ARCH+ 261 - Urban redevelopment: Schools of transformation. The University of Siegen as a case study.

19.09.2025 Andreas Wöbking

This month saw the publication of the latest issue of the architecture magazine ARCH+, which is considered to be a defining discourse in the German-speaking world and beyond. Entitled "Urban Redevelopment: Schools of Transformation", it is dedicated to the transformational potential of the spatial practices of universities. Long ridiculed as ivory towers, they are now once again taking center stage as agents of social change. Against the backdrop of structural change, they are demonstrating their power to act where traditional politics, planning and market logic reach their limits.

Guest editors Univ.-Prof. Dr. Thorsten Erl, Head of the Department of Urban Design (stdtb_nas) and the architects' group c/o now around Univ.-Prof. Tobias Hönig, Head of the Department of Building Theory and Design (lfge_nas) - both at the Neue Architekturschule Siegen (N_AS) / Department of Architecture - are jointly responsible for the contents of the issue. The University of Siegen is honored in detail as a case study. In addition to contributions by the two Siegen architecture professors, Alex Demirović, Martina Löw, Alexander Markschies and Anna-Maria Meister, among others, pose the following questions: How can the campus become an urban laboratory? How do we defend universities as places of democracy? What role do they play in structural change?

The publication will be presented in detail at the evening opening of the Department of Architecture's annual exhibition on October 10 in the former printing house of the Siegener Zeitung newspaper. More information is available here: https://archplus.net/de/archiv/ausgabe/261/