In face of the climate crisis and increasing social segregation, sustainable urban development plays a key role in securing quality of life and equal opportunities in cities. The New Leipzig Charta, the most recent framework for planners in Europe, is bold and proclaims the transformative power of cities for the common good. Some principles of sustainable development are consensus: Compact and mixed-use development, planning on different spatial levels of the European City, and integrative approaches, that are getting the balance right between the target dimensions of The Green City, The Just City and The Productive City. But they leave questions open to planners and architects: What’s behind the abstract and well-sounding slogans? Where does the professional / and academic discourse go beyond and provides important context? Which goals and population groups have been neglected and should be in the forefront? Where are synergies, and how can cities and processes be designed to implement sustainable development?

In this course, you will re visit basic knowledge in sustainable urban development. The aim is to examine the extent to which the quality of everyday life of citizens is affected by climate change and segregation, and how the different disciplines architecture, urban design, urban planning, and landscape architecture are responding to these challenges. Participants will be exposed to different perspectives – from practice and academia – and learn to articulate their own standpoints.

The course is designed as a bilingual (German and English) and interactive series of lectures involving professors from our Department’s City Lab (Fachgruppe E Stadtplanung) and selected guest lecturers.

Dates: Tuesdays, 8:00-9:40am
Place: L3|01 R 93 (Gr. HS)
1st meeting: Tuesday, October 24nd, 2025
Examination: February 25th, 2026
Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Knöll

Language: German/English
Registration: TUCaN