Iris Reuther (Leipzig) is an architect and the founder and principal of the Office for Urban Projects in Leipzig. Her firm was one of the first woman-owned technical planning firms to emerge from the former GDR. Her work focuses on developing mixed-use environments in areas of low demand and economic adversity. She is also Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Kassel and has written publications on the transformation processes of cities and regions. Dr Reuther has conducted planning and design workshops in Bushwick, East New York, and Williamsburg to help transform former brownfield sites.
Ms. Reuther’s presentation looked at a wide variety of 21st century trends that are impacting on the concept of a housing unit. Her lecture will focus on the European perspective of these shifts. The media revolution, globalisation, climate change, and far-reaching changes in demographic development are raising new questions. The balance between the private and the public has shifted. The world of work is flowing into the sphere of the home. The presentation reported on examples in Leipzig, Berlin, and Hamburg and the international building fairs that have been taking place in Germany since the beginning of the 20th century. These fairs have set milestones in housing construction and addressed the contemporary questions regarding urban housing.
Part One
Part Two
