The Civic Design Conference is organized and hosted annually by the Civic Design master's program at the Faculty of Architecture of the Peter Behrens School of Arts. It was launched in 2018 on the occasion of the start of the master's program at HSD Hochschule Düsseldorf.
The event is dedicated to the discourse of urban and civic development, and has since included renowned and pioneering keynote speakers from Germany, Europe and the United States. The conference topics reflect on the relevance of a notion of Architecture bordering on Urban Design in the social and political context of present day agglomerations.
Over the past conferences, a unique format has been established, which not only features traditional keynote speeches, but also asks for input from the participants during the so called table talks.
At the Table Talks - the non-public part of the conference in the morning - keynote speakers, regional planners and practitioners, external participants as well as staff and students of the Peter Behrens School of Arts have the opportunity to share
and develope thoughts, experiences and ideas in a face-to-face setting.
Each keynote speaker hosts a table with up to 20 participants on a selected topic in a field of their respective expertise. The discussions are moderated by a professor and a student of the PBSA. During the subsequent joint lunch, participants are welcome to exchange conclusions from the table talks or further deepen discussions.
The Keynote Lectures in the afternoon are open to the public. The keynote speakers share their knowledge and experience regarding the conference topic from their respective positions in theory, research, planning and building practice. Following each half-hour lecture, the audience is invited to participate in an open discussion. The conference traditionally ends with a social get-together in the evening with snacks and drinks and further inspiring conversation.
For questions, feedback or more information on the conference, please contact:
civicdesign@hs-duesseldorf.de
Civic Design Conference 2024 — Substance and Transformation
Civic Design Conference 2022 — The Non-Sexitst City
Civic Design Conference 2021 — The Compact City in the Age of Sprawl
Civic Design Conference 2019 — Urban Planning, not Housing
Civic Design Conference 2018 — Is The City a Project?
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29.11.2024
Civic Design Conference 2024 — 5th Edition
Substance and Transformation
Cities as we know them cannot survive like this. Planning as we know it must change substantially. Architecture must reinvent itself. While some cities and towns in Germany are growing ever denser and new buildings and neighbourhoods are being planned to meet increasing demands, an astonishing amount of space and built substance remains unused and left to decay. Despite their mineral nature, cities have always been elastic organisms. They are capable of emerging, growing, thriving, exploding, decaying, shrinking, surviving and sometimes dying, often starting all over again. In the long history of architecture, modernism with its impetus of demolition and new construction is a solitary exception. Historically, the new usually emerged from the utilisation of the old, transformation and circularity were the rule, new construction and single use of building materials the exception.
The mass of the built environment that we have accumulated, particularly in the last century, is an enormous resource. We need to ask questions about the existing building stock and its transformation from a cultural, economic, social and ecological perspective. An analysis of the existing building fabric must identify possible points of action and intervention. Existing buildings are not just a reusable stock of building components, but in their presence are an stimulus for further construction and conversion. The permanence and preservation of existing buildings should have top priority over the reuse of components in other locations or even demolition and, at best, the downcycled use of building materials.
From the urban planning scale to the architectural detail, precise knowledge of the existing building is required, in order to utilise its potential for resource-saving development. Possible transformations and updates of the existing building stock are dependent on knowledge of typologies, building constructions and material compositions so that architecture can strive from forgotten elastic principles into new horizons. We want to familiarise ourselves with the historical and contemporary discourse on this topic and lead a lively discussion on these issues in our conference.
The aim of our conference is to bring together practising architects and urban planners with students, researchers and teachers as well as actors from city administrations, and to consciously discuss formal-aesthetic issues alongside scientific considerations of circularity (or permanence) and political or pragmatic aspects of realisability. This year's keynote speakers will be Anne Lacaton (Lacaton & Vassal, Paris), 2021 Pritzker Prize winner, Jo Taillieu (jo taillieu architecten, Ghent), Anna Bandke (City of Bergisch Gladbach, Zanders-Areal project group) and Tabea Michaelis and Eric Honegger of baubüro in situ (Zurich and Basel).
