs. For example, in urban planning when it comes to planning public spaces or in social planning with regard to the provision of infrastructure such as youth centers. Urban research also has a genuine interest: for example, in the question of how the changing lifestyles of young generations are reflected spatially - and what role diversity (by age, gender, migration background or status) plays in this.

The project is dedicated to the social spaces of children and young people in Kassel. What form do they take, where are they located and how are they accepted? How are they differentiated according to social characteristics and different districts? And how can children and young people be more involved in the underlying social space planning?

To answer these questions, the students will first work together to develop the theoretical foundations, the state of research and the methodological approach to social space analysis by means of a quantitative survey. The empirical study in the form of an online survey will be designed, implemented and finally statistically evaluated in small groups formed according to subject areas.

The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Department for Child and Youth Development in the Youth Welfare Office of the City of Kassel, for whom the online survey is being conducted and who are actively accompanying the project as experts.

Project / Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

Children and young people are groups with their own needs. For example, in urban planning when it comes to planning public spaces or in social planning with regard to the provision of infrastructure such as youth centers. Urban research also has a genuine interest: for example, in the question of how the changing lifestyles of young generations are reflected spatially - and what role diversity (by age, gender, migration background or status) plays in this.

The introductory project is dedicated to the social spaces of children and young people in Kassel. What form do these take? How do they differentiate according to social characteristics and different districts? To answer these questions, the students will first work together on the theoretical foundations, the state of research and methodological approaches (especially those of social space analysis). In small groups, they will then plan independent empirical studies, carry them out in field research and finally evaluate them

The common basis for these empirical studies will be this year's survey on the social spaces of children and young people in Kassel. This will be carried out by the Youth Welfare Office of the City of Kassel and accompanied by the introductory project as a cooperation partner. Building on this, the small groups will pursue their own in-depth research interests using social science research methods such as observations, mapping or interviews. This will enable a social and spatial inventory of the contemporary social spaces of children and young people in Kassel.

Lecture / Helena Cermeño and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The aim is to introduce students to basic methods of qualitative and quantitative social research and to apply them to spatial research questions. Students should acquire the ability to develop a scientific question and implement it independently in a suitable empirical research design. In particular, the following content should be taught:

• Basic concepts of empirical social research as well as urban and regional research
• Conception of a research process: development of a research question, choice of methods, implementation and evaluation
• Qualitative and quantitative survey methods: qualitative interview, focus groups, (non-)participant observation, standardized survey
• Methods of (software-supported) qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Use of existing quantitative and qualitative data sets

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Less than 15 years lie between the German Empire and National Socialism at the beginning of the 20th century. Framed by two world wars, the period in which a republic first emerged in Germany was highly charged socially and characterized by political, cultural and economic upheavals and tensions. Nowhere are these tendencies more concentrated than in the cities: The big city becomes a central experience of time and space, making its mark on all cultural phenomena: from newspapers, radio and film to planning, architecture and everyday life. In retrospect, often glorified as the "Golden 20s" or celebrated nostalgically and frivolously as a "dance on the volcano", this period produced a large number of innovations that still characterize the conception of modern life today as a matter of course.

The seminar will explore this era with a focus on the capital of the Weimar Republic by examining various socio-cultural fields. In addition to innovations in everyday life, such as the emancipation of women and the emergence of an entertainment culture for broad sections of the population, we will take a look at literature, film and the visual arts in order to gain a deeper understanding of developments in urban planning and architecture. In addition to reading texts and a guest lecture, independent research assignments and possibly an excursion to Berlin are planned as part of the seminar.

Block seminar / Helena Cermeño / Details on HisPos

The growing multidisciplinary work of critical urban studies and southern urbanism is increasingly influencing urban governance and planning theory (Parida & Agrawal, 2022). In this context, Satgé and Watson (2018) ask: "how different do planning theory and practice need to be when it happens in different parts of the world?" Furthermore, "to what extent does planning require a deep understanding of the context in which it proposes to intervene, and how should this understanding shape what planners do?". These questions will guide this compact seminar, as we will critically reflect on a crucial point in planning in southern regions, that is, the tendency to "learn" from the Nort-West and export/import place-blind "best-practices" or "traveling planning ideas" (Healey, 2012) across the globe.

It is often assumed that "mainstream global urbanism" might transform postcolonial cities into prosperous centers of global capitalism-according to the neoliberal precept that capitalist market mechanisms, combined with private property and "good governance" constitute the key to prosperity. However, globalization has also gone hand in hand with growing marginalization and displacement of large sections of society, mostly-though not only-in countries of the so-called "Global South-East". In this context, Southern scholarship challenges modernization-inspired assumptions and urban governance systems, their embedded planning visions and practices, as well as their underlying knowledge production.

Against this backdrop, this seminar will introduce students to the growing literature on Southern Urbanism and the "southern turn(s)" in critical urban studies and planning-largely influenced by postcolonial and decolonial critiques. Drawing on case-studies from different continents students will learn emerging concepts such as "insurgent citizenship" (Holston, 2007), "insurgent planning" (Miraftab, 2009), "subaltern urbanism" (Roy, 2014; Roy & Ong, 2011), "political society" (Chatterjee, 2004), "calculated informality" (Roy, 2005, 2009), "people as infrastructures" (Simone, 2004, 2021), "pirate towns" (Simone, 2006), and "rogue urbanisms" (Pieterse, 2011; Pieterse & Simone, 2013). These concepts will allow us to reflect on key issues emerging in Southeastern cities (e.g., increasing inequalities and socio-economic exclusions, environmental challenges, segregated and underserviced urban landscapes, but also subaltern agencies, productive networks and alliances); thereby the added value of different disciplinary approaches to understanding contemporary challenges of urbanization in the "Global South-East" will be highlighted.

Seminar / Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

State-subsidized housing construction, which is also intended to provide for low-income groups in society, was introduced in Germany during the first democratic republic. Around one hundred years later, little remains of the concept and implementation of non-profit housing construction. There were already drastic modifications in the period immediately after the Second World War, and from the 1980s onwards, social housing construction was in a phase of radical deregulation until the law on non-profit housing was also abolished with the "reunification" at the end of the decade. And today: although there have been signs of a marked undersupply of housing for low-status population groups for some years now and politicians have repeatedly announced packages of measures, there seems to be no sign of the housing market easing - on the contrary.

On the one hand, the seminar will reconstruct the history of social and non-profit housing construction by examining the background to its development, the central instruments and forms of control as well as specific forms of housing. On the other hand, the aim is to work out which management and housing models could contribute to the development of socially just, sustainable housing today.

Block seminar / Timo Baldewein and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

In this seminar, basic empirical analysis methods in spatial research will be taught. To this end, students will first be introduced to the use of an app for mobile mapping. This digital tool will then be used to collect data as part of a practical task. The collected data will then first be processed and displayed using QGIS and then analyzed using basic quantitative evaluation methods and the support of statistical software.

Seminar / Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

Theoretical and practical perspectives on the possibilities of social (urban) planning.

There is a long-running debate about what influence (urban) planning can and should have on the social aspects of settlement areas. Social can mean a wide variety of things, such as the social mix in neighborhoods, part of multimodal centers or simply the neighborhood or village community. It is a buzzword in the renewal of old village centers or the new construction of large districts, such as Riedberg in Frankfurt am Main or Seestadt Aspern in Vienna. And finally, it is the core subject of urban sociology when it considers socialization and communitization in their spatial forms and developments.

Urban sociology and (urban) planning therefore also operate in this field of tension: How do the departments define the social, where are the similarities and differences? What possibilities does (planning) practice see for influencing the social, what are the limits of theory - and what necessities are formulated on both sides? What role must the social play in (urban) planning and for the planning self-image? And above all: can the social be planned at all?

In order to approach these and other questions, the seminar will first look at classic approaches from urban sociology and (urban) planning and then, building on this, delve into current concepts and debates. Selected topics will be explored in depth in small groups and presented and discussed throughout the seminar. Finally, a scientific essay is developed as a submission that discusses and reflects on the topic from an independent perspective.

Project / Helena Cermeño and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The concept of sharing is gaining traction as a paradigm for socially inclusive and sustainable transformations, especially among civil society actors. In ecological terms, the idea of sharing material and immaterial goods is particularly associated with a move towards greater sufficiency. However, the concept of sharing is not only associated with less resource consumption (less:resources), but also with far-reaching hopes that capitalism can be overcome.

In the project, selected forms, initiatives and networks of sharing that are committed to a non-commercial logic will be examined in more detail. The guiding question is to what extent the practices of sharing contribute to socially just and sustainable urban development and how they can be scaled up. Participants will begin by briefly exploring the theoretical foundations and methodological approaches. Following this, the focus will be on empirical exploration. In independent research projects, an inventory of urban sharing practices will be carried out using social science methods such as observation, mapping and interviews.

Project / Maik Kiesler and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The suburban space on the outskirts of large cities has always been defined by its close links with the urban core cities. The fact that this space is diverse is often overlooked: It is a puzzle of surrounding medium-sized and small towns, but also villages. How and to what extent these puzzle pieces differ from one another therefore remains an open question. Taking a dedicated look at the unnoticed puzzle piece of suburban villages enables urban research to gain new insights into not only social, but also spatial aspects of suburban community (formation).

The introductory project makes use of this gap and asks about forms and places of community in suburban villages in the periphery of Kassel: What forms of community can be identified here and how can they be categorized? Which places characterize community formation? Which actors and factors play a decisive role? And finally: How and to what extent do suburban villages differ from their rural counterparts?

