R:33 | Winter Semester 2025/26

We are experiencing a time in which the future no longer represents a promise of progress for many people, but instead means uncertainty, excessive demands or threats. The future is increasingly seen as something that is either "managed" technocratically or "sold" ideologically - instead of as a shared space of possibility that we can actively shape. This has far-reaching consequences for the planning professions in particular: When the future is socially narrowed, the space in which we can develop our creative, social and cultural power shrinks.

With "Back to the Future", we are consciously countering this development. We want to enter into a discussion with students, teachers and the public about the futures of the planning professions themselves - and what role we can actively play in order to regain new scope for action and social relevance.

Rundgang 2025 is intended to be a place where the future does not appear as something that happens to us or is standardized from the outside, but as something that we can think about, shape and create together. This attitude is directly linked to the core competencies of our profession: thinking in scenarios, working with uncertainty, designing alternative possibilities, telling stories about the future.

Image: Robin Höning

Program Flyer

Program Flyer: Hier downloaden

The R:33 semester exhibition was organized by the departments of Urban Management (guest Prof. Lisa Nieße), Sustainable Cities and Communities (guest Prof. Dr. Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse and guest Prof. Robin Höning) and Integrated Traffic Planning / Traffic Planning (Deputy Professor Dr. Florin Krummheuer)

Impressions

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Selection of projects

Morgen fährt mich JohnnyCab! Wie Robotaxen unsere Städte und Regionen verändern werden und warum wir das gestalten sollten

Tomorrow, JohnnyCab is driving me! How robotaxis will transform our cities and regions—and why we should shape that future

Department Integrated Traffic Planning and Mobility Development

Autonomous vehicles and robotaxis are about to enter the market and could change mobility, spatial structure and everyday life as profoundly as the private car or the railroad once did. The study project is dedicated to the possible effects of this technological development on cities and regions - and the question of how we can actively and responsibly shape this change. Autonomous vehicles initially promise opportunities: they could make mobility cheaper, more accessible and more inclusive, reduce dependence on private cars and improve the accessibility of rural areas. Parking spaces could become superfluous and vehicles and infrastructure could be used more efficiently if mobility-as-a-service concepts become a reality. At the same time, risks are foreseeable: decreasing spatial resistance and induced traffic could lead to longer journeys, higher resource consumption and a new wave of urban sprawl. If walking and cycling are pushed back, there is also a risk of ecological setbacks. Streetscapes, buildings and land uses could become more car-oriented again.

Klimagrün für den Kasseler Vorderen Westen

Green spaces for Kassel's city district Vorderer Westen

Department Landscaping, Landscape Management and Vegetation Development

Adapting existing urban structures to climate change is currently a high priority, because rising summer temperatures and drought are making it increasingly difficult to establish vegetation that will actually survive and help to mitigate the effects of climate change. In the Vorderer Westen, Kassel's most densely populated district, the district's own interest in adaptation is so great that concrete proposals and solutions for measures in various open spaces (unsealing, greening, etc.) are to be developed. Implementation is planned.

Grundschule Berndorf

Berndorf elementary school

Department Design and Sustainable Construction

The Wilke sausage factory in Berndorf, which was completed in the mid-1990s, has been vacant since its insolvency in 2019. The building has been cleared of contaminated sites in recent years and barely hints at its former use. The municipality wants to get rid of the "eyesore" of the scandal-ridden sausage factory and demolish it. At the same time, the municipality of Twistetal has decided to build a new three-form entry elementary school in the Berndorf district. The integration of the elementary school into the factory is a scenario that is viewed critically. The project is intended to bring about a change in image. The solid building structure offers the best basic conditions for this and makes sense in terms of conserving resources and saving CO2 by reusing the building fabric. NHW Nassauische Heimstätte Wohnstadt will support the project.

 

Zwischen Sicherheit und Verdrängung: Sozialverträgliche Umgestaltung von Angsträumen im Bahnhofsviertel Frankfurt

Between security and denial: A socially sensitive redevelopment of high-crime areas in Frankfurt’s city district Bahnhofsviertel

Department Sustainable Cities and Communities

In this project, students are developing socially acceptable designs for spaces of fear in Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel. The aim is to reduce conflicts of use and increase subjective safety - especially for women* and girls* - without displacing homeless people or people suffering from addiction.

Was denn für ‘ne Brechstange, Verena?

What kind of crowbar, Verena?

Department Sustainable Cities and Communities

Legal frameworks and political decisions are an integral part of any urban development. What role do building law, statutes, standards, development plans or administrative practice play in urban development? And what would happen if we were allowed to write the rules ourselves? In May 2025, the new Federal Building Minister is calling for what she herself calls a "building turbo with a crowbar". Building law is to be accelerated, simplified and broken up. This prompts us to ask: is this good or bad news for future cities in terms of the UN Sustainable Development Goals? What do laws and administrative instruments do to cities? What do such political interventions mean for planning practice? And could we not turn the tables? We want to understand how political interests, power relations and social values are inscribed in paragraphs. Together with law students, we will enter the world of planning law: the building code, municipal parking space statutes, design regulations or seemingly inconspicuous administrative decrees. Each student chooses a law, a regulation or a system of paragraphs that particularly concerns him or her - and deletes it, rewrites it or invents a new one. This new "legal text" is not only conceived theoretically, but also implemented speculatively and visually: How will the urban space change when this rule becomes reality? In an interdisciplinary exchange between the legal sciences and urban planning, we design and discuss fictitious urban planning scenarios.