Table talks
non-public
11:00–13:00
Keynote lectures
public
14:00–19:00
14:00
Anna Bandke
Projektgruppe Zanders-Areal, Stadt Bergisch Gladbach
14:45
Jo Taillieu
jo taillieu architecten, Gent
15:25
Panel discussion I
16:40
Anne Lacaton
Lacaton & Vassal, Paris
17:20
Eric Honegger
baubüro in situ, Zürich und Basel
18:00
Panel discussion II
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18.11.2022
Civic Design Conference 2022 — 4th Edition The Non-Sexist City
Suddenly it‘s 2022, and we realize we live in a sexist city! 42 years after Dolores Hayden’s seminal text “What Would a Non-Sexist City Be Like? Speculations on Housing, Urban Design, and Human Work” we still haven’t implemented the necessary measures to provide a fair-shared city. What makes a city sexist or non-sexist?
Beyond the realization of how clueless we are, the 2022 Civic Design Conference “The Non-Sexist City” wants to explore the principles and mechanisms of the Sexist and the Non-Sexist City alike. We want to learn about the historic and contemporary discourse on this subject and establish a vibrant discussion on these issues throughout and beyond our program.
What are the procedural and spatial manifestations of the Sexist/Non-Sexist City, where exactly can the hidden or open structures of discrimination of women and diverse gender identities be modified, altered, inhibited, revolutionized, or stopped? From the political to the mundane, between the public and the private, the individual and the collective, across all scales, we need to examine the phenomena and the underlying structures.
Table talks
non-public
11:00–13:00
table 1
Deep Hanging Out – Designing for Others.
intro: Liza Fior
moderator: Andrea Zanderigo
table 2
Can Gender-Mainstreaming Be a Standard
for Funded Housing?
intro: Juliane Greb
moderator: Katrin Tacke
table 3
How Does Gender Planning Contribute to
Fair Shared Cities in Urban Development?
intro: Eva Kail
moderator: Jörg Leeser
table 4
Towards a Cultural Change - How an Association Can
Help to Establish Gender Planning in Practice.
intro: Elke Schimmel
moderator: Tanja Kullack
table 5
Listening and Gossip as Urban Strategies of Resistance
and Their Potential as Future Planning Guidelines.
intro: Aslı Varol
moderator: Christoph Schmidt
Keynote lectures
public
14:00–19:30
14:15
Eva Kail — Fair Shared Cities
15:00
Juliane Greb — Challenging Sexist Regulations
15:45
Katja Schechtner — Women Building Cities
17:00
Liza Fior — Unsolicited Research
17:45
Aslı Varol — Searching for Emancipatory Practices
18:30
Dolores Hayden — In Search of the Non-Sexist City
19:15
Summary
Keynote Speaker
Liza Fior
muf architecture/art, London. Liza Fior and Katherine Clarke founded muf in 1995, which has never had less than 80% female members since. They received the European Prize for Urban Public Space in 2008 and were the authors of the British Pavilion at the 12th Venice Biennale in 2010. Their projects build on comprehensive analyses of the spatial, economic and social context, and range from urban design schemes to small-scale temporary interventions.
Juliane Greb
Büro Juliane Greb, Ghent. Juliane Greb set up her practice in 2015, which was later joined by Petter Krag as a partner. Together with summa- cumfemmer, she received the DAM Architecture Prize 2022 for „San Riemo“, the first built project
of the housing cooperative „Kooperative Gross-stadt“. She and Petter Krag are members of the curatorial team of the German Pavilion at the 18th Biennale Architettura di Venezia in 2023.
Dolores Hayden (remote participation)
Yale University, New Haven (CT). Dolores Hayden, the author of “What Would a Non-Sexist City Be Like?”, published in Signs in 1980, is an urban historian, architect, and poet. She is Professor Emerita of Architecture, Urbanism, and AmericanStudies at Yale University. Her award-winning books include “The Grand Domestic Revolution, Redesigning the American Dream”, and “The Power
of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History”. Recently she received the Matilde Ucelay Award from Spain for her research on gender and the built environment and the 2022 Scully Prize from the National Building Museum in the USA.
Eva Kail
Gender Planning expert, City of Vienna. Eva Kail
is a pioneer and pre-eminent international expert on gender mainstreaming in urban planning. As an urban planner, she was the first head of the “Women´s office” and works since many years in the Executive Office for Construction and Technology. She has contributed to more than 60 projects related to gender equality in housing, transportation, planning, and design of public spaces. She was also involved in Gender trainings and elaboration of Gender Planning Manuals for Multi-Lateral Development Banks.