Lecture / Timo Baldewein and Carsten Keller /Details on HisPos

The aim is to introduce students to basic methods of qualitative and quantitative social research and to apply them to spatial research questions. Students should acquire the ability to develop a scientific question and implement it independently in a suitable empirical research design. In particular, the following content should be taught:

• Basic concepts of empirical social research as well as urban and regional research
• Conception of a research process: development of a research question, choice of methods, implementation and evaluation
• Qualitative and quantitative survey methods: qualitative interview, focus groups, (non-)participant observation, standardized survey
• Methods of (software-supported) qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Use of existing quantitative and qualitative data sets

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The concept ofsharing has been gaining in importance for over a decade. The sharing economy is experiencing rapid international growth, which is associated with major trends such as digitalization and a change in consumption and value patterns ("using instead of owning", "sustainability"). Cities such as San Francisco, Seoul, Amsterdam and Berlin have adopted sharing programs or given themselves the label of sharing city in order to explore and implement sharing as a new paradigm of urban reform. But what exactly constitutes a sharing city, what do the political programs entail and how innovative are they? What changes are emerging in the cities that have been embracing sharing for some years now?

The seminar will first provide an overview of the concepts and characteristics of sharing cities. It will then look at the political programs adopted under sharing and their effects. An international comparison of selected cities will be used to approach the question of the innovative potential of sharing cities. In addition to the joint development of the topic on the basis of theoretical and empirical studies, the seminar will include independent research on selected examples in small groups.

Seminar / Helena Cermeño and Katja Mielke / Details on HisPos

The world is urbanizing rapidly, particularly in cities in the Global South and Global East. This entails significant transformations for local, national, and international peace and development. While increasing globalization has often been portrayed as a chance to transform cities into spaces of prosperity, at the same time, it has led to growing marginalization of large sections of society and even to 'violence of urbanization', mostly - though not only - in countries often labelled as 'less developed'. Development and planning policies - and underlying theories - aiming to improve the living conditions of people, are however not without criticism. The course will introduce students to the interconnections between urbanization, globalization, and conflict, as well as the underlying (evolving and often overlapping) conceptualizations of development and violence. The objective of the seminar is not only to examine causes and effects of rapid urbanization in selected cities/case studies from the so-called Global South and Global East but also to critically reflect on the very concepts of development and conflict in terms of genealogy, theories, actors, instruments, critiques, and current debates related to urbanization and the city. The course will in this context examine both local and transnational forces - e.g., local urban governance frameworks and global traveling ideas of development permeating planning, renewal, and housing policies - that drive contemporary urbanization in different geographical regions. Key issues that emerge in rapidly growing cities (e.g., increasing inequalities and socio-economic exclusions, environmental challenges, segregated and underserviced urban landscapes) will be discussed in relation to urban violence and conflict; thereby the role of infrastructure and spatiality as well as the lens of different disciplinary approaches to understanding contemporary challenges of urbanization will be highlighted.

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

What potential do sharing practices have for the spatial development of cities and regions? The sharing approach became known in particular through the car-sharing model introduced in the 1970s. In the last ten years, many other offers have been added in the areas of mobility (e.g. bicycles, e-scooters, "Uber"), housing ("Airbnb", "Couchsurfing"), work (coworking) or the neighborhood (sharing platforms). What these sharing services have in common is that they provide use-oriented rather than ownership-oriented access to shared goods, which can be both tangible and intangible. However, there are clear differences in the degree of commercialization. For example, sharing can follow a profit-oriented or a decommodifying logic, such as when communal areas or entire housing projects are withdrawn from the capitalist market.

The seminar will first provide an overview of concepts and trends in sharing and the sharing economy. It will then address the question of the potential, but also the limits of sharing for spatial development and planning. A special focus will be placed on concepts of housing and public space. In addition to the joint development of the topic on the basis of theoretical and empirical studies, the seminar will include independent research on selected examples in small groups.

Seminar / Helena Cermeño / Details on HisPos

What happens if the notion of 'heritage' is put in relation to 'commons'?

Over the years we have witnessed a rising societal and academic interest in the idea of the commons-understoodas non-privately owned common pool of resources accessible to, and managed by, communities and societies. As an extension to it, the concept of urban commons is gaining momentum in urban studies based on the idea that public spaces, urban land, and infrastructures should be more accessible to, and able to be utilized by, different communities. The concept also implies that the production and support of common (material and immaterial) goods are important for social and environmental sustainability and offer alternatives to privatization and segregation. In the context of the current neoliberal cities however, urban commons are increasingly being challenged, contested, and even endangered.

Like the idea of urban commons, the notion of urban heritage relates to specific shared/common natural and cultural elements of communities. These constitute material and immaterial sources of identity. Urban heritage is therefore seen here as a broad category, that includes the built environment such as ruins, remains of architecture or memorials, but also intangible elements, such as urban voids, customs, or practices. Both, tangible and intangible urban heritage should be safeguarded for future generations and protected from exploitation by individuals, nation states or corporations. This raises however the question of whose heritage is considered as worthy of protection, and how this should be done.

In this seminar we will explore the complex relations between cities, commons, and heritage. A common(s)-heritage lens will allow us to study connections between the urban space, culture, power and society from an architectural, planning and sociological viewpoint. By reviewing and discussing academic literature and analyzing different international case studies, students will reflect on the topic of common(s) urban heritage from a multilevel governance perspective and explore a wide range of questions: What constitutes common heritage-what doesn't-and who gains or loses because of such definitional politics? In which contexts does heritage become an object of conflict? To what extent commons and heritage are marginalized, contested, or destructed in such conflict situations?

Seminar / Floris Bernhardt and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

At the end of 2019, the rapid spread of the Covid-19 virus triggered one of the biggest epidemics in the modern world. The demand for "social distancing" and the implementation of various forms of lockdown led to a shake-up of the socio-spatial order of everyday life. Staying at home has become intertwined in new ways as a result of the pandemic. Being and staying at home became a moral imperative, a legal obligation and an everyday necessity. Due to the closure of childcare facilities, the requirement to work from home and the loss of many leisure activities, many of these functions have shifted to the home. The private and the non-private, leisure and work, in short: the various separate aspects of life are now concentrated in the apartment or house. The reorganization of everyday life must therefore include the available spaces, the available time and the available social contacts in order to be able to meet the basic needs (e.g. leisure, privacy) and requirements (e.g. care, maintaining relationships).

In the seminar, the experiences with "living" and the "public" during the pandemic and the lockdown will be discussed autoethnographically with reference to relevant literature. This will range from the question of changing social roles in altered living situations (cf. Dahrendorf 2010), the examination of theories about housing and their resilience in the Covid19 crisis (Häußermann and Siebel 2000) to the examination of the question of public space and morality (cf. Blokland, Krüger, Vief 2020). The aim of the seminar is to develop a socio-spatial perspective on the phenomena of the lockdown and its consequences.

Block seminar / Sarah Fernández Deutsch / Details on HisPos

Already in 1975, the sociologist Ray Pahl ironically asked: "Whose city [is it]?" Without a shadow of a doubt, many would answer it is 'their' city, and definitively, not 'ours'. Corporate, financial, and state power are strongly intertwined. So much so, that European cities are increasingly developed as sites of capital accumulation and business-oriented hubs, while they are experiencing lower habitability and increasing processes of segregation, gentrification, and exclusions. If the global city is the territory where some win and others lose, citizens seem to be losing the battle. As Andy Merrifield puts it, long ago "citizens raised the white flag of conciliatory surrender and began to participate in what Guy Debord called the 'mass psychology of submission'" or what Henri Lefebvre anticipated in 1968 as the "destruction of urban society". Yet, when the absence of democracy weighs too heavily on citizens, people often decide to act collectively. It is in the framework of the current 'urbanization of neoliberalism' (Brenner & Theodore, 2002) that notions such as the 'right to the city' (Harvey, 2003, 2012; Lefebvre, 1968) and 'radical democracy' (Heindl, 2020; Laclau & Mouffe, 2001 [1985]) have gained currency and inspired urban struggles globally. From these perspectives urban transformations are likely to come from communities through collective action by strengthening ways of participatory democracy. The question of how these theoretical approaches are mobilized to struggle against urban injustice and exclusions will be addressed in this block seminar. To do that, we will focus on the neighborhood scale as a territory of struggle and space of resistance to recover access to urban resources, the most precious of which being housing. We will talk more about the 'neighbor' than the 'citizen' and the 'neighborhood' than 'citizenship'. We will illustrate these discussions drawing mostly, but not only, on the empirical case of a neighborhood in Bilbao, Spain, subjected since a decade to an urban renewal plan that is triggering gentrification processes and is perceived as a form of urban violence by its residents. The Zorrotzaurre Masterplan is a joint venture of the Zaha Hadid architecture office, the Bilbao City Council, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the Port Authority of Bilbao. In this process of 'urban improvement', the targeted neighborhood and its neighbors have become hostages of the business prospects and the commodification of their territory. Against this backdrop, this seminar will be an exercise of collective reflection about the uses and abuses of urban planning and about how social mobilization, activism and urban resistance can contribute to shape a more participatory democracy.

Project / Carsten Keller and Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

According to common images, community differs considerably in urban and suburban neighborhoods. While dense urban areas are characterized by an anonymous, non-committal mass, less dense suburban areas are characterized either by a familiar village atmosphere or a complete retreat into one's own four walls. Since sharing practices, the best-known examples of which are in the area of mobility such as car sharing, but also the sharing of spaces, objects or knowledge, have to do with the nature of the community and the residents of neighborhoods, the question arises: Can systematic differences be observed in the willingness and practices of sharing in urban and suburban neighborhoods?

In the debate on the economy of sharing, there is a consensus that the use-oriented approach to sharing goods, space, services or knowledge holds considerable potential for a more sustainable design of the built environment. But what are the prerequisites for sharing practices so that spaces such as residential districts, commercial areas or leisure areas can be designed differently? The project looks for such preconditions by comparing suburban and urban neighborhoods in Kassel. What sharing practices can be found in the neighborhoods? What role do the characteristics of the neighborhoods and their residents play? Which relevant actors and infrastructures exist here and what are their intentions? Finally: How do sharing practices affect the space?

To answer these questions, the participants will first work together to develop theoretical foundations and methodological approaches. Following this, the focus will be on empirical exploration. In independent research projects, an inventory of sharing practices in urban and suburban neighborhoods in Kassel will be carried out using social science methods such as observation, mapping and interviews.

