Stadt der Räume

Under the title ” Stadt der Räume” (“City of Spaces”), the 5th volume of the series “Materialien zu Geschichte, Theorie und Entwurf architektonischer Räume” (“Materials on the History, Theory and Design of Architectural Spaces”) presents fundamental positions of various cultural and social sciences on the nature of the city. The anthology’s contributions elucidate, from their particular specialized standpoint, different concepts and characteristics of the “spatiality” of the city. The range of authors and disciplines illustrates the current virulent discussion about the city. At the same time, the abundance of essays exemplarily documents the expansion of the concept of space by the various disciplines. The phenomenon of the city as a common denominator concretizes boundaries, interfaces, and transitions between the different conceptions and points ahead to a complex theory of architectural space.
Against the background of a long prehistory, the concept of space is defined and understood in different ways. Since the millennium, the discourse on architectural theory has not remained uninfluenced by the renewed “return” of the spatial, the “spatial turn”, apart from individual preceding advances. Thus, the recent theorizations of a sociology of space and the cultural-scientific reflections on the shaping of architecture and the city have led to a gradually growing interest in the renewed discussion of various conceptions of the spatial. In the process, man’s essential habitat, the city, has come into focus. In no other phenomenon does the fabric of society and space seem to take on more concrete, yet complex, forms than in the great cultural, social, and architectural historical constant of cities.
The present volume included contributions by Gernot Böhme, Katharina Brichetti and Franz Mechsner, Christopher Dell, Andreas Denk, Georg Franck, Birgit Haase, Jürgen Hasse, Michael Jansen, Alexander G. Keul, Michael Mönninger, Fritz Neumeyer, Jan Pieper, Hermann Schmitz, Uwe Schröder, Peter Stauder, Markus Schroer, and Jessica Wilde, illustrating the manifold perspectives of cultural and social sciences, the arts, and architectural and urban theory. The authors explain different concepts and characteristics of the “spatiality of the city” from their respective professional standpoints. By taking exemplary stock of the current state of knowledge, the wealth of essays documents the expansion of the concept of space through the various disciplines. The phenomenon of the city as a common denominator concretizes boundaries, interfaces, and transitions between the different understandings and points ahead to a complex theory of architectural space.