Katja Schechtner
MIT LCAU, Cambridge (MA). Katja Schechtner is an urban scientist who co-curated the critically acclaimed exhibition: “Frauen Bauen Stadt - The City Through a Female Lens”. She has published widely, both in scientific journals and the popular press and has held visiting professorships, research fellowships and lecturer positions globally, e.g. at MIT Media Lab, Paris-Saclay, TU Vienna, dieAngewandte, or HDM Stuttgart.
Aslı Varol
fem_arc kollektiv, Berlin. Aslı Varol is a member of the collective of architects working on projects from an intersectional feminist angle. Since 2018, they have been critically examining power structures in space, and questioning boundaries of their discipline and methods that are taught at architectural institutions.In formats such as workshops, a podcast series, participatory audio walks, film and multimedia installations, they propagate strategies that question norms and standards in architecture and contribute to the creation of non-discriminatory spaces.
Elke Schimmel
Verein Lares, Bern. Elke Schimmel is co-president of the Swiss association Lares, which advocates for a cultural change in planning and building. The association, founded in 2013, aims to promote gender and everyday planning as a social dimension of sustainability and serves as a net-working platform for members. Lares experts are involved in assessment and decision-making bodies at an early stage so that the concerns can be incorporated directly into the projects.
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19.11.2021
Civic Design Conference 2021 — 3rd Edition The Compact City in the Age of Sprawl
(Content coming soon)
Table talks
non-public
12:00–13:30
Stimulatiing Diverse Practices and Routines in Urban Quarters
intro: Agnes Förster
moderator:
Mahalla the perfect sprawl
intro: Christoph Gantenbein
moderator:
Developments on the urban fringe
intro: Eva Herr
moderator:
Looking at the world from its peripheries
intro: Djamel Klouche
moderator:
The Future Relationship of the City and the Country
intro: Sébastien Marot
moderator:
Creating Conditions Rather Than Fixing Solutions
intro: Freek Persyn
moderator:
Keynote lectures
public
14:00–18:00
Keynote Speaker
Agnes Förster
STUDIO | STADT | REGION / Munich. Agnes Förster is professor for Planning Theory and Urban Planning at the RWTH Aachen since 2018. She has taught and published extensively on the subjects related to topics of the region and the neighborhood.
Christoph Gantenbein
Christ & Gantenbein / Basel. Christoph Gantenbein is an architect and partner of the internationally recognized office of Christ & Gantenbein based in Basel. He teaches at the ETH in Zürich.
Eva Herr
Eva Herr is an architect and urban planner and head of the city planning department of the city of Cologne since 2019. She has extensive experience in public administration both in Germany and in Great Britain.
Djamel Klouche
I'AUC / Paris. Djamel Klouche is an architect, urbanist, educator and partner of the office I'AUC founded in 1996 and based in Paris. He teaches at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Versailles.
Sébastien Marot
Sébastien Marot is a historian and philosopher who has written and lectured extensively on the genealogy of contemporary theories of architecture, urban design and landscape architecture. He teaches at the École d’Architecture de Paris-Est.
Freek Persyn
51N4E / Brussels Freek Persyn is an architect, urbanist and partner of the Brussels-based office 51N4E with wide experience in collaborative planning processes and in an ‘ecosystem of knowledge’. Since 2018 he teaches at the ETH Zürich.
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27.11.2020
Civic Design Conference 2020 — cancelled Cancelled due to the CoViD-19 pandemic
Due to the pandemic the conference of 2020 was unfortunately cancelled.
Our past symposia have thrived on the unique format which allowed us all (keynotes, experts, students and followers of the European City Phenomenon) to speculate on and interact around paradigmatic urban issues on a very personal, face-to-face level. We have determined that there is no adequate way to replicate the intensity and the immediacy of this format in a digital form, and have thus decided to defer our Symposium until the fall of 2021.
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07.11.2019
Civic Design Conference 2019 — 2nd Edition Urban Planning, not Housing
The second international Conference of the ‚Civic Design‘ Course of Study addresses the issue of current housing production. Does the present large-scale, quantity-driven production make an effective contribution to the creation of mixed-use, inclusive and complex urban neighborhoods? What strategies are necessary to avoid monofunctional ‚bedroom‘ settlements? How to encourage new urban neighborhoods which will build on and enhance the qualities of the exisiting city? What are the parameters of the ‚New European City‘?