Lecture / Carsten Keller, Jens Knissel, Janet Merkel and Gert Rosenthal / Details on HisPos

The module consists of four sub-modules in which lecturers from different disciplines explain current challenges and the fundamentals of architecture, construction and planning. A central concept is the notion of sustainability, which is explained in the lecture from an ecological, economic and sociological perspective. In this way, the multi-layered connections and dependencies between society and the environment that must be taken into account in planning, Design and building processes become visible.

The sub-module "Ecological principles of planning and building" (Knissel) deals with the main ecological consequences of planning and building and the relevant methodological and technical elements. From the settlement to the building, questions of energy-efficient and sustainable planning and construction are discussed and examined in depth. Current developments and reactions form a bridge to understanding the necessity of this knowledge.

The sub-module "Ecology and Environment" (Rosenthal) introduces the basics of ecology and explains current challenges and the concept of sustainability in relation to different ecosystems such as forest and urban ecosystems.

The sub-module "Economic principles of planning and building" (Merkel) introduces students to economic thinking. The first sessions are dedicated to general questions such as the functioning of markets, the economic principle, aspects of economic ethics in relation to sustainability and the fundamentals of micro- and macroeconomics as applied to planning and construction. As the lecture progresses, external effects, economic cycles, cycles and crises, structural change and economic policy as well as facets of economic justice issues in their significance for planning and construction are discussed. Finally, typical issues of the real estate industry as well as regional and urban economics are dealt with.

The sub-module "Sociology" (Merten) provides basic knowledge of a sociological view of architecture and planning. Based on the question of what constitutes the sociological perspective on space, models of urban development, urban and regional types as well as social theory and methodological approaches are explained. Current challenges are explained on the basis of various developments such as socio-spatial segregation, gentrification processes and participation procedures.

Project / Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

The suburban space on the outskirts of large and medium-sized cities has always been defined by its close interdependence with the urban core cities. Increasingly gaining its own function, this interdependence (still) exists. With regard to community formation in suburban areas, this provides urban research with the opportunity to observe not only social but also spatial processes: Do (semi-)public places of community also emerge in the course of the increase in function - or does community continue to remain in the private sphere, as has traditionally characterized suburban space?

The project makes use of this gap and asks about the places of community in suburban Kassel: Which places can be identified and how can they be categorized? What significance do they actually have for community building? Which actors and factors significantly influence the emergence and form of such places? And finally: What consequences have such observations had and still have for urban planning and urban research?

To answer these questions, the participants will first work together on the theoretical foundations, the state of research and methodological approaches. Subsequently, the empirical exploration of Kassel's suburbia will take center stage. In independent research projects, a social and spatial inventory of the contemporary form of suburban community building will be carried out using social science research methods such as observation, mapping and interviews.

Lecture / Carsten Keller, Timo Baldewein and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

The aim is to introduce students to basic methods of qualitative and quantitative social research and to apply them to spatial research questions. Students should acquire the ability to develop a scientific question and implement it independently in a suitable empirical research design. In particular, the following content should be taught:

• Basic concepts of empirical social research as well as urban and regional research
• Conception of a research process: development of a research question, choice of methods, implementation and evaluation
• Qualitative and quantitative survey methods: qualitative interview, focus groups, (non-)participant observation, standardized survey
• Methods of (software-supported) qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Use of existing quantitative and qualitative data sets

Seminar / Helena Cermeño / Details on HisPos

The world is urbanizing rapidly, particularly in cities in the global south. Today, 55% of the world's population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050 (UN DESA, 2018). This entails significant transformations for local, national, and international development. While increasing globalization has often been portrayed as a chance to transform cities into spaces of prosperity, at the same time, it has led to growing marginalization of large sections of society, mostly - though not only - in countries often labeled as 'less developed'. Development policies - and underlying theories - aiming to improve the living conditions of people, are however not without criticism. The course will introduce students to the interconnections between urbanization and globalization, as well as the underlying (evolving and often overlapping) conceptualizations of development. The objective of the seminar is not only to examine causes and effects of rapid urbanization in selected cities/case studies of the global south but to critically reflect on the very concept of development: its history, theories, actors, instruments, critiques, and current debates. The course will in this context examine both local and transnational forces - e.g., local urban governance frameworks and global traveling ideas of development permeating planning and housing policies - that drive contemporary urbanization in different geographical regions, as well as key issues that emerge in rapidly growing cities (e.g., increasing inequalities and socio-economic exclusions, environmental challenges, segregated and underserviced urban landscapes).

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Block seminar / Timo Baldewein and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

In this seminar, basic empirical analysis methods in spatial research will be taught. To this end, students will first be introduced to the use of an app for mobile mapping. This digital tool will then be used to collect data as part of a practical task. The collected data will then first be processed and displayed using QGIS and then analyzed using basic quantitative evaluation methods and the support of statistical software.

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

State-subsidized housing construction, which is also intended to provide for low-income groups in society, was introduced in Germany in the first democratic republic. Around one hundred years later, little remains of the concept and implementation of non-profit housing construction. There were already drastic modifications in the period immediately after the Second World War, and from the 1980s onwards, social housing construction was in a phase of radical deregulation until the law on non-profit housing was also abolished with the "reunification" at the end of the decade. And today: although there have been signs of a marked undersupply of housing for low-income population groups for some years now, the political signals do not point to a renaissance of non-profit housing construction, but rather to its further marginalization.

On the one hand, the seminar will reconstruct the history of non-profit housing construction by examining the background to its emergence, the central instruments and forms of control as well as specific forms of housing. On the other hand, the aim is to work out which control and housing models could contribute to the development of a socially just, sustainable form of housing today.

Lecture I Carsten Keller, Jens Knissel, Janet Merkel and Gert Rosenthal / Details on HisPos

The module consists of four sub-modules in which lecturers from different disciplines explain current challenges and the fundamentals of architecture, construction and planning. A central concept is the notion of sustainability, which is explained in the lecture from an ecological, economic and sociological perspective. In this way, the multi-layered connections and dependencies between society and the environment that must be taken into account in planning, Design and building processes become visible.

The sub-module "Ecological principles of planning and building" (Knissel) deals with the main ecological consequences of planning and building and the relevant methodological and technical elements. From the settlement to the building, questions of energy-efficient and sustainable planning and construction are discussed and examined in depth. Current developments and reactions form a bridge to understanding the necessity of this knowledge.

The sub-module "Ecology and Environment" (Rosenthal) introduces the basics of ecology and explains current challenges and the concept of sustainability in relation to different ecosystems such as forest and urban ecosystems.

The sub-module "Economic principles of planning and building" (Merkel) introduces students to economic thinking. The first sessions are dedicated to general questions such as the functioning of markets, the economic principle, aspects of economic ethics in relation to sustainability and the fundamentals of micro- and macroeconomics as applied to planning and construction. In the course of the lecture, external effects, economic cycles and crises, structural change and economic policy as well as facets of economic justice issues in their significance for planning and construction are discussed. Finally, typical issues of the real estate industry as well as regional and urban economics are dealt with.

The sub-module "Sociology" (Merten) provides basic knowledge of a sociological view of architecture and planning. Based on the question of what constitutes the sociological perspective on space, models of urban development, urban and regional types as well as social theory and methodological approaches are explained. Current challenges are explained on the basis of various developments such as socio-spatial segregation, gentrification processes and participation procedures.

Seminar / Helena Cermeño / Details on HisPos

Drawing on selected readings and different media sources, this seminar introduces students to core writings in the field of urban sociology and explores the creative, and sometimes conflicting, interaction between sociology and urban planning. The seminar addresses the emergence of the urban phenomenon and the evolution of the urban sociological imagination over the years. This serves as background for the discussion of current themes in urban research (e.g. the housing question, segregation, gentrification).

The seminar offers students the chance to engage with the ideas of a wide range of authors: from classics such as Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim, to Georg Simmel, Robert Park, and Henri Lefebvre, among others. Acknowledging though that Western Eurocentric male perspectives of urban theory have often been the dominant and hegemonic streams of knowledge production in urban studies, the seminar also offers the possibility to engage with literature from - and about - different cultural and geographical contexts (e.g. Ananya Roy, Walter Mignolo, and Anibal Quijano).

By examining some of the key theoretical paradigms that have constituted urban sociology since its institution, the students can reflect on how and why they have changed over time, and discuss the implications of these shifts for urban research and planning practice.

Seminar / Carsten Keller and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

A dominant trend in urban development in the 20th century was suburbanization, with families with secure and upper incomes in particular moving to the outskirts of the city. Against this backdrop, the development of inner cities repeatedly gave rise to crisis scenarios, which even concerted programs to increase their attractiveness did not seem to be able to address. All the more surprising, then, was the trend reversal of a "reurbanization" or "renaissance" of cities almost two decades ago.

The aim of the seminar is to trace this change in trend and ask what background can be identified for it. Are there certain social groups, such as trainees or young middle-class families, that can be identified as key drivers of this trend? In a second step, the topicality of reurbanization and its consequences will be examined. There are some indications that reurbanization is once again taking a back seat to suburbanization in many cities, which may be due in part to the rise in inner-city property prices. What do cities and planning need to prepare for? In the seminar, both theoretical and empirical studies will be carried out on these questions. It is also planned that research on selected cities will be carried out in groups.

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Project / Timo Baldewein and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Living on the outskirts of the city has different faces. Urban Design ranges from villa colonies and detached houses to new "urban" housing projects and dense high-rise estates from the second half of the 20th century. However, the suburban space is not only structurally diverse, but also socially, and has also been set in motion by the "urban renaissance". Although the residential ideal of the detached house has never been called into question, the new popularity of city centers has led to certain social groups turning their backs on the outskirts of the city. Other households are encouraged by the rising cost of housing in the city to look for alternatives in suburbia. So who is moving to suburbia today? Who is attracted to the model of suburban living in the countryside if it is not for financial reasons?

