The Competence Center at the Department of Architecture aims to research and communicate the specific contribution of architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture to urban resilience. The goal is to combine the various building blocks of resilient adaptation with integrated spatial concepts.

The international competition “Designing Resilience in Asian Cities (DRIA)” was launched in 2014 by the National University of Singapore to stimulate informed discussion about innovative ideas for strengthening resilience and sustainability in the Asia-Pacific region. This program, which connects ten universities, seeks to critically examine the challenges of climate protection and urbanization. For more than ten years, forward-looking architectural and urban planning concepts as well as innovative technologies have been developed for various tasks to strengthen the resilience of urban communities. This is now running under the title “Designing Resilience Global.” The Department of Architecture at TU Darmstadt, with its focus on design and urban planning (Prof. Dr. Annette Rudolph-Cleff), has been successfully participating in the competition since its inception. In 2026, this will be supported by the newly founded Competence Center Resilient City.

The compact event aims to highlight various aspects of urban resilience. On the one hand, it serves to prepare students participating in the 2026 competition, but it is also open to other interested parties from the fields of architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, and other disciplines concerned with sustainable urban development and resilient cities.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

12:30 p.m.

Welcome and introduction to the topic

1:00–1:45 p.m.

1. “Resilient City” – Dimensions of a Challenge

• Dr. Gül Tuçaltan, Urban Morphosis Lab
• 30-minute presentation + 15 min discussion

1:45–2:30 p.m.

2. Research on the “Resilient City”

• Prof. Dr. Markus Keck, University of Augsburg Chair of Urban Climate Resilience, Augsburg
• 30-minute presentation + 15 min discussion

2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Coffee break

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

3. Contributions from architecture and landscape architecture to the “resilient city”

• Christoph Elsässer, West 8 urban design & landscape architecture b.v., Rotterdam
• 30-minute presentation + 15 min discussion
• Mechthild von Puttkamer, Terrabiota Landscape Architects and Urban Planners GmbH, Starnberg
• 30-minute presentation + 15 min discussion

4:30–5:00 p.m.

Summary and concluding discussion