Building Culture in Practice

Building Culture in Practice

A research project of Experimental Housing and Urban Development (ExWoSt)

Many activities relating to building culture are today no longer initiated by the public sector, but by civic initiatives, which also run them. This is where the research project “Building Culture in Practice” comes in. After many years of examining and promoting municipalities’ commitment to building culture, this project focuses specifically on voluntary civic engagement. The aim of the project is to gain insight into the status of building culture initiatives in rural areas and in small and medium-sized towns, as well as to identify the obstacles and limitations affecting their work. In addition, 12 local initiatives are to receive professional support in carrying out their building culture concerns. In short, intensive interventions, the research team is intended to help achieve concrete successes and to further develop the initiatives strategically. The formats to be applied in this process (inputs, dialogues, actions, workshops, consulting, etc.) were developed within the framework of the project.

After the project began in early 2014, the first task was to identify suitable initiatives. Based on a catalogue of criteria, Bischofswerda, Baiersbronn and Dingden were selected as pilot projects; during the course of the project, Dübener Heide, Ilzer Land, Kalbe, Nordkirchen, Pleß, Schmidtheim, Schwarzatal, Sonthofen and Unkel were added. The team at Alanus University played a leading role for the initiatives Dorfentwicklung Dingden, DORFschafft* Nordkirchen, Interessengemeinschaft Schmidtheim and Entwicklungsagentur Unkel.

Three public workshops in Baiersbronn, Alfter and Leipzig, featuring presentations, inputs and discussion rounds, also gave the initiatives the opportunity to network and exchange ideas. In June 2016, the major concluding workshop symposium was held, presenting the results of the research project for discussion, before the final project report was submitted at the end of 2016.

Project staff
Prof. Dr. Florian Kluge (lead), Prof. Swen Geiss, Dipl.-Ing. Miriam Hamel

Cooperation partners
Working group “Building Culture in Practice”, consisting of:
Office for Urban Projects, Leipzig, represented by Björn Teichmann (lead), Wolfram Georg, Andreas Paul and Anna Eckenweber,
Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Architecture, Alfter, represented by Prof. Dr. Florian Kluge (lead), Prof. Swen Geiss and Miriam Hamel,
Landluft – Association for the Promotion of Building Culture in Rural Areas, represented by Roland Gruber (lead), Judith Leitner, Josef Mathis and Thomas Moser

Client
Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Berlin, represented by Gabriele Kautz and Anne Keßler
Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development, Bonn, represented by Martina Kocks (until 11/2015 Anca Cârstean)
The research project is accompanied by the Federal Foundation for Building Culture (represented by Niklas Nitzschke)

Project duration
01/2014 to 10/2016

Other
More information at www.baukulturinitiative.de