In this project, we are investigating the question of how the residents of suburban areas can be characterized socially, which typical resident groups there are and which changes are emerging. Theoretically, we refer to the concept of social milieus, which plays an important role in Urban and Regional Planning and empirical spatial research. After an introduction to the topic, we will carry out secondary analyses of quantitative empirical data using the statistics program SPSS and visualize them geographically using GIS. Methodological skills (including evaluation tools using SPSS) will be taught as part of the project, as will the basics for target group-specific planning.

Project / Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

Suburbia is not just the classic suburb. Rather, a distinction must be made between suburbia and an incorporated village, between a single-family home area and a large housing estate, between less dense new construction projects on the outskirts of the city and in the city center. The common image of Suburbia as a homogeneous place where a rather white and conservative middle class raises a family must also be questioned. It remains to be seen how the various forms of suburbia differ - in other words, how community in the sense of neighborhood is created there: is it always a counter-design to urban anonymity, impersonality and purposefulness?

The project uses these gaps and asks about the forms of suburban neighbourhoods in Kassel: What types of suburbanization can be found before and in Kassel? Are there differences or similarities between the social structure and community formation of these suburban neighborhoods? What are the main influencing factors here? And finally: What consequences did and do such observations have for urban planning and urban research?

Lecture / Timo Baldewein, Carsten Keller and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

The aim is to introduce students to basic methods of qualitative and quantitative social research and to apply them to spatial research questions. Students should acquire the ability to develop a scientific question and implement it independently in a suitable empirical research design. In particular, the following content should be taught:

• Basic concepts of empirical social research as well as urban and regional research
• Conception of a research process: development of a research question, choice of methods, implementation and evaluation
• Qualitative and quantitative survey methods: qualitative interview, focus groups, (non-)participant observation, standardized survey
• Methods of (software-supported) qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Use of existing quantitative and qualitative data sets

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Less than 15 years lie between the German Empire and National Socialism at the beginning of the 20th century. Framed by two world wars, the period in which a republic is tested for the first time in Germany is highly charged socially and characterized by political, cultural and economic upheavals and tensions. Nowhere were these tendencies more concentrated than in the rapidly growing cities: The metropolis becomes a central experience of time and space, leaving its mark on all cultural phenomena: from newspapers, radio and film to planning, architecture and everyday life. Often glorified in retrospect as the "Golden 20s" or celebrated nostalgically and frivolously as a "dance on the volcano", this period produced a large number of innovations that still shape the conception of modern life today as a matter of course.

The seminar will explore the zeitgeist of this era with a focus on the capital of the Weimar Republic by examining various socio-cultural fields. In addition to innovations in everyday life, such as the emancipation of women and the emergence of an entertainment culture for broad sections of the population, the seminar will take a closer look at literature, film and the visual arts in order to gain an in-depth understanding of developments in urban planning and architecture. In addition to reading texts and a lecture by an external lecturer, the seminar will include independent research assignments and a two-day excursion to Berlin.

Seminar / Helena Cermeño / Details on HisPos

This seminar uses heritage as a lens through which to analyse connections between urban space, culture, power and society from an architectural, planning and sociological viewpoint. Urban heritage is seen here as a broad category, that includes the built environment such as ruins, remains of architecture or memorials, but also intangible elements, such as urban voids, customs or practices in public space.

By reviewing and discussing academic literature (in English and German language) and analyzing different international case studies, students will reflect on the topic of urban heritage from a multilevel governance perspective and explore a wide range of questions: What can be learned from the flows of money and people in the tandem heritage-tourism? In which contexts does heritage become an object of conflict? To what extent is heritage marginalized, contested or destroyed in such conflict situations? In which cases might heritage contribute to solidify group, ethnic, religious or cultural identities? Ultimately the seminar will reflect on the definition of what constitutes heritage -and what doesn't-and who gains or loses because of such definitional politics.

The seminar opens spaces for discussion and reflection about who owns the past, for instance in post-colonial contexts and the geography of power in the making of heritage. Ultimately, we will examine if and how heritage is today a key social, political, cultural and economic concern.

Block seminar / Timo Baldewein / Details on HisPos

Empirical data from social research are a central component of planning processes that affect people's needs. Statistical data is considered to be particularly convincing on the one hand, but also particularly deceptive on the other. In order to be able to assess statistical data, a basic understanding of its processing is required.

The aim of the course is to understand the data structure of urban and scientific data sets and to be able to carry out basic statistical analysis methods using the SPSS statistics program.

Block seminar / Timo Baldewein and Helena Cermeño / Details on HisPos

Empirical methods of social research are a central component of planning processes that affect people's needs. Different survey and analysis methods are available for different questions. In this seminar, these methods and how to use them will be tested with and by the students.

The aim is to understand the data structure of urban and scientific data sets and to be able to carry out basic statistical analysis methods with the statistics program SPSS. Furthermore, students should learn to apply and evaluate different qualitative interview forms and gain an overview of various other qualitative survey and evaluation methods. Finally, students should acquire the competence to select and possibly combine empirical tools appropriate to the object of investigation.

Lecture / Ulf Hahne, Moritz Merten, Jens Knissel and Gert Rosenthal / Details on HisPos

The module consists of four sub-modules in which lecturers from different disciplines explain current challenges and the fundamentals of architecture, construction and planning. A central concept is the notion of sustainability, which is explained in the lecture from an ecological, economic and sociological perspective. In this way, the multi-layered connections and dependencies between society and the environment that must be taken into account in planning, Design and building processes become visible.

The sub-module "Ecological principles of planning and building" (Knissel) deals with the main ecological consequences of planning and building and the relevant methodological and technical elements. From the settlement to the building, questions of energy-efficient and sustainable planning and construction are discussed and examined in depth. Current developments and reactions form a bridge to understanding the necessity of this knowledge.

The sub-module "Ecology and Environment" (Rosenthal) introduces the basics of ecology and explains current challenges and the concept of sustainability in relation to different ecosystems such as forest and urban ecosystems.

The sub-module "Economic principles of planning and building" (Hahne) introduces students to economic thinking. The first sessions are dedicated to general questions such as the functioning of markets, the economic principle, aspects of economic ethics in relation to sustainability and the fundamentals of micro- and macroeconomics as applied to planning and construction. As the lecture progresses, external effects, economic cycles, cycles and crises, structural change and economic policy as well as facets of economic justice issues in their significance for planning and construction are discussed. Finally, typical issues of the real estate industry as well as regional and urban economics are dealt with.

The sub-module "Sociology" (Merten) provides basic knowledge of a sociological view of architecture and planning. Based on the question of what constitutes the sociological perspective on space, models of urban development, urban and regional types as well as social theory and methodological approaches are explained. Current challenges are explained on the basis of various developments such as socio-spatial segregation, gentrification processes and participation procedures.

Seminar / Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

Being pushed to the edge of the city or having no safe spaces to appropriate is still part of everyday life for many groups. However, the necessary focus of planning on this form of marginalization often ends with questions of income or origin. The seminar therefore focuses on two neglected perspectives: what experiences do women and queer people actually have with spatial marginalization? What demands do they have on the city and planning?

In addition to the historical background (e.g. suffragettes; Stonewall riots), aspects such as safe spaces, inclusion vs. exclusion and intersectionality will also be addressed. Finally, a connection to planning (e.g. public spaces; participation) will be established using case studies and joint discussions. To this end, the seminar will mainly work with urban sociological literature, but will also draw on alternative sources such as documentaries and contemporary literature.

Seminar / Timo Baldewein, Floris Bernhardt and Helena Cermeño / Details on HisPos

Right-wing populism and xenophobia are currently particularly relevant topics internationally. They permeate politics and influence not only areas such as migration and asylum policy, but also planning and architecture. Monuments to right-wing pasts continue to exist in our societies and new such monuments are being created globally.

The aim of this seminar is to gain clarity about the processes and concepts relevant to the problem and thus give planners and architects the ability to deal competently with the phenomenon of right-wing populism and xenophobia and to incorporate this into their practical planning or design decisions.

As part of the seminar, students will use German and international examples to analyze right-wing populist projects that have found their way into urban planning and architecture and identify the problems as well as the merits of the decisions. Finally, a joint newspaper will be created in which construction and planning projects will be investigated. The learning objective is to develop an understanding of right-wing populism and xenophobia and of the influences to which architecture and planning are exposed through right-wing populism. At the same time, skills in literature research and the ability to read and write texts are taught.

Project / Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

Young people are often seen as "troublemakers" in public spaces - they listen to loud music, skate or simply "hang around". In urban and landscape planning, they are also a frequently neglected population group that is not specifically involved in planning projects that affect public spaces.

In this project, we therefore want to try to take the perspective of young people. Which spaces in the city can be used by young people? Which are particularly attractive to them? How do they appropriate and use public spaces? And what could a more youth-friendly planning of public spaces look like?

In order to answer these questions, we will first take an in-depth look at the specialist literature. Subsequently, the main aim will be to find empirical answers in and for Kassel. To this end, young people in Kassel will be interviewed and observed in an intensive field phase using various socio-spatial methods.

Project / Maik Kiesler / Details on HisPos

The city as a melting pot of diversity is a common image in urban planning and urban research. With its concentration of a heterogeneous population, the city is seen as a place where the unconventional can emerge. Subcultures are an expression of this unconventionality. Approaches such as the Subcultural Theory of Urbanism therefore define the specificity of the city by the presence of subcultures. It remains unclear how suburban spaces differ from urban spaces. And the definitions of subcultures often remain vague and inconsistent: they range from organized crime to involuntary segregation or voluntary resistance to the formation of queer or feminist groups.

The project makes use of these gaps and asks about the shape of Kassel's subcultures: which subcultures can be found in urban and suburban spaces? Are there differences or similarities between these spaces? What forms of expression do subcultures seek or avoid? And finally: what consequences have such observations had and still have for urban planning and urban research?

