At the end of May, we welcomed Karina Pallagst as a visiting professor at the SRF. We look forward to the professional exchange, international networking, and valuable contributions to research and teaching that her stay will bring in the coming weeks.

Karina Pallagst is a professor of International Planning Systems at the RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau and will serve as AESOP President starting in August 2026. After earning her doctorate at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, she completed her habilitation at TU Dresden. She has also worked at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Institute for Ecological Spatial Development in Dresden. Her research focuses on comparative urban and regional development, the underlying factors and dynamics of shrinking city regions, as well as international planning theories and cultures.

As part of her visiting professorship at TU Wien, she will be teaching the course “Urban shrinkage in an international context, opens an external URL in a new window” alongside Prof. Franziska Sielker, where TU students will benefit from her extensive research experience in the field. We are also looking forward to  exciting insights into current challenges in spatial development during her guest lecture at TU on 24 June 2026. Under the title “Spatial Development in Times of Crisis: How Do We Plan for Ageing Smart and Shrinking Smart?”, the presentation examines current trends in the context of an aging society and regional shinkage, and discusses possible planning responses to these.

Details about Prof. Karina Pallagst’s guest lecture:
Topic: Spatial Development in Times of Crisis: How Do We Plan for Ageing Smart and Shrinking Smart? (held in German)
Date: 24 June 2026, 16:00-17:00
Location: Karlsgasse 11, Rooms EBEG-1 & EBEG-2, opens an external URL in a new window