Projects

The research project "RichMap – Where the Rich Live" investigates the emergence and development of villa districts in Germany during the long 20th century. The focus is not only on how certain neighbourhoods became "good addresses," but also on how they were able to maintain this status over decades, lost it and – especially in eastern Germany – regained it in some cases after political and social upheavals. Methodological innovations of the project include digital maps, so-called "thick maps," and citizen science measures to incorporate the perspectives of residents and city dwellers. more

Through archival research on Soviet design and construction organisations, this research project critically historicises Western Siberia’s material transformation into the world’s largest fossil fuel extractivist region during the late Soviet oil boom. How were the state’s extractivist goals shaped and reshaped by urban planning, architecture and construction technologies? What were the consequences of these for local Indigenous communities and Soviet society at large? more

The Bauakademie der DDR, founded on 25 January 1951, formed the heart of the East German construction industry for four decades. As a central institution, it brought together the GDR's most important research and development work in the fields of architecture, urban planning and the construction industry. Its aim was to promote the reconstruction and structural reorganisation of the GDR in accordance with the ideological and political guidelines of the state and to create the technical foundations for the construction industry. more

In cooperation with the Federal Statistical Office, the IRS is testing a new approach to historical research on public authorities: in the "GeStat" project, ideas and concepts relating to the politics of the past as well as methodological, personnel and organisational developments at the Federal Statistical Office since the late 1980s are being investigated, taking the incision of the census boycott as a starting point. more

The project explores entanglements of Afro-Asian actors during the Cold War, focusing on persons, practices and their everyday sites of interaction. Recent research has taken note of voices from Africa and Asia, yet little is known about their interconnections. Overlooking these has given us a one-sided picture of the Cold War in which the global South only appears as a theatre of bloc politics. CRAFTE proposes to fill this gap by critically engaging with the lived world(s) of Afro-Asian connections, to show how these were embedded in, but also, how they shaped the global Cold War. more

The joint German-Flemish-Ivorian project CTRAAF examines the genealogies, materialisations and legacies of various forms of transport architecture in West Africa from the 1950s to the 1980s. At this time, a large wave of infrastructure projects was being promoted throughout West Africa. Transport infrastructures were nation building projects. CTRAAF examines ideas and realisations of transport architecture in this context, as well as the agency and power of political actors shaping it.<br/><br/>Le projet commun germano-flamand-ivoirien CTRAAF examine les généalogies, les matérialisations et les héritages de diverses formes d'architecture des transports en Afrique de l'Ouest entre les années 1950 et 1980. À cette époque, une grande vague de projets d'infrastructure a été promue dans toute l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Les infrastructures de transport étaient des projets de construction nationale. Le CTRAAF examine les idées et les réalisations de l'architecture des transports dans ce contexte, ainsi que l'agence et le pouvoir des acteurs politiques qui la façonnent. more

Das Forschungsprojekt untersucht die Folgen der Tätigkeiten der Treuhand-Liegenschaftsgesellschaft (TLG), einer Tochtergesellschaft der 1990 eingesetzten Treuhand-Anstalt, die für die Liquidierung und Veräußerung der zu DDR-Zeit zum „Volkseigentum“ zugehörigen Grundstücke und Immobilien zuständig war. Der Fokus liegt auf der Untersuchung der Bautypen, die in der neuen vereinten Bundesrepublik keine Verwendung mehr fanden wie Großgaststätten, Polikliniken, CENTRM-Warenhäuser und Interhotels. Diese wurden im Verlauf der 1990er umgebaut, umgenutzt, abgerissen oder stehen bis heute leer – und prägen so das Bild der Städte in Ostdeutschland. more

Dr Małgorzata Popiołek-Roßkamp is working on her habilitation project "The conversion of military sites after the withdrawal of the Allies in Berlin-Brandenburg". The aim of the project is to use governance research approaches to identify various patterns of dealing with these areas using selected examples and to investigate the question of conversion strategies, cultures of remembrance and museumisation practices. more