2024

23.01.2024
Susanne Gerstberger
"Biosphere and city. The 'Man and Biosphere Program in Process' for the exploration of urban transformation processes under the premise of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve - An action plan for the initiation of the urban transformation strategy: BiosphereCITY. Case Study: Arrecife
(Lanzarote, Spain)"
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Dr. Henri Bava
Co-speaker Professor Dr. Riklef Rambow
Additional member Professor Dr., hon. Lenelis Kruse-Graumann (Institute of Psychology at the University of Heidelberg)

12.02.2024
Iuliia Frantseva
"Strategies of the revitalization of mass housing areas in post-Soviet Ukraine"
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Dr. Barbara Engel
Co-speaker Professor Dr. Alexander Bouryak
Additional member Professor Markus Neppl

23.02.2024
Tabea Obergfell
Evaluation of the land time functionality of paraffin-based phase change materials in building applications
Chairman Professor Moritz Dörstelmann
Speaker Professor Andreas Wagner
Co-speaker Professor Hans-Martin Henning (Frauenhofer ISE)
Additional member Professor Dr. Riccardo La Magna

28.02.2024
Sina Brückner-Amin
From Farms to the "New Frontier"
The Planning of UC Irvine's Educational Environment, 1932-1965
Chair Speaker Professor Dr. Barbara Engel
Professor Dr. Anna-Maria Meister
Co-Speaker Professor Dr. Rembert Hüser (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main)
Additional member Professor Dr. Joaquín Medina Warmburg

30.04.2024
Michaela Mansuroglu
Hermeneutics and reception aesthetics - from the triad to the tetractys
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Referee Professor Dr. Martin Papenbrock
Co-Speaker Professor Dr. Oliver Jehle
Additional member Private lecturer Dr. Kirsten Voigt

07.05.2024
Dr. Daniel Friedrich
Theory and design of thermoformed wood-plastic composite facades: A socio-technological, heuristic approach
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Dr. Rosemarie Wagner
Co-speaker Professor Dr. Elmar Moritzer (University of Paderborn)
Co-speaker Additional member Prof. Dr. Panagiotis Spyridis (University of Dortmund)
Prof. Dr. Moritz Dörstelmann

14.05.2024
Ms. Romina Rissetto
Assessment of occupants' comfort expectations related to the adoption of personal environmental control systems
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Dr. Marcel Schweiker
Co-speaker Professor Dr. Riklef Rambow
Additional member Professor Dr. Caroline Karmann

06.06.2024
Niku Khaleghi
Assessing the Walkability of Tehran Organic Street Network Based on the Network's Form
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Dr. Barbara Engel
Co-Speaker Professor Dr. Behnaz Aminzadeh Goharrizi (University of Tehran)
Additional member Professor Markus Neppl

2023

12.01.2023
Abbas Rahmani
"Determining effects of geometry on energy efficiency of medium-sized solar buildings"
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Rosemarie Wagner
Co-speaker Professor Matthias Pfeifer
Additional member Professor Wolfgang Streicher (University of Innsbruck)

16.05.2023
Sandra Eberle
"The Karlsruhe Artists' Association and the beginnings of modern commercial art. Advertising, cards, book art 1896-1914"
Chairman Mr. Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Dr. Martin Papenbrock
Co-speaker Professor Dr. Oliver Jehle
Additional member Privatdozentin Dr. Kirsten Claudia Voigt

23.06.2023
Sebastian Ebertshäuser
"Approach to rule-based multi-scale analysis and testing of system models in the context of integral planning"
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Dr. Petra von Both
Co-speaker Professor Dr. Gunnar Grün
Additional member Professor Dr. Riccardo La Magna

2022

10.02.2022
Karsten Rexroth
"Concept of a system for the derivation of planning methodological models based on situation-specific
characteristics"
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Petra von Both
Co-speaker Professor Jakob Beetz
Additional member Professor Barbara Engel

16.03.2022
Mohammad Emara
"The Role of Community Parks as a Medium for Cultural Expression, with Reference to Cairo, Egypt"
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Barbara Engel
Co-speaker Professor Sherif Elfiki
Additional member Professor Riklef Rambow

19.04.2022
Manuela Gantner
"The "peaceful atom" as a narrative in politics, science and design. Iconography of a discourse between 1953 and 1978"
Chairman Mr. Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Georg Vrachliotis
Co-speaker Professor Daniel Hornuff
Additional member Professor Joaquin Medina Warmburg

2021

22.09.2021
Radostina Radulova-Stahmer
"Smart urban spaces - urban spatial effects of the digital transformation Spatial impact of technologies and their potential for urban space in neighborhoods in the DACH region using the example of the fields of action mobility and environment"
Chairman Professor Andreas Wagner
Speaker Professor Dr. Markus Neppl
Co-speaker Professor Agla e Degros
Additional member Professor Simon Hartmann

