IRS aktuell

This issue of IRS aktuell is dedicated to the activities of the IRS research focus on contemporary history and archives as well as its scholarly collections, which have taken major steps in both directions - citizen science and proactive communication - in recent years. These include, for example, the technically highly sophisticated digitalisation of our collection holdings on GDR building history and the “Stadtwende” research project on initiatives against old town decay in the GDR with its multimedia-based public relations work. more infos

In this issue of IRS aktuell, which was supervised by Matthias Bernt, we devote special attention to the industrially built large housing estates of East German cities and their remarkable change of role: from attractive, modern residential areas to media-stigmatised places of departure and from there to new arrival points of migration. In the aforementioned joint project, the IRS, together with partner institutions in the region, researched the background and practical challenges of this change. Contributions in this issue provide information about the change in municipal integration work, the role of the housing industry and demands on open space planning. more infos

In this issue, we turn our attention to cities and their – possible – role as pioneers of climate policy. The IRS has been researching the spatial dimensions of energy transition for quite some time. Three years ago, the question of climate policy approaches in cities, in Germany as well as in the European context, was added. In the title articles of this issue, we ask which cities are actually becoming active in climate policy, how they are doing it, which historical and structural factors influence the activities, and how current events affect them. more infos