Prof. Dr. Sybille Frank ,
head of department

Welcome to the Department of Urban and Spatial Sociology at the Technical University of Darmstadt! Our department is distinguished by its innovative approach that merges urban sociological themes with the study of the contested production of spaces, a blend that is unique in Germany.

Picture: Claudia Ba

The Department

The Department of Urban and Spatial Sociology is dedicated to exploring the intricate relationship between society and (urban) spaces. We perceive built, planned and lived spaces as as socially constructed entities, continuously reshaped through human interaction. In our research and teaching, we examine social inequalities and power dynamics in spatial patterns, the contested interpretations of (urban) spaces and places and their transformative potential. As an integral part of the “Urban Research” initiative led by our department within Faculty 02 of TU Darmstadt and the university-wide Working Group on Interdisciplinary Urban Research , our approach is both highly interdisciplinary and international. Collaborating with other researchers from the fields of architecture, urban planning, history, political science, and real estate economics, we investigate spaces in their diverse local, regional, global and temporal as well as cultural, political, economic, and social contexts.

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Head of Research Networks

Working Group on Interdisciplinary Urban Research

The Interdisciplinary Working Group "Urban Research" at the Technical University of Darmstadt has been developing multidisciplinary scientific perspectives on urban life in various formats since 2004. Its goal is to understand past and current challenges faced by cities and work on them innovatively. Together, the members of the AG form one of the most distinguished centers of interdisciplinary urban research in Germany.

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DFG Research Training Group Organising Architectures

The new research training group at Goethe Uni Frankfurt and TU Darmstadt, Organising Architectures, opened its doors on 1 November 2024. This interdisciplinary research project, funded by the German Research Foundation, investigates the collective organisational processes of architectures (with)in institutions, networks and discourses, as well as their social effects. The University of Kassel, the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory and the German Architecture Museum are also partners in this project.

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Participation in research networks

Research Training Group “Critical infrastructures: construction, functional crises and protection in cities” (KRITIS)

KRITIS is an interdisciplinary research training group dedicated to the study of critical infrastructures in cities. It has been in operation since October 2016 and is currently in its second funding phase, which will last until 2025. Here, historians, infrastructure and spatial planners, civil engineers, sociologists, electrical engineers, philosophers, political scientists, architects and computer scientists conduct research together. At the moment, the second cohort is working on their PhD theses.

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Research Center “Transformations of Political Violence” (TraCe)

The Research Center "Transformations of Political Violence" (TraCe) is an interdisciplinary research network of five Hessian research Institutions: The Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), the Goethe University Frankfurt, the Justus Liebig University Giessen, the Philipps University Marburg and the Technical University of Darmstadt.

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