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_New Possibilities for Research and Archives _Contemporary Witnesses in Research on Urban History _Facebook as a Forum for Debates on Urban Design _Researching and Experiencing Urban Authenticity _Citizen Science in Archival Work

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Research on Society and Space

Research at the IRS is focused on the spatial aspects and contexts of social action. In doing so, spatial phenomena are explored in terms of both processual and historical dimensions using social-scientific methods.

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The Research Area examines how spaces are constructed and transformed by interactive, innovative, creative, knowledge-based and entrepreneurial activity. It focuses on the complex interaction of civil society, public and private sector actors.

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The Research Area analyses the political negotiation, planning and transformation of the social and spatial development of cities and regions. It primarily examines the governance of increasingly uncertain, complex and ambiguous constellations.

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The Research Area addresses problems of design, planning and appropriation of spaces in recent history. The focus is laid on the history of urbanisation, architecture and urban planning in the GDR, the significance of materiality in the historical transformation of the built environment, and cross-border cooperation in spatial development.

News

20. March 2024 | News

Leibniz Labs are a new tool of research organization. Their aim is to bring together the wide-ranging knowledge of the participating Leibniz Institutes in order to contribute jointly to the solution of pressing social problems and to make this knowledge accessible to a wide range of target groups. As part of the first funding round, the Leibniz Association has now selected three labs for funding. The IRS is participating in a lab that investigates how society deals with unexpected, fundamental upheavals. more info

04. March 2024 | News

Remote work, in other words working across physical distances, is no longer a niche phenomenon, rather a broad trend with many different forms. It is an expression of far-reaching social transformations. A new European research network aims to understand these transformation processes and make them accessible for policy-making. IRS is involved in the network. more info

14. February 2024 | News

During their joint visit to the IRS on 14 February, Federal Construction Minister Klara Geywitz and Brandenburg's Science Minister Manja Schüle announced that both ministries would provide a total of 15 million euros for the renovation of the institute building. more info

07. December 2023 | News

IRS economic geographer Marc Schulze received the Peter Meusburger Doctoral Prize "Geography and Knowledge" 2023 for his research on university branches and economic development strategies in Asia. Schulze conducted his research as a doctoral student in the IRS junior research group "Transedu", which investigates the globalisation of higher education. The prize is awarded in honour of the geographer Peter Meusburger, who played a key role in advancing research into the relationship between space and knowledge. more info

New Publications

29. March 2024 | Selected publication
Paper on German University Campuses Abroad

German universities are less active in setting up campuses abroad compared to British or French universities, for example. However, some German universities are still expanding internationally and risk reproducing a neoliberal logic of educational commercialization. An article in the journal "Compare" highlights the correlations. more info

07. March 2024 | Selected publication
Cities in the "Gloal South" are More Proactive

Cities need to prepare themselves for threats such as heatwaves and floods, in other words: become more resilient. But there are different ways of thinking about resilience. A new article looks at cities that are involved in a global network for resilience and compares cities in the "Global North" and the "Global South". The result: there are many similarities. However, there are differences as to whether resilience is seen more as a defence of the status quo or as a path to transformation. more info

15. January 2024 | Selected publication
A Reflection on the Role of Architecture in Postcolonial Africa

What role did architecture play for the societies of countries in sub-Saharan Africa after they became independent? The Canadian Centre for Architecture coordinated a research project on this topic, to which IRS architecture historian Monika Monika Motylińska contributed. The volume "Fugitive Archives" shows the results. more info

more publications

Upcoming Events

IRS Spring Academy
13. May | 2024 - 16. May | 2024

During the past decades, the idea of transdisciplinarity has gained increasing momentum. Transdisciplinary research is regarded as a collaborative form of knowledge generation and knowledge application for solving societal challenges that integrates perspectives and actors from academia, civil society, government and administration as well as from the economic realms. more infos