We cannot live without streets, squares, parks and landscapes. Here we meet, we move and relax, we develop ideas and we argue about who may use these spaces and how. These open spaces are ecological, social and political spaces, open-air stages and mirrors of society. At the Institute for Open Space Planning and Design, we address the demands of a changing society on its open spaces and shape their future. We work at the intersection of design and planning, political and natural sciences, concretely and also fundamentally.

In the Department of Open Space Policy and Planning Communication we are concerned with conflicts, needs and interests in open space and with the appropriate forms of dialogue for open space policy debates.

The Department of Designing Urban Landscapes deals - inter- and transdisciplinary - with the design of open spaces against the background of current transformation challenges such as urbanization, climate crisis or loss of biodiversity.