What/Next

Cities should be in control of their infrastructure for digital transformation – but data highways are only part of this. Physical spaces and local communities are required to ensure technology serves the greater good. Städte sollten die Kontrolle über ihre Infrastruktur für digitale Transformation haben – doch die Datenautobahn ist nur ein Teil davon. Physische Orte und lokale Communities sind no...

Seit Mai 2019 ist der Verein Et Kapellche im Graf-Adolf-Viertel in Köln Mülheim aktiv. Ein knappes Jahr später hat der Lockdown die gerade gestarteten Aktivitäten des Vereins gebremst. Trotzdem hat die Krise dem Verein nicht geschadet, vielmehr scheint es, als seien die Menschen im Graf-Adolf-Viertel näher zusammengerückt und schützen die Qualitäten des Miteinanders von nun an noch mehr. Das Team...

The United States of America is yet another context, in which the current crisis, caused by the spread of the Corona-Virus, is unfolding. How does the government respond in the U.S.? What specific (urban) context do we find? Brent D. Ryan looks closely at the built environment of our cities and pleads for a deeper understanding of what Urban Design as a discipline encompasses and what its future t...

What does a society need in the neighborhood, what conflicts and needs are there on site and how can a good community based on solidarity be started? The What/Next team spoke to Sven Lager about these and other questions. Together with his wife, Elke Naters, he is the founder of the Sharehouse Refugio in Berlin-Neukölln. Was braucht eine Gesellschaft im Quartier, welche Konflikte und Bedürfnisse g...

Bewusster beteiligen. Die Krise hat einen Digitalisierungsschub in dialog- und beteiligungsorientierten Prozessen der Stadtentwicklung ausgelöst. Dabei zeigt sich: Obwohl insbesondere die informelle Kommunikation, das sogenannte Nebengespräch, digital nur schwer zu ersetzen ist und bewusst angestoßen werden muss, fördert das Zusammenspiel von Online- und Offlineformaten eine angemessen differenzie...

As digital technology becomes entrenched in modern society, online platforms may seem like a public space for discussion when they are really owned by private corporations. But internet firms are also making the leap to physical space, appropriating public urban spaces for their own purposes. Digitale Technologien sind zunehmend in die Gesellschaft eingeschrieben und so können Online-Plattformen w...

How does everyday life in Halle an der Saale change as a result of the Corona crisis? The team of What/Next spoke to Rene Müller. He is the district manager in Halle Süd and portrays the commitment of the people and his role as well as the changed tasks of the district office in times of crisis Wie sieht der durch die Corona Krise veränderte Alltag in Halle an der Saale aus? Das Team von What/Next...

The Netherlands pose a particular setting for practicing planning. Paul Gerretsen knows the government driven system well and has made it his mission to allocate international knowledge and bring together disciplines, authorities and civil society to collectively engage into thinking about new paradigms for planning. Die Niederlande  stellen einen besonderen Rahmen für die Planungpraxis...

Important functions of public space are breaking down due to the pandemic. The everyday life of many people in Munich is changing: some are conquering new spaces in the city and enjoying the low-traffic streets in the neighborhoods. The others are eagerly waiting for normality to return in order to use public spaces as usual. The fields of work of our discussion partners Brigitte Gans and Eva Jüst...

The future is uncertain, particularly now. Still, it is useful and necessary to look ahead, not only in the field of urban development. How planning can and should deal with the future is one of the topics in the third City Talk. The guests from Berlin, London and Vienna represent three different perspectives on cities and their development. Die Zukunft ist unsicher, gerade jetzt. Dennoch ist es h...

The City of Vienna has long been taking steps towards digital participation regarding urban development processes. But the most significant leap yet has been brought on by the current pandemic. As municipalities are gradually adjusting to new routines, the experiences gathered in the digital realm may enhance future participation processes. Die Stadt Wien baut seit Längerem schrittweise die Möglic...

The Ruhr area  is a specific urban context, which has been formed by profound transformation processes in recent decades. In order to observe the changes that are triggered by the corona virus, the team of What/Next spoke with Dr.-Ing. Irene Wiese -v. Ofen, architect and former councillor of the City of Essen for Urban Planning, Building and Land. She portrays space and people of the Ruh...

Niehler Freiheit is a real-life citymaker project in Cologne that wants to create a space for community and culture in a former repair shop at the edge of town. The lockdown caused the initiative to move many activities online, but they continue to reflect on physical space. Die Niehler Freiheit ist ein reales Stadtmacher-Projekt in Köln, das in einer Werkstatt am Stadtrand Räume für Community und...

The neighborhood is becoming increasingly important in times of crisis. What/Next spoke to Dr. Olaf Schnur about the consequences of the crisis on urban neighborhoods. His conclusion: We should definitely learn from the current situation. Das Quartier als unser direktes Lebensumfeld gewinnt in der Krise an Bedeutung. What/Next hat mit Dr. Olaf Schnur über die Auswirkungen der Corona Krise auf städ...

The cross-media approach , combining online and offline formats, has proven to be an effective way to run citizen participation processes in the past. But how can it work, when events in physical space are not currently an option? This may be a chance to rethink virtual as well as in-person participation. Ein crossmedialer Ansatz aus Online- und Offline-Formaten hat sich als effektiver Weg der Bür...

For assessing this profound change, the team of What/Next had the honor to speak with Thomas Sieverts, renowned architect and city planner. He reflects the current crisis in retrospect to his experiences of 75 years in urban development, pleads for the sensuousness of urban space and derives future questions for prospective architects and planners from this. You can find the blog What/Next at...

Three times urban development planning : Leading planners from public administrations in Cologne, Munich and Zurich discuss the effects of the current crisis on long-term trends of urban development – some of them masked by the current crisis, others even more visible. They go on to reflect on the relevance, roles and instruments of urban development planning during and after the crisis. You can f...

Municipal planning departments rarely take on systemically relevant tasks in acute crisis management. For them, the current crisis provides a moment of reflection based on in-depth knowledge of the specific urban context. City councillors of Aachen, Bremen and Ulm share their impressions of the corona crisis and bring up questions for emerging tasks in urban development. Kommunale Dezernate für St...

In the first episode of What/Next, Prof. Agnes Förster talks to Jan Gartner of Raumpioniere, a Vienna-based platform for crowdfunding of citizen-led urban development projects. You can find the blog What/Next at www.planung-neu-denken.de Music: Elephants on Parade by Podington Bear . Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License