Dr. Grischa Bertram appointed Junior Professor for Spatial Planning and Spatial Research

Born in Göttingen in 1978, Grischa Bertram has been conducting spatial planning research in a university context for 15 years. Before his appointment to this position, the academically trained urban and urban development planner worked as a scientific employee at the Department of Urban Renewal & Planning Theory at the University of Kassel for 11 years. In 2018, he completed his doctorate on civic protest in local spatial planning in Berlin.

In recent years in Kassel, Grischa Bertram frequently served as an advisor to Master’s Degree Programme students with an Urban Studies Bachelor’s degree from Weimar. It was his contact with these students that strengthened his interest in Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: »I experienced the students from Weimar as something special: as students who took particular interest in the subject matter and who were particularly good at discussing it. This has meant that teaching them has always been an especially enjoyable and enriching experience«. It was then a logical step to apply for the Junior Professorship in his field in Weimar.

Together with Senior Prof. Dr. Max Welch Guerra, the new Junior Professor will be part of a dual-leadership team for the Professorship of Spatial Planning and Spatial Research in Weimar for the next three years. Each of them will closely coordinate their teaching and divide up the workload between themselves and the scientific employees. In the few weeks that Grischa Bertram has been working in Weimar, he has so far been particularly active at the Institute for European Urban Studies and at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism. He greatly appreciates the convenience of short distances as well as the healthy working atmosphere and the collegial interaction among the staff.  

In the area of spatial research, he is particularly interested in the (re)production of spaces and in governance analysis, and in the field of spatial planning, he is captivated by the possibilities for socio-economic transformation and international transferability. The relationship between democracy and planning in various contexts and with different forms of participation particularly intrigues him. He examines opportunities for participation from the citizens’ perspective and seeks answers to questions such as: What benefits are associated with partisan engagement? What are the benefits of newer forms of participation, such as petition platforms? When is protest an easier path?

In terms of planning content, he has the contemporary issues of sustainability, ecology and land conservation on his agenda. With a key focus on political processes, he has also dealt in the past with issues related to inner cities and retail, lost buildings and spaces, post-war reconstruction, transformation of the transportation system, sustainable urban development and urban development funding in Europe.

While still in secondary school, he helped initiate a local agenda. He was active in local youth work and was also involved in various political and voluntary activities while studying and working. This included service as a city councillor, as a member of the regional assembly, as an author of statements for a nature conservation association and on behalf of citizens’ initiatives in an advisory capacity.

The Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism is looking forward to the committed teaching and research work of Jr. Prof. Dr. Grischa Bertram. His strong ties to Kassel are to remain: For familial reasons, he will be commuting between Kassel and Weimar in the coming months. A professional link between Kassel and Weimar is to remain in place for even longer, provided that the German Research Foundation approves the joint application that the new Junior Professor has launched together with his former boss in Kassel on the topic of large-scale projects in discourse.