The Staff

• Urban and Spatial Sociology
• In/Formalised Urban Development
• Infrastructure Studies
• Political Sociology, in particular Elite Research
• Sociological Theory, in particular Pierre Bourdieu
• Spain and Latin America
• Qualitative methods of Social Sciences, in particular Ethnography

Organising socio-ecological transformations of and through architectures (working title, 2024-present, project within the framework of the DFG Research Training Group ‘Organising Architectures’)

The project deals with the relation of social discourses on socio-ecological transformations of architectures on the one hand and the organising effect of architectures on social practice in the context of precisely these major processes of change on the other. The project understands architectures as the results of social negotiation processes, but also as powerful and lasting materialisations of specific ideas of a climate-friendly and socially just city of the future. In this way, architecture itself becomes a powerful argument in discourses and influences the possible material and social futures in cities against the backdrop of climate change and the risk of resulting increasing social polarization.

Taking into account the global scale of the climate crisis, the project is organised on an international comparative basis and includes contexts in the global North and South. It (1) negotiates what is understood locally as socio-ecological transformation in the various geographical contexts in relation to architecture, (2) examines case studies that are of particular relevance in this context and (3) compares the findings in order to work out similarities and differences and to explore the possibility of developing a typology of socio-ecological architectures with regard to their production and organising effect.

Home-Making of Latin American Male Sex Workers in Europe: Practices of security, identity and belonging (2023-present, funded by the British Academy)

Large Western European cities such as Frankfurt or Madrid are considered migration destinations for many people in countries of the Global South. They are associated with the chances of a better life with a secure income and better provision of social infrastructure such as education and health. For queer men, they are often also seen as places of greater individual freedom. For some of these men, migration to Europe leads to sex work, a highly stigmatised labour market. The project analyses the expectations and experiences of Latin American male sex workers migrating to Europe with regard to their concept of ‘home’. It examines the practices of home-making as well as factors that influence or complicate this process: their own experience of migration, discrimination based on their sexuality, exploitation and violence in sex work and the often high level of international mobility associated with sex work. While other works have already investigated the various forms of marginalisation and exclusion of this group of people, this project poses a different question: what resources and social practices are used to create a spatial reference point, a place that stands for security, belonging and one's own identity in the face of often adverse conditions? This project is part of the network ‘Arrival, Access and Belonging in Past and Future Cities’.

Hybrid Urbanisms (2021-2024, funded by the DFG)

This comparative study investigates the special relationship between formalised and informalised practices and materialities of urban development in secondary cities in the global South. So far, these have often been conceptualised as separate forms of development or states of transition from one form to the other. The central starting point is the critical analysis of the social production of both forms of urban development in the form of hybrid urbanisms. In three different neighbourhoods each in Sunyani (Ghana) and Arequipa (Peru), we investigated the formalised planning policies and everyday practices of residents in relation to water and mobility infrastructures. The interdisciplinary cooperation between planning sciences and sociology makes it possible to compare the diversity of hybrid arrangements and their conditions of production on a multi-scalar basis. The international comparison also contributes to advancing the theorisation of secondary cities in the global South, whereby small-scale local realities are placed in the foreground.

SEGE – Evaluating urban development holistically (2017-2019, funded by the KfW Development Bank)

This research project uses seven case cities in Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Ghana, Indonesia and Peru to analyse the specific development dynamics in secondary cities. A special focus is placed on processes of decentralisation. The project gains its insights from interviews with key players from urban society: planners, politicians, civil society actors and representatives of the local economy. It shows how great the challenges for urban development in secondary cities are, especially due to the increasing number of tasks delegated to cities from the central government level, while financial and human resources are scarce. Some of the findings from the project have been incorporated exclusively into the 15th evaluation report of the KfW Development Bank.

The political city – Berlin, Madrid and the political field (2012-2017, dissertation project)

The dissertation project analyses the spatial production processes of central actors in the national political field in Berlin and Madrid. Based on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of political fields, participant observation of politicians, lobbyists, media representatives, employees of political institutions and others are described and analysed. It is shown what significance concrete places play for the practice of politics and what individual goals the actors pursue with their use. At the same time, it is analysed how places come to have their meaning for the actors in the field. The findings of the project thus also contribute to an expanded knowledge of the functioning of national political fields from a comparative perspective.

• Sektion Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie
• RC21 – Sociology of Urban and Regional Development der International Sociological Association