2020

May 18, 2020
Steffen Kunkel
The pilgrimage church "Mary, Queen of Peace" a contemporary view
Speaker: Meinrad Morger

The pilgrimage church "Maria, Queen of Peace" is not only considered the main work of the Pritzker Prize winner Gottfried Böhma pilgrimage rooms and that sacred building. The dissertation reveals essential, previously unknown and investigated design documents, which are located through conversations with Gottfried Böhm himself and others involved in the project. A new series of photographs, understood as a time-lapse, provides an empirical basis for discussing this architecture and makes its temporality and scale clear. This enables an in-depth examination and accessibility of the design methodology and the essential architectural and urban planning ideas.

July 01, 2020
Milan Marinov
Multiscale functional modeling in industrial planning
Speaker: Dr. Petra von Both

July 09, 2020
Deniz Yatagan Baumeister
Effects of Migration on Children ́s Private and Social Places
Speaker: Dr. Riklef Rambow

This work explores how migration affects children's personal and social places - what kinds of places they lose or miss, and how they compensate for this. The aim is to gather knowledge that will enable architects to create a good environment for children in intercultural settings. 34 people with a Turkish migration background from different generations were interviewed. In addition, case studies were conducted in two elementary school and one day care center. It was found that children lose private places due to migration, and cultural differences and urban reality prevent them from creating new ones. The results show that design solutions can help migrant and non-migrant children to satisfy their need for private places. The results provide an insight into the influence of environment and culture on children's place preferences and may be useful for future projects in urban or multicultural settings.

July 16, 2020
Markus Kaltenbach
The spatial dimension of residential multilocality - an investigation of occupationally induced urban secondary residences and their urban planning relevance
Speaker: Kerstin Gothe

Housing and living practices no longer follow traditional patterns of living. Social ideals, which often still form the planning horizon, can only inadequately reflect lived realities.
In an explorative and qualitative manner, the work examines work-related urban secondary residences in order to come closer to the specific social practice of work-related multilocality as an immanent component of an urban society.
A multiscale spatial analysis of case studies is combined with social science methods such as interviews with multilocals and expert discussions. A graphic-drawing and a textual analysis strand are closely interwoven and complement each other.
If one understands work-related multilocality as an extreme form of lived realities, the housing and living practice can serve as a valuable figure of thought to address general social changes in spatial planning beyond the specific target group.
The work closes a central research gap with regard to the spatial dimension of the housing and living practices examined and at the same time offers numerous starting points for practical application by a wide variety of space-creating actors.

September 17, 2020
Eldaidamony Ahmad
Introducing a New Methodology to Deal with Gentrification in Urban Neighborhoods. Case Study of Fatmid Cairo and Heliopolis
Speaker: Dr. Barbara Engel

Since many urban development projects aim to improve the urban life of neighborhoods. Therefore, gentrification is one of the notions which deals with urban neighborhoods targeting similar aims. But, gentrification does not develop everywhere the same, it has many different aspects social, cultural, economic and political. Those aspects define the process of gentrification and how it develops, while the lack of knowledge to the notion of gentrification generates a challenging subject that needs investigation and research. However, as the role of gentrification is vital and essential, the consequences are also significant. The most significant is displacement; while the research focus is not to deal with this issue. The focus of the research is to discover the gentrification process in urban neighborhoods, proof its existence and create a comprehensive approach to deal with the process. This will provide a tool for decision makers first; to expect possible gentrification location, second; to deal with gentrification in already gentrified neighbourhoods and third; to maximize gentrification positive consequences and minimize its negative ones. Thus, the methodology used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyse the gentrification situation in two old districts of Cairo, Elgamalia and Heliopolis.

October 01, 2020
Aline Bruand
The Epic American - Garry Winogrand's view of the USA
Supervisor: Dr. Martin Papenbrock

The American photographer Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), who mostly sought his motifs on the streets of large cities, left behind almost half a million photographs. Unsorted, undated, partly unedited works as well as sacks full of undeveloped rolls of film. In the foreground of the dissertation "The Epic American... - Garry Winogrand's view of the USA" by Aline Vanessa Bruand focuses on approaching the narrative of the photographs. Subject identification, classification and categorization form the first basis. Analyses of the extent to which the works follow a narrative style will provide insights into the artist's photographic aesthetic. Possible interpretative approaches under socio-cultural aspects and intermedial references should contribute to a deeper understanding of the works. The USA of the 1960-1970s was characterized by political tensions and social upheavals, but also by the positive energies generated by these changes. More than just purely documentary, Winogrand's photographs visualize people, cities and a country full of contrasts and contradictory beauty.