To answer these questions, the participants will first work together on the theoretical foundations, the state of research and methodological approaches. This will be followed by an empirical exploration of Kassel subcultures. In independent research work, a contemporary questioning of subcultures as an exclusively urban phenomenon will be implemented using social science research methods such as observations, mapping or interviews.

Lecture / Timo Baldewein, Floris Bernhardt and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The aim is to introduce basic methods of qualitative and quantitative social research and to apply them to spatial research questions. Students should acquire the ability to develop a scientific question and implement it independently in a suitable empirical research design. In particular, the following content should be taught:

• Basic concepts of empirical social research as well as urban and regional research
• Conception of a research process: development of a research question, choice of methods, implementation and evaluation
• Qualitative and quantitative survey methods: qualitative interview, focus groups, (non-)participant observation, standardized survey
• Methods of (software-supported) qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Use of existing quantitative and qualitative data sets

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Seminar / Timo Baldewein and Floris Bernhardt / Details on HisPos

Citizen participation in decision-making processes is a key issue in urban planning. Citizen participation can provide relevant input for planners, but can also lead to huge disruptions in the planning process and end in a fruitless waste of time on both sides.

This seminar aims to provide an overview of the processes and terms relevant to the issue and thus impart the ability to deal competently with the phenomenon of public participation and to incorporate this into practical planning decisions.

The learning objective is to gain an understanding of the heterogeneity of population groups and their different abilities and opportunities to participate in urban planning decisions. The focus here is on the characteristics of people that are associated with high or low participation and can explain or even cause this. The diversity of the population groups leads on the one hand to different abilities to participate, but on the other hand also to significantly different interests and thus different willingness to participate.

Planners should strive to do justice to all those who are unable or unwilling to formulate their will in a participatory manner. At the same time, the focus is on the relationship between the population and planners and on hierarchies.

The seminar therefore focuses on the one hand on the possibilities and abilities of the population to participate in decision-making processes and the conditions that must exist for them to be able to do so. On the other hand, the focus is on the relationship between citizen participation and the intentions of planning and how these can be efficiently designed and whether this must meet normative requirements. this tension is explained in the seminar using the terms participation and anomie (e.g. according to Merton 1968).

Block seminar / Timo Baldewein and Floris Bernhardt / Details on HisPos

Empirical methods of social research are a central component of planning processes that affect people's needs. Different survey and analysis methods are available for different questions. In this seminar, these methods and how to use them will be tested with and by the students.

The aim is to understand the data structure of urban and scientific data sets and to be able to carry out basic statistical analysis methods with the statistics program SPSS. Furthermore, students should learn to apply and evaluate different qualitative interview forms and gain an overview of various other qualitative survey and evaluation methods. Finally, students should acquire the competence to select and possibly combine empirical tools appropriate to the object of investigation.

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

According to the sociologist Norbert Elias, many achievements of "civilization", such as certain customs or forms of housing, are due to the upper classes of society, which in the course of history have developed from an exclusive good into one for broad sections of the population. If this assertion is correct, it is astonishing how little attention sociology has so far paid to the housing and lifestyles of the upper classes. Currently, such housing and lifestyles are once again becoming an issue in connection with the debate about the so-called "super-rich". Against this background, the seminar deals with forms of housing and lifestyles of the upper classes and elites in the present.

In order to classify current forms of housing, such as tower blocks and penthouses, historically selected epochs will also be examined in which formative housing typologies such as the court in absolutism or the bourgeois city villa emerged. In addition, a look will be taken at the debate on the so-called financialization of the housing market, in which it is claimed that it is primarily a new class of "super-rich" who are acquiring more and more wealth through international property speculation and driving up property prices. New conflicts are therefore inevitable, particularly in cities and certain districts. The seminar will be combined with a four-day workshop from September 9 to 12 on the topic of "Conflicts and violence in cities". This will shed light on current conflicts and potential conflicts in cities and how to research them methodically.

Block seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The workshop will focus on conflicts and violence in cities from two different perspectives. Firstly, it is about conflicts over public goods. After a drastic phase of privatization of public goods and infrastructures such as housing or water companies, some European countries and cities are now trying to remunicipalize in certain areas. The concept of "common goods" or "commons" plays an important role in the context of these efforts. In Italy, for example, a public funding line has been introduced for the production of "commons" in municipalities. The first part of the workshop will focus on the politics of the commons and the associated conflicts using the case studies of Bologna and Barcelona. As an expert, Iolanda Bianchi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) will report on current research.

Secondly, conflicts will be examined on the basis of urban protest movements. The G20 protests in Hamburg in 2017 will be used as a case study. Innovative research that combines cartography and interviews, among other things, uses these protests to highlight the conditions under which conflicts turn violent. Two experts from this research context, Eddie Hartmann (University of Heidelberg) and Thomas Hoebel (Hamburg Institute for Social Research), will introduce the study and the methods used. Empirical research methods will be explained and conveyed in the context of both workshop topics, conflicts over commons and conflict escalations in protest movements. In particular, the methods of discourse analysis, cartography and principles of case studies will be taught.

Project / Timo Baldewein and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Since the longing for the city and urbanity has taken hold of the middle classes, classic suburbia seems to be "out": traditional role divisions between men and women are a thing of the past, homogeneous residential milieus are boring and young families are now also prepared to pay high rents or sums of money for proximity to inner-city infrastructure, culture and employment opportunities. However, the influx into suburban residential areas has by no means stopped and, as various studies show, is continuing in the shadow of the wave of reurbanization. But who is moving to suburbia today? Who is still attracted by the model of living on the outskirts of the city in the countryside, if it is not now also for financial reasons, as house prices in the inner cities have risen so much?

In the project, we are investigating the question of how the lifestyles, housing concepts and attitudes of the middle classes who are now drawn to the city center versus the outskirts differ. Are there systematic differences or even a division of the middle class into conservative versus liberal milieus, as is sometimes claimed? Or are the urban middle classes just the old suburbanites in a new guise, who are creating the inner city in their own image? After an introduction to the topic and a review of existing studies, it is planned to investigate these questions empirically by means of a survey in an inner-city and suburban area of Kassel. Methodological skills (including evaluation tools using SPSS) will be taught as part of the project, as well as the basics for target group-specific planning. In addition to Master's students, advanced BA students (from the 3rd semester) are also invited to participate in the project.

Lecture / Alice Bauer, Carsten Keller, Jens Knissel and Gert Rosenthal / Details on HisPos

The module consists of four sub-modules in which lecturers from different disciplines explain current challenges and the fundamentals of architecture, construction and planning. A central concept is the notion of sustainability, which is explained in the lecture from an ecological, economic and sociological perspective. In this way, the multi-layered connections and dependencies between society and the environment that must be taken into account in planning, Design and building processes become visible.

The sub-module "Ecological principles of planning and building" (Knissel) deals with the main ecological consequences of planning and building and the relevant methodological and technical elements. From the settlement to the building, questions of energy-efficient and sustainable planning and construction are discussed and examined in depth. Current developments and reactions form a bridge to understanding the necessity of this knowledge.

The sub-module "Ecology and Environment" (Rosenthal) introduces the basics of ecology and explains current challenges and the concept of sustainability in relation to different ecosystems such as forest and urban ecosystems.

The sub-module "Economic principles of planning and building" (Bauer) introduces students to economic thinking. The first sessions are dedicated to general questions such as the functioning of markets, the economic principle, aspects of economic ethics in relation to sustainability and the fundamentals of micro- and macroeconomics in relation to planning and construction. As the lecture progresses, external effects, economic cycles, cycles and crises, structural change and economic policy as well as facets of economic justice issues in their significance for planning and construction are discussed. Finally, typical issues of the real estate industry as well as regional and urban economics are dealt with.

The sub-module "Sociology" (Keller) provides basic knowledge of a social science perspective on architecture and planning. Based on the question of what constitutes the sociological perspective on space, models of urban development, urban and regional types as well as social theory and methodological approaches are explained. Current challenges are explained on the basis of various developments such as socio-spatial segregation, gentrification processes and participation procedures.

Seminar / Floris Bernhardt / Details on HisPos

This compact seminar offers students the opportunity to theoretically develop and discuss methods and research perspectives of interactionist and ethnographic urban sociology (Chicago School, Simmel, Goffman, Burckhardt etc.) and to apply the knowledge gained in this way in urban explorations they carry out themselves. Beyond socio-philosophical discussions of the lifeworlds of specific social situations and forms of life, as well as quantitative data and qualitative interviews remote from the field, the focus will be placed on being in the field, leaving behind preconceptions about the actual and desired state of the field and focusing on the view behind the veil.

Specifically, "shared" places and their actors, in the sense of the shared use of space and artefacts, are to be identified and appropriately contextualized in the field. At the same time, the participants will attempt to identify evidence of practices of demarcation and opening of these groups and spaces.

Of particular interest are insights into whether these spaces are used homogeneously or heterogeneously shared and what these homogeneities or heterogeneities of the actors and places refer to. The "North Holland" district, which is fragmented into very different neighborhoods, is to be selected as the object of investigation, as it has a high heterogeneity of residents on the one hand and a high heterogeneity of living conditions on the other (depending on the location within North Holland).

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Seminar / Maik Kiesler and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

In this seminar we will use theoretical texts and empirical studies to explore the relationship between lifestyles, housing preferences and urban change processes, such as trends of gentrification and reurbanization.

In a short introductory section, we will first look at basic sociological concepts that divide society into socio-economic groups such as class, stratum and milieu. The financial resources of these groups are a decisive factor in the choice of residential location and where to look for and find housing on the urban housing market.

However, the role of lifestyles in the distribution of the population in the city has been less empirically investigated and theoretically illuminated. Lifestyles are shaped by social circumstances, but link these to values, attitudes and tastes. This section will focus on the following questions: Which lifestyles call for which living environment? Is there a suitable small world in the city for every taste? What conflicts may arise between different milieus?

In the third part of the seminar, we will then look at urban processes - such as gentrification, suburbanization and reurbanization - which are triggered by the relocation of social classes and milieus. To what extent are the conjunctures of these processes related to a changing stratification and the emergence of new lifestyles? What possibilities does urban planning have to respond to these processes and steer them in the right direction?

