Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: Research at the faculty

The current focus area „Planen.Bauen.Erben“ combines the research fields of sustainability and heritage research with the research field of spatial justice.

Research at the faculty focuses on questions relating to the sustainable development of architecture, cities and landscapes. This combines research projects from architecture, heritage and urban research as well as planning and engineering sciences, which explore space, city and architecture in the context of changing social conditions and challenges as well as technical requirements and thus contribute significantly to the sustainable design of architecture, city and landscape. In its research, the faculty not only questions the significance and handling of the legacy of previous planning and building cultures and the conditions of the production and use of spatial structures, but also develops design, technical or structural innovations and experiments against this background in order to continue building living spaces in a sustainable way. This is not only done on an interdisciplinary basis, but always in the context of the internationality in which the faculty teaches, learns and researches. At the faculty, research is carried out in the context of the university's research focus. „Planen.Bauen.Erben“ is bundled in two institutes:

The “Institute for European Urban Studies” sees itself as an institutional platform for interdisciplinary urban research and, as a teaching and research institute, integrates in particular spatial design and scientific perspectives on spatial development in the city, countryside and region.
The “bauhaus.institut für experimentelle architektur” was established as an innovation and research platform and, as a teaching and research institute, brings together engineering and design aspects in an experimental and application-oriented manner.

Thanks to numerous projects funded by the DFG, BMBF, EU or research foundations with renowned research partners, the faculty makes a significant contribution to the sustainable design of architecture and the city. In terms of its research performance - with its third-party funding per professorship and in view of its high number of completed doctorates - it is one of the best performing faculties of planning and architecture in Germany. In the last ten years, it has doubled the amount of third-party funding it has raised. An essential component of the research focus is the Graduate Research Center founded at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, which bundles the structured doctoral programs and research projects. These include, among others:

the DFG Research Training Group "Gewohnter Wandel", jointly applied for with Goethe University Frankfurt, for housing research in the period from fall 2024 to 2029
the interdisciplinary DFG Research Training Group „Identität und Erbe“, jointly applied for with TU Berlin, to research the complex relationship between cultural heritage and social change
the junior research group on „Sozialen Wohnraumversorgung in wachsenden Metropolregionen“ funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation
UrbanHist | 20th Century European Urbanism” as an EU-funded cooperation project with partners from Slovakia, Sweden and Spain, in which young academics conduct pan-European research into the history of urban and spatial planning
DAAD-funded international doctoral students of the International Doctorate Program of the Institute of European Urban Studies.