Table talks
non-public
12:00–13:30
Methods for generating urban complexity
intro: Anouk Kuitenbrouwer
moderator: André Kempe
Is complexity producible?
intro: Peter Mörtenböck und Andreas Ruby
moderator: Jörg Leeser
Density as a catalyst for urban development?
intro: Paola Viganò
moderator: Oliver Thill
Operational practice for the city of the 21st century
intro: Jörn Walter
moderator: Pablo Molestina
Keynote lectures
public
14:00–18:00
14:15
Paola Viganò
15:00
Jörn Walter
16:15
Anouk Kuitenbrouwer
17:00
Andreas Ruby & Peter Mörtenböck
17:45
Summary
Keynote Speaker
Anouk Kuitenbrouwer
(bio coming soon)
Peter Mörtenböck
thinkarchitecture, TU Wien, Vienna. Peter Mörtenböck is Professor of Visual Culture at TU Wien, Co-director of the Centre for Global Architecture and Research Fellow at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Together with Helge Mooshammer his research focuses on urban speculation, global resource consumption, and new data publics.
Andreas Ruby
Director S AM Basel / Ruby Press, Berlin. Andreas Ruby is a publicist. With Ilka Ruby he has maintained „Textbild“ since 2001 and the publishing house „RUBY PRESS“ since 2008. He taught architectural theory at Cornell University, TU Graz and ENSAPM in Paris. Since 2016 he has been director of the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum.
Paola Viganò
Studio Paola Viganò, Milano / Brussels. Paola Viganò is professor of Urban Theory and Urban Design at the EPFL directing the Lab-U and Habitat Research Center and at IUAV, Venice. In 1990 she was co-founder of Studio together with Bernardo Secchi; she established Studio Paola Viganò in 2015.
Jörn Walter
former Oberbaudirektor Hamburg, Hamburg. Jörn Walter was Chief Building Director of Hamburg from 1999 to 2017 and previously headed the city planning office of Dresden. He has taught at the TU Vienna, the TU Dresden and the HafenCity University in Hamburg. He is a member of the German Academy for Urban and Regional Planning.
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09.11.2018
Civic Design Conference 2018 — 1st Edition Is The City a Project?
This international conference reflects on the relevance of a notion of Architecture bordering on Urban Design in the social/political context of present day agglomerations. It accompanies the beginning of the new course of study ‚Civic Design‘ at the PBSA in the Hochschule Düsseldorf.
Table talks
non-public
13:00–14:30
Design theories for the city of the 21st century
intro: Pier Vittorio Aureli
moderator: Pablo Molestina
The role of public authorities in the city of the 21st century
intro: Kristiaan Borret
moderator: André Kempe
Free market as urban planer
intro: Susanne Eliasson
moderator: Andrea Zanderigo
Operational practice for the city of the 21st century
intro: Christiane Thalgott
moderator: Oliver Thill
Keynote lectures
public
15:00–20:00
15:15
Pier Vittorio Aureli
16:00
Christiane Thalgott
17:00
Susanne Eliasson
17:45
Kristiaan Borret
18:45
Summary/Acknowledgements
Keynote Speaker
Pier Vittorio Aureli
Dogma, Brüssel. He is an architect, educator and theoretician. In 2002 he co-founded the architectural practice Dogma with Martino Tattara in Brussels. Aureli teaches at the Architectural Association in London and Yale School of Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut.
Kristiaan Borret
Bouwmeester, Brüssel. He was educated as a civil engineer and architect at KU Leuven, holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from KU Leuven, a bachelor’s degree in political sciences of UCL and a master’s degree in urban planning from Barcelona. He has been a visiting professor of urban projects at the University of Ghent since 2005.
Susanne Eliasson
GRAU, Paris. Together with Anthony Jammes, she founded GRAU (Good Reasons to Afford Urbanism), a practice based in Paris. Since the founding of the studio in 2010, its architects have been working on various outstanding projects, such as the transformation of the Bordeaux Metropolis, exploring how different housing developments can produce urbanity.
Christiane Thalgott
former Stadtbaurätin München, Munich.
(bio coming soon)
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