Seminar / Timo Baldewein, Carsten Keller and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

The seminar aims to teach basic empirical analysis methods in spatial research. Planned contents are: digital mapping of qualitative and quantitative data using mobile tools; basic evaluation methods of quantitative data with regard to spatial characteristics and distributions; cartographic forms of presentation of qualitative and quantitative data.

Lecture / Timo Baldewein, Carsten Keller and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

The aim is to introduce basic methods of qualitative and quantitative social research and to apply them to spatial research questions. Students should acquire the ability to develop a scientific question and implement it independently in a suitable empirical research design. In particular, the following content should be taught:

• Basic concepts of empirical social research as well as urban and regional research
• Conception of a research process: development of a research question, choice of methods, implementation and evaluation
• Qualitative and quantitative survey methods: qualitative interview, focus groups, (non-)participant observation, standardized survey
• Methods of (software-supported) qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Use of existing quantitative and qualitative data sets

Project / Helena Cermeño / Details on HisPos

Rethinking the city: commoning processes and urban commons

More and more people are talking about the "urban commons", and it is understandable why. What we commonly understand as part of the public realm is in retreat: public services are at the mercy of austerity policies, public housing is being privatized and public space is becoming increasingly exclusive. In a relentlessly neoliberal climate, the commons seem to offer an alternative to the struggle between public and private. But what exactly are "urban commons" and"commoning" processes? This introductory project will explore the different conceptualizations and materializations of urban commons. Within the project we will engage with a wide range of interdisciplinary literature, from Elinor Ostrom to David Harvey, as well as various international urban planning and architectural examples that apply the concept of urban commons and commoning.

Using Kassel as a case study for empirical research, participants will answer the following questions: Which urban commons can be identified and under which conditions can they be promoted? To what extent can commoning be applied to the functioning of a metropolis to solve issues related to socio-material interactions: e.g. housing, energy consumption, food distribution and clean air? In other words, can the city be rethought as a commons?

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Floral wallpaper, rustic solid wood furniture or vintage designer chairs - what does the furnishing of a home say about its inhabitants? While psychology interprets home furnishings as an expression of personality, sociology examines their connection with people's lifestyles and social status. Housing styles and housing needs are also placed in the context of historical and social trends and interpreted, for example, as an expression of the "process of civilization" (Norbert Elias).

After an introduction to the sociology of housing, the seminar will explore the question of how housing forms, styles and needs have changed over the last 100 years and what trends are currently emerging. As part of a four-day workshop with two external experts combined with the seminar, housing will then be placed in the context of the neighborhood and the question of how housing and neighborhood interact will be explored. The focus will be on current social science methods - qualitative and quantitative - that can be used to investigate neighborhood contexts. In addition to working on texts, participants in the seminar are expected to be prepared to engage with empirical research and evaluation methods.

Seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Less than 15 years lie between the German Empire and National Socialism at the beginning of the 20th century. Framed by two world wars, the period in which a republic is tested for the first time in Germany is highly charged socially and characterized by political, cultural and economic upheavals and tensions. Nowhere were these tendencies more concentrated than in the rapidly growing cities: The metropolis becomes a central experience of time and space, leaving its mark on all cultural phenomena: from newspapers, radio and film to planning, architecture and everyday life. Often glorified in retrospect as the "Golden 20s" or celebrated nostalgically and frivolously as a "dance on the volcano", this period produced a large number of innovations that still shape the conception of modern life today as a matter of course.

The seminar will explore the zeitgeist of this era with a focus on the capital of the Weimar Republic by examining various socio-cultural fields. In addition to innovations in everyday life, such as the emancipation of women and the emergence of an entertainment culture for broad sections of the population, the seminar will take a closer look at literature, film and the visual arts in order to gain an in-depth understanding of developments in urban planning and architecture. In addition to reading texts and a lecture by an external lecturer, the seminar will include independent research assignments and a two-day excursion to Berlin.

Project / Moritz Merten, Daniel Münderlein and Maren van der Meer / Details on HisPos

Collecting (mapping) georeferenced data is an important part of urban and landscape planning practice. In this project, we want to work with students on the digitalization of this practice. Instead of using a pen and clipboard, we will "map" our own data using mobile devices (smartphone/tablet) and an app.

In the course of the project, we will get to know the GeoODK app and familiarize ourselves with digital mapping, i.e. the research process with its phases of questionnaire creation, data collection with mobile devices and export and evaluation of the data. At the same time, the students should develop and carry out their own research projects in order to apply the skills they have acquired.

As experts for the GeoODK app, we will also create tutorials and teaching material on digital mapping and promote the use of the app in teaching and research in order to advance the digitization of georeferenced data collection at the Faculty.

Goals

1. Develop and carry out your own research project on a topic of your choice. Data should be collected using GeoODK (individually or in small groups).
2. Creation of materials (e.g. instructions) to facilitate access to digital mapping for other teachers, researchers and students. Promotion of the GeoODK app to disseminate its use in the Faculty (in working groups).

Lecture / Robert Barbarino and Helena Cermeño / Details on HisPos

Based on selected texts and various media, this seminar will explore central themes and theories of Urban and Regional Sociology while discussing the creative and sometimes conflictual dialectic between sociology and urban planning. Topics include the emergence of the "urban phenomenon", the development of the urban sociological discourse and current topics in urban research (e.g. city and migration, segregation and gentrification, neighborhood effect). In the course of this, the ideas of a wide range of authors will be examined: From classics such as Karl Marx, Max Weber Emile Durkheim, Georg Simmel and Robert Park to Henri Lefebvre, Manuel Castells and Harmut Häußermann, among others. As a contrast to this urban theory characterized by European and North American perspectives, the seminar will also deal with literature on and from different cultural and geographical contexts (e.g. Anibal Quijano and Annanya Roy). With reference to the respective historical context, the changes in urban sociological currents and their interplay with planning practice will be understood.

Lecture / Alice Bauer, Carsten Keller, Jens Knissel and Gert Rosenthal / Details on HisPos

The module consists of four sub-modules in which lecturers from different disciplines explain current challenges and the fundamentals of architecture, construction and planning. A central concept is the notion of sustainability, which is explained in the lecture from an ecological, economic and sociological perspective. In this way, the multi-layered connections and dependencies between society and the environment that must be taken into account in planning, Design and building processes become visible.

The sub-module "Ecological principles of planning and building" (Knissel) deals with the main ecological consequences of planning and building and the relevant methodological and technical elements. From the settlement to the building, questions of energy-efficient and sustainable planning and construction are discussed and examined in depth. Current developments and reactions form a bridge to understanding the necessity of this knowledge.

The sub-module "Ecology and Environment" (Rosenthal) introduces the basics of ecology and explains current challenges and the concept of sustainability in relation to different ecosystems such as forest and urban ecosystems.

The sub-module "Economic principles of planning and building" (Bauer) introduces students to economic thinking. The first sessions are dedicated to general questions such as the functioning of markets, the economic principle, aspects of economic ethics in relation to sustainability and the fundamentals of micro- and macroeconomics in relation to planning and construction.

As the lecture progresses, external effects, economic cycles, cycles and crises, structural change and economic policy as well as facets of economic justice issues in their significance for planning and construction are discussed. Finally, typical issues of the real estate industry as well as regional and urban economics are dealt with.

The sub-module "Sociology" (Keller) provides basic knowledge of a social science perspective on architecture and planning. Based on the question of what constitutes the sociological perspective on space, models of urban development, urban and regional types as well as social theory and methodological approaches are explained. Current challenges are explained on the basis of various developments such as socio-spatial segregation, gentrification processes and participation procedures.

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Bachelor's and Master's project / Timo Baldewein and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

In view of the continuing attractiveness of urban centers, rising rents and housing prices and immigration, social inequalities in German cities have also begun to shift spatially in recent years. One trend seems to be that poor and low-status households are being pushed to the outskirts of the city and the centers are increasingly turning into islands of the wealthy and urbanity-loving middle classes. On a planning and architectural level, the reaction is, among other things, new concepts of micro-apartments, standardized housing construction, large housing estates or even (toothless?) measures such as the rent cap.

The project will take an empirical look at spatial inequalities, which urban researchers refer to as residential segregation: Which trends and effects are actually emerging, and which are merely premonitions or ideologically motivated scenarios? The focus is on the city of Kassel, which, despite its inconspicuousness, has a comparatively pronounced segregation. As part of the project, we will provide an introduction to segregation research and the secondary analysis of quantitative empirical data using the statistics program SPSS. Subsequently, in-depth questions about lifestyles or voting behavior with regard to the population composition and the quality of housing and life depending on ethnic concentration, among other things, will be investigated.

The results of the project were summarized by the students for the tour in the form of a newspaper, the URBANNEWS.

Block seminar / Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Project / Helena Cermeño and Natalie Heger / Details on HisPos

Block seminar / Robert Barbarino / Details on HisPos

In this block seminar, we want to take a closer look at the question of what kind of images the "documenta city of Kassel" produces and how these relate to urban development policy. Provocatively asked, who actually benefits today from the major cultural event Documenta 14?

The aims of the block seminar are to convey the concept of the "festivalization of urban policy" and to apply methodological knowledge of interviewing, evaluating and constructing questionnaires as well as document analysis.

Lecture / Timo Baldewein, Helena Cermeño and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

The aim is to introduce students to basic methods of qualitative and quantitative social research and to apply them to spatial research questions. Students should acquire the ability to develop a scientific question and implement it independently in a suitable empirical research design. In particular, the following content should be taught:

• Basic concepts of empirical social research as well as urban and regional research
• Conception of a research process: development of a research question, choice of methods, implementation and evaluation
• Qualitative and quantitative survey methods: qualitative interview, focus groups, (non-)participant observation, standardized survey
• Methods of (software-supported) qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Use of existing quantitative and qualitative data sets

Project / Helena Cermeño and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

hile architects and planners have long been concerned with the design of public space, the study of its everyday use is often neglected. Yet public space is a product of spatial and social relationships. It is the everyday activities - from transit to leisure activities - of urban residents that give it meaning. The use of public space depends, among other things, on the age, social status and lifestyle of city dwellers. The various practices and uses also reveal forms of exclusion in public space.

