BUG 2022

34th Bremen University Talks

New centres, new peripheries: Shaping urban change

The topic

Closed shops, deserted pedestrian zones and deserted market squares: The coronavirus crisis has accelerated urban structural change, making visible to everyone what has been discussed in urban research for years: The old city centres have lost a large part of their centrality, not least because service and administrative functions have either shifted online or to the outskirts of the city. The loss of importance of the city centre means that the city is losing its centre. At the same time, it is precisely the outskirts where urban, liveable and exciting places with new central functions have emerged in recent times. Against this background, the question arises as to the essential contours of the new centres and peripheries and the consequences of urban change.

The emerging, still unclear new geographies of the city are accompanied by an increasing complexity of social structures. As a result of colonialism and decolonisation, European societies have become immigration societies, which are described as "superdiverse" from a social science perspective. Together with the process of demographic ageing and the disappearance of the middle classes, this not only leads to a clear pluralisation of life situations and styles, but also to an increasing fragmentation of urban society. Urban development players are therefore faced with the task of meeting the diverse social challenges, catering to the heterogeneous needs of different sub-groups and creating architectural and spatial structures that offer identification potential and participation for very different social groups.

The 34th Bremen University Talks aim to bring urban development practitioners together with stakeholders from politics, administration and academia to discuss guidelines and development opportunities for urban change. Following three input sessions, all participants are invited to take part in transdisciplinary workshops to help define the position of the new centres and peripheries and to work on outlining the new urban geographies.

Scientific coordination

    Prof Dr JuliaLossau, University of Bremen
    Prof Dr Ivo Mossig, University of Bremen

 

    Abendvortrag - Donnerstag, 17.11.2022

    Greeting
    Alexander Witte
    Chairman of the Wolfgang Ritter Foundation

    Introduction
    Prof Dr JuliaLossau and Prof Dr Ivo Mossig
    University of Bremen, scientific coordination

    Opening lecture
    "Silent activism. Artistic interventions in public space"
    Dr Barbara Holub, Vienna


    Watch the recordings of the programme from Friday, 18.11.2022 here

    Centres, peripheries, materialities
    Prof. Dr Ilse Helbrecht
    Humboldt University of Berlin

     

    Centres, peripheries, materialities
    Prof. Dr Christian von Wissel
    Bremen University of Applied Sciences

    Thinking of the city as a social space
    Dr Noa K. Ha
    German Centre for Integration and Migration Research Berlin

    Thinking of the city as a social space
    Prof Dr Christian Spatschek
    Bremen University of Applied Sciences

    Creating urban change
    Prof Dr Oliver Ibert
    Leibniz Institute for Spatial Social Research Erkner / Free University of Berlin

    Shaping urban change
    Christiane Gartner
    Culture on the spot, Bremen-Gröpelingen

    Programm

    Thursday, 17.11.2022

    Opening evening at the Lichthaus Bremen

    Hermann-Prüser-Straße 4, 28237 Bremen

    Greeting
    Alexander Witte
    Chairman of the Wolfgang Ritter Foundation

    Introduction
    Prof Dr JuliaLossau and Prof Dr Ivo Mossig
    University of Bremen, scientific coordination

    Opening lecture
    "Silent activism. Artistic interventions in public space"
    Dr Barbara Holub
    Vienna

    Reception organised by Sparkasse Bremen AG

    Friday, 18.11.2022

    Conference at the Atlantic Grand Hotel Bremen

    Input Session 1: Centres, Peripheries, Materialities
    Impulses:

        Prof. Dr Ilse Helbrecht
        Humboldt University of Berlin
        Prof. Dr Christian von Wissel
        Bremen University of Applied Sciences

    Input session 2: Thinking the city as a social space
    Impulses:

        Dr.-Ing. Noa K. Ha
        German Centre for Integration and Migration Research
        Prof. Dr Christian Spatschek
        Bremen University of Applied Sciences

    Input session 3: Shaping urban change
    Impulses:

        Prof. Dr Oliver Ibert
        Leibniz Institute for Spatial Social Research Erkner / Free University Berlin
        Christiane Gartner
        Culture on site, Bremen-Gröpelingen

    Workshop