On the following pages you will find an overview of the courses offered in the current semester as well as an overview of the master theses and dissertations completed at our research unit.

Teaching Objectives

Spatial planning prepares political decisions on urban and regional levels, coordinates them with one another and further specifies them in detail. This process demands the comparison of alternative actions, concepts and strategies with regard to their spatial economic, social and ecological effects and their evaluation on the basis of given planning objectives. The educational programme of this research unit is therefore oriented towards imparting and further development of knowledge and skills, in order to enable graduates of spatial planning to fulfil these tasks. Strengthening and expanding professional skills in the increasingly international labour market, is a particular concern of all members of SRF.

For this purpose, theories and methods of urban and regional science are introduced in a practice-based manner is such a way that students develop a fundamental understanding of spatial development as well as a critical assessment of spatial situations and trends. In excerises and projects, the methodological instruments are applied in specific examples of planning practice. In seminars, challenges are analysed and approaches to solutions are derived from a strategic planning perspective. Knowledge and experiences gained are exchanged and discussed for the mutual benefit between students, teachers and external experts. Through field trips, awareness and understanding of students concerning driving forces behind spatial development processes and the problems and challenges they pose are strengthened. Further, the effectiveness of political measures, strategies and concepts on an urban and regional level are critically scrutinised and discussed with relevant political and administrative decision makers.

Thus, all courses of this research unit primarily contribute to an understanding of spatial development within a systemic perspective, in which individual elements and actors are put into relation to each other. In this way, students should learn to recognise spatial processes and their related problems and challenges, to develop planning approaches and strategies as well as to evaluate projects, plans and programmes with spatial impact with regard to their urgency, economic efficiency and social and environmental compatibility. Thereby the main focus is on linking theoretical knowledge with technical and methodological skills for visualising, analysing and evaluating spatial structures and developments. These comprise techniques for the analysis and visualisation of spatial data as well as in particular methods of regional analysis and site evaluation, statistic models for simulating spatial processes and geographical information systems (GIS).