The project focuses on the empirical exploration of public space in the city of Kassel. How are different places of "public space" in Kassel organized? What is the spectrum of activities that take place in them? Which population groups use public space and how? What qualities make public spaces attractive for certain activities and for whom? What barriers and exclusions exist in the use of public space, especially for leisure activities? Various social science research methods such as mapping, observations and interviews will be used to approach questions about practices and exclusions in public spaces and to draw conclusions for the future planning of public spaces.

Seminar / Fran Meissner, Moritz Merten, Daniel Münderlein and Maren van der Meer / Details on HisPos

According to the motto: 'Away with the clipboard! Bring on the tablet!', in this seminar we will introduce students to the use of mobile devices for collecting georeferenced data and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various existing tools. We will discuss practical and theoretical questions about the use of new technologies with you. Together we will then consider how existing tools can be improved. In cooperation with a computer scientist, we will also teach basic programming skills that are needed to adapt existing tools.

The aim is to develop a mapping tool for georeferenced data collection for the University of Kassel in two semesters. This seminar is therefore an accompanying seminar for a project that will take place in the winter semester 2017/18 (New Technologies in Spatial Research II).

Master seminar / Carsten Keller and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

The topic of the seminar was the current situation and perspectives of large housing estates in selected European countries. The main focus was on the type of housing estate that has mostly been designed as part of social or socialist housing construction for a mixed social population since the post-war period. In terms of content, the seminar ranged from the utopian planning of such housing estates, which were intended to contribute to solving the housing issue and the emergence of a new type of person, to problems of social segregation, vacancies and conflicts.

For this reason, the history of the development of the housing estates was first reconstructed and then the social developments and current perspectives were examined on the basis of various countries. In addition to reading and discussing selected specialist literature, extensive research was carried out on large housing estates in various cities. Highlights of the seminar were the guest lecture by Ricarda Pätzold (Difu) and a two-day excursion to Berlin.

Lecture / Alice Bauer, Carsten Keller, Jens Knissel and Gert Rosenthal / Details on HisPos

The module consists of four sub-modules in which lecturers from different disciplines explain current challenges and the fundamentals of architecture, construction and planning. A central concept is the notion of sustainability, which is explained in the lecture from an ecological, economic and sociological perspective. In this way, the multi-layered connections and dependencies between society and the environment that must be taken into account in planning, Design and building processes become visible.

The sub-module "Ecological principles of planning and building" (Knissel) deals with the main ecological consequences of planning and building and the relevant methodological and technical elements. From the settlement to the building, questions of energy-efficient and sustainable planning and construction are discussed and examined in depth. Current developments and reactions form a bridge to understanding the necessity of this knowledge.

The sub-module "Ecology and Environment" (Rosenthal) introduces the basics of ecology and explains current challenges and the concept of sustainability in relation to different ecosystems such as forest and urban ecosystems.

The sub-module "Economic principles of planning and building" (Bauer) introduces students to economic thinking. The first sessions are dedicated to general questions such as the functioning of markets, the economic principle, aspects of economic ethics in relation to sustainability and the fundamentals of micro- and macroeconomics in relation to planning and construction. In the course of the lecture, external effects, economic cycles and crises, structural change and economic policy as well as facets of economic justice issues in their significance for planning and construction are discussed. Finally, typical issues of the real estate industry as well as regional and urban economics are dealt with.

The sub-module "Sociology" (Keller) provides basic knowledge of a social science perspective on architecture and planning. Based on the question of what constitutes the sociological perspective on space, models of urban development, urban and regional types as well as social theory and methodological approaches are explained. Current challenges are explained on the basis of various developments such as socio-spatial segregation, gentrification processes and participation procedures.

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Bachelor and Master project / Robert Barbarino and Fran Meissner / Details on HisPos / Project website

The project addresses a currently highly relevant question: what consequences do changes in migration routes have for local diversity and its urban spatial concentration? With this thematic framework, the project will give participants practical experience in sociological research and the communication of research results.

Beyond the question of the effects of increased refugee migration, the project will address whether and how local diversity stands between national regulatory mechanisms and the granting of various residence permits. Today, we have a variety of legal statuses that determine the residence of migrants. Temporary residence permits lead to patterns of delay that cannot be interpreted without a better understanding of this status diversity. What relevance does this status diversity have for urban social structures and how is it localized? A key question here is how status differences influence the housing decisions of newcomers. How often and how a neighborhood changes depends not least on who lives in it for how long and how the available living space is used. Should I stay or should I go? will address these questions and involve students in the development of methodological strategies to gain practical data collection experience.

Following a new trend in urban sociological data collection, we will use mobile devices to collect and analyze multimedia data. The aim of the project is not only to provide students with academically sound research tools, but also to give them experience in communicating scientific data.

As part of the project, podcasts were created to open up the subject matter and findings beyond the project. One example of this is a podcast about the experiences of public authorities by Mirant.

Bachelor and Master Seminar / Fran Meissner / Details on HisPos

The saying goes: people make cities but cities make citizens. This seminar will provide an introduction to some key readings in the (urban) citizenship literature and how the term is differently conceptualized and applied. We will draw on recent studies and projects to get a tangible idea of this theoretically challenging notion and how it is relevant for understanding development in contemporary cities.

Urban citizenship broadly refers to forms of participation in urban social and political structures that complement or even go beyond the rights and obligations of national citizenship. Urban citizenship is mostly celebrated as offering a new perspective on the participation and inclusion of minority and disadvantaged groups. How urban residents claim their 'right to the city' and how the city grants but also restraints rights is crucially important for trajectories of urban development. A primarily positive undertone of participatory citizenship however is also challenged as research shows that a diversification of urban populations goes hand in hand with a fragmentation of social groupings engaged in different practices of urban citizenship.

For this seminar we will critically discuss assigned readings to learn about how the idea of citizenship is linked to the rise of cities, how (urban) citizenship can be mobilized both as a control mechanism linked to increased inequalities but how it is also an important opportunity to foster new ways of resident engagement. The seminar will also foster practical competences and we will trace the steps of developing and designing a small research project - exploring the importance of formulating a research question and how to identify appropriate research methods.

Bachelor seminar / Helena Cermeño and Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

Floral wallpaper, rustic solid wood furniture or vintage designer chairs - what does the furnishing of a home say about its inhabitants? While psychology interprets home furnishings as an expression of personality, sociology examines their connection with people's lifestyles and social status. Housing styles and housing needs are also placed in the context of historical and social trends and interpreted, for example, as an expression of the "process of civilization" (Norbert Elias).

After an introduction to the sociology of housing, the seminar will explore the question of which housing trends are currently predominant and how housing styles are represented among different status groups. To this end, explorative empirical studies will be carried out in various residential milieus in Kassel. In addition to working on texts, the participants of the seminar are expected to be willing to participate in the empirical explorations.

Seminar / Isabella Haidle, Heidrun Hubenthal, Gerhard Kienast, Felix Kühnel, Simone Markert, Moritz Merten, Daniel Münderlein, Christiane Rhede-Bauers and Deniz Yildirim / Details on HisPos

In the current debate about the increased influx of refugees, catastrophizing terms such as crisis, flood or mass migration are often used. However, it is often overlooked that migration is not an extraordinary process but a natural part of human history. Since the founding of nation states in the 19th century, there have been increased efforts to regulate and control migration movements. This is particularly the case when international crises, such as the current war in Syria, trigger strong migration movements. It is therefore not surprising that no other topic has dominated the public debate in the last year as much as the influx of refugees to Germany. The highly emotional nature of the topic is also reflected in the dichotomous positions and the lack of differentiation in the debate between those who want to stop the influx of refugees and call for their rapid repatriation and others who advocate the human right to asylum.

But what does migration actually mean and what does it feel like to flee? Why and how do people come to Germany? How are they currently faring here? We want to address and discuss these questions in our seminar. Furthermore, perspectives for refugees will be examined from different angles: What projects are there by and for refugees? What opportunities does the influx create for shrinking cities and regions, but also for society as a whole? How does planning react with regard to the accommodation of refugees, what longer-term perspectives need to be developed? And finally, what contribution can the University of Kassel make as a public educational institution?

We want to discuss these and other questions together with you and refugees, as well as activists and representatives from civil society organizations, business and politics.

Seminar / Carsten Keller and Fran Meissner / Details on HisPos

Since its institutional establishment with the Chicago School, Urban and Regional Sociology has been concerned with structures and processes of spatial segregation. Residential segregation is understood as the unequal distribution of population groups in cities according to characteristics such as social status, national origin or household structure. Segregation patterns therefore reflect the social structure of a society at a spatial level. The forms and extent of segregation vary considerably both historically and internationally.

After an introduction to the concept and measurement of segregation, the seminar will look at current developments in social and ethnic segregation, initially in German cities. Is the hoped-for trend towards a diverse urban society emerging, or do current developments of gentrification, reurbanization and devaluation of certain residential areas point to an increasingly fragmented city? In addition to a discussion of the causes and consequences of segregation, international comparisons will play a central role in the seminar. An excursion to Frankfurt am Main is also planned. In preparation for the seminars, participants should be prepared to read and prepare texts, also in English.

