Thanks to all our friends and partners for reliable cooperation and fruitful collaboration during the entire year 2025. 

ISTB wishes you happy holidays and all the best for the year 2026!

Liliana Mishchenko, Viktoriia Shepel

On November 25, the interim presentation of the joint German-Ukrainian seminar took place, which was organized in hybrid form as part of the Competence Network of Urban Transformation and Resilience (CNUTR). Aim of the seminar is the understanding and mapping of the contemporary landscape of the Estonian capital. Presented were the outcomes of the seminar – work in progress – of 7 teams, taking different topics e.g., the free public transport in Tallinn, the phenomenon of overtourism, the morphological changes of the port area, and others. Thanks a lot to our guest Dr. Oleksandra Nenko from the University of Turku for your valuable critics!

Open call to KIT Students - Two-week international workshop exploring climate-sensitive urban planning in Kosovo (05–19 April 2026). Held in cooperation with Hochschule Luzern and the University of Pristina. Participation funded. Crediting: 4 ECTS (e.g. as a workshop module). Full program details and application requirements in the PDF below. Deadline 20.01.2026

The semester program for the upcoming semester is now online. Here you will find the different events and their contents. We are looking forward to exciting results.

During the seminar week, special places in Karlsruhe were tracked down, their intrinsic logics perceived, researched and noted, and spatial, political, ephemeral, sometimes invisible phenomena highlighted. On daily field trips to different parts of the city we discovered the various characteristics and translated them into subjective mappings of the city while simultaneously discovering the cities built history. 

Welcome to the start of the summer semester 2024. We wish all students a good start to the new semester and look forward to your designs, new impulses and ideas as well as an exciting exchange with you!

On June 6th Niku Khaleghi has very successfully presented her doctoral thesis „Assessing the Walkability of Tehran Organic Street Network Based on the Networks Form“. The dissertation evaluates the diverse street patterns in the Iranian capital with regard to the cultural, spatial and geographical conditions specific characteristics that significantly influence walkability. The research addresses a worldwide relevant topic as important prerequisite for sustainable urban development, which in the context of Iran and many other cities in the Middle East still is in the shadow of the scientific debate and planning policies. Congratulations, Dr. Khaleghi!

The results of the seminar Metropol.x_Kharkiv present different facets of the Ukrainian city, right at the border with Russia. It is the second-largest city in Ukraine with a population of about two million, before Russia´s war of aggression broke out. As one of the most important scientific, industrial, trade, and transportation centers of Ukraine, Kharkiv has played a significant role in the nation’s history. The booklet is available at the chair.

The results of the seminar Metropol.x_Brussels present different facets of the Belgium capital. Causes and symptoms of segregation in Molenbeek, the importance of the Expo on the transportation infrastructure and the food culture are only some of the various topics that are discussed in individual maps, elaborated by the students. The booklet is available at the chair.

The book „Large Housing Estates under Socialism“ by Barbara Engel and Nikolas Rogge is now available via open access. Harnessing large urban housing estates in former socialist countries as a resource for the future housing supply requires innovative and practicable strategies and concepts. The contributors present experiences and perspectives from different disciplines on sustainable development of mass housing districts, both in academia and practice.