Seminar / Carsten Keller, Moritz Merten and Deniz Yildirim / Details on HisPos

The aim is to introduce basic methods of qualitative and quantitative social research and to apply them to spatial research questions. Students should acquire the ability to develop a scientific question and implement it independently in a suitable empirical research design. In particular, the following content should be taught:

• Basic concepts of empirical social research as well as urban and regional research
• Conception of a research process: development of a research question, choice of methods, implementation and evaluation
• Qualitative and quantitative survey methods: qualitative interview, focus groups, (non-)participant observation, standardized survey
• Methods of (software-supported) qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Use of existing quantitative and qualitative data sets

Project / Cristina Antonelli, Dieter Hennicken, Gerhard Kienast and Deniz Yildirim / Details on HisPos

The large number of refugees arriving in Germany poses a huge challenge for local authorities, who have to ensure that people are provided for and housed. In addition to short-term solutions to current problems, including initial accommodation, cities and municipalities must also develop long-term housing concepts for refugees. The fact that social housing construction was neglected for a long time and that the solution to the housing issue was primarily seen in the privatization of municipal and cooperative housing stock and the promotion of private housing construction is now taking its toll. For some years now, there has been a shortage of affordable housing in the major conurbations, which has led to restrictions in the area of investor housing construction. In this respect, two developments are coming together here: a misguided housing policy and the "sudden" but probably long-term demand from refugees.

The need to provide housing for a large number of families and individuals will create a range of tasks for the next 25 to 30 years, to which local authorities will have to respond with short, medium and long-term strategies. In addition to the construction of new housing, this also includes the broad field of municipal services (childcare, schools, further education facilities, etc.).

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Project / Carsten Keller and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

As a central economic sector in contemporary capitalism, the logistics industry is changing the image of cities, especially on the outskirts. Large logistics locations, such as those that have settled in Kassel, not least because of its central location in Germany, are also creating new forms of employment. These include a large number of simple job profiles. In this way, the "logistics revolution" is transforming the spatial and lifeworld coordinates of urban society.

In the project, we used the example of Kassel to investigate the question of how urban peripheries are being transformed by logistics. The image of the periphery was also captured in the literal sense with the help of ethnographic photography. In addition, the lives of those who find employment in the booming logistics sector were examined. Specifically, the following questions were investigated: Has a new service proletariat emerged in the shadow of the increasingly digitalized economy? How do order pickers and warehouse workers appropriate urban society? In addition to excursions to logistics locations and an examination of the "logistics revolution", qualitative interviews were conducted with logistics workers. A cooperation with the "Institute d'Urbanisme de Paris" made it possible to gain comparative insights into the situation in France.

The results of the project were summarized by the students in a reader.

Seminar / Moritz Merten and Deniz Yildirim / Details on HisPos

In the course of the seminar, central topics, theoretical approaches and concepts of Urban and Regional Sociology will be developed and discussed. To this end, historical texts on the social development of cities and regions since the 19th century will be used and translated into the present day with the help of new media (film and song text analysis, online research). The first stage is formed by classic texts by Marx, Weber and Simmel and their writings on cities and the role of modern capitalist society. The next inevitable step is the leap to the USA, to Chicago in the 1920s, where Robert Park and his colleagues founded urban sociology as a discipline for the first time - in the spirit of reportage. Finally, the particularly topical subject area of "City and Migration" will be explored in greater depth in the third stage. In addition to text work and the use of various media, the seminar content will be explored by means of an excursion.

Master's project / Carsten Keller, Moritz Merten and Deniz Yildirim / Details on HisPos

An important influencing factor in the socialization of young people is their daily activities in urban contexts. For them, urban space is first and foremost a space of experience and adventure, which they have to make their own with peers of the same age. The location of the place of residence is a characteristic that influences the activity spaces and thus the socialization of young people. The location of the place of residence in a peripheral or inner-city district results in different opportunity structures, which can lead to different life and development opportunities.

In the project, we therefore investigated the question of how the social networks of young people are shaped depending on where they live and where they are active. To this end, we examined two different districts in Kassel - one peripheral (Waldau) and one inner-city (Wesertor). Using the so-called needle method as well as questionnaires and guided interviews, we investigated the question of whether different residential locations lead to different activity spaces. The influence of social status and social networks was also investigated. The project results were summarized by the students in the reader

Master project / Carsten Keller and Deniz Yildirim / Details on HisPos

People from 151 nations have found their home in Kassel and shaped this city. The project focused on the integration of these people in Kassel. In order to investigate this, local actors in two districts (Nord-Holland as an inner-city neighborhood and the large housing estate Mattenberg in Oberzwehren as a peripheral neighborhood) were examined with regard to their work to implement the municipal integration plan of the city of Kassel:

For this purpose, qualitative interviews were conducted with actors at municipal level and the cooperation between them, with migrant residents or residents with a migration background and with political actors at municipal level was examined. Qualitative interviews were also used to identify the wishes and needs of the stakeholders for the implementation of integration work. The results of the three areas to be investigated (housing and life in the district, intercultural dialog and language and education) were bundled in a stakeholder map. Feedback on the integration concept was achieved through recommendations for action, which were formulated in hypotheses.

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

The colloquium is intended to give students the opportunity to present their own theses and/or to gain an insight into the processes of academic work (e.g. by discussing texts). It is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in academic work, discursive exchange and the reflection of research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology.

Seminar / Carsten Keller and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

A dominant trend in urban development in the 20th century was suburbanization, with families with secure or higher incomes in particular moving to the outskirts of the city. Against this backdrop, the development of inner cities repeatedly gave rise to crisis scenarios, which even concerted programs to increase their attractiveness did not seem to be able to address. All the more surprising was the trend towards a "reurbanization" or "renaissance" of cities a good decade ago.

The aim of the seminar is to trace this change in trend empirically and to ask what background can be identified for it. Are there certain social groups, such as young middle-class families, that can be identified as the main drivers of this trend? In a second step, the question of the socio-spatial consequences will be investigated in an international comparison. Are socio-spatial structures, as we know them in Europe from Paris or London, for example - strongly upgraded inner cities and peripheral residential areas for the lower social classes - also the future model for German cities? Theories of segregation will also be developed as part of this debate

Lecture / Diedrich Bruns, Carsten Keller, Daniel Münderlein and Gert Rosenthal / Details on HisPos

The module Perception of Spaces combines theoretical concepts, methods of spatial observation and practical field studies in which spatial sections of urban landscapes in Kassel and human activities in them are observed and analyzed. The module is interdisciplinary: it combines urban and landscape planning with sociology and ecology. The module also introduces the technology of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and thus opens up the possibility of computer-aided mapping and analysis.

The courses begin with a joint introduction by all lecturers. Learning objectives and the program points that contribute to achieving the learning objectives are presented. The relationship between regional and urban sociology, landscape ecology and urban and landscape planning, the role of the individual methods and the technology required to collect, process and analyze data are explained.

Content and methods are presented in lectures and field studies are applied in practice during the semester. The results of the data collection are presented in plenary by the individual student groups and confronted with the perspectives of the natural and social sciences

Bachelor and Master seminar /Moritz Merten and Deniz Yildirim / Details on HisPos / Presentation

In the compact seminar "Where is the problem?" we approached the "problem district" of North Holland from different perspectives. On the one hand, we traced the view of the neighborhood from the outside and researched the public portrayal of the neighborhood in the media as well as socio-structural data.

In addition, we formed our own subjective picture, immersing ourselves in the neighborhood in the ethnographic reportage style of the Chicago School and trying to perceive it on all sensory levels. As we strolled around, we recorded our impressions in writing so that we could then reflect on them in discussions with residents and open up new perspectives on the neighborhood. The diverse impressions and perceptions were documented with the help of field notes, sound recordings of the neighborhood and the interviews, as well as photos.

Bachelor seminar / Carsten Keller and Deniz Yildirim / Details on HisPos

In the course of the seminar, central topics, theoretical approaches and concepts of Urban and Regional Sociology were developed and discussed. To this end, historical texts on the social development of cities and regions since the 19th century were used and translated into the present day with the help of new media (film and song text analysis, online research). The first stage was formed by classic texts by Marx, Weber and Simmel and their writings on cities and the role of modern capitalist society.

The next inevitable step was the leap to the USA, to Chicago in the 1920s, where Robert Park and his colleagues founded urban sociology as a discipline for the first time - in the spirit of reportage. Finally, the particularly topical subject area of "City and Migration" was explored in greater depth in the third stage. In addition to text work and the use of various media, the seminar content was explored by means of an excursion

Lecture / Ulrich Braukmann, Ulf Hahne, Helmut Holzapfel, Carsten Keller, Jens Knissel and Gert Rosenthal / Details on HisPos

The module consists of four sub-modules ("Ecological Principles of Planning and Building", "Ecology and the Environment", "Economic Principles of Planning and Building" and "Sociology"), each of which interprets the concept of sustainability from a different perspective.

The sub-module "Sociology " (Keller) provides basic knowledge of a sociological view of architecture and planning. Based on the question of what constitutes the sociological perspective on space, relevant approaches to Urban and Regional Sociology are first introduced. Among other things, models of urban development, urban and regional types as well as social theoretical and methodological approaches are explained. It then looks at the perspectives of social actors. How and why they use and perceive spaces in specific ways is a key question. Finally, participation procedures and power constellations in building and planning processes are also addressed on the basis of current problem areas.

Carsten Keller / Details on HisPos

In the colloquium, final theses and research papers will be presented and discussed. The colloquium is open to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, provided that they are interested in scientific work and in reflecting on research work with regard to its relevance to urban and regional sociology

Bachelor's and Master's project / Carsten Keller and Moritz Merten / Details on HisPos

The project is dedicated to the question of what influence living in certain neighborhoods has on the living situation of the residents. To put it bluntly: Do disadvantaged neighborhoods have a disadvantaging effect on their residents or do affluent neighborhoods reinforce the privileges of those who live there? Despite a virtual boom in research on these questions over the last 20 years, the mechanisms by which neighborhoods affect their residents in particular remain unclear and controversial: What role do building structures, the location of the neighborhood or the social status and action spaces of those living there play?

In this project, the theory and current state of research on the topic of neighborhood effects will be developed. Exploratory research will then be carried out on the mechanisms of neighborhood effects in a selected disadvantaged and privileged district of Kassel, with a particular focus on the action spaces of actors. As part of the project, methodological principles of empirical social research will also be taught and an explicit goal is to gain insights for target group-specific planning processes.