Building Cities Today?
The challenge of new urban neighbourhoods in GermanyMessestadt Riem, Munich, 2024 © Moritz Bernoully
June 28 – November 2, 2025
Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM)
Schaumainkai 43
60596 Frankfurt am Main
The exhibition Building Cities Today? addresses the current challenges facing the development of new, affordable and sustainable urban neighbourhoods in Germany. It sheds light on the political, social, ecological, technical, and economic parameters – and it presents the opportunities and obstacles to urban development. Moreover, the exhibition incorporates the latest research findings thanks to the collaboration with the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.
The exhibition centres on the presentation of five successfully realized neighbourhoods and three development projects that have not been realized or are still in their infancy. One historical reference in the form of the Römerstadt (part of the 1927–8 Neues Frankfurt Program) visualizes the shift from expert-driven urban planning to processes based on civic participation.
The objective behind the exhibition is to foster a greater public awareness of the challenges of developing new neighbourhoods and to encourage people to become actively involved in the planning processes. A key element underpinning the exhibition is gamification – used to prompt visitor interaction. Instead of a classical publication a board game will be devised that reflects the exhibition topics and which visitors can then play.
Curators of the exhibition are Yorck Förster (kuratorenwerkstatt) and Mathias Schnell (studio central).
The project is being kindly supported by the German Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development, and Building as part of its National Urban Development Policy.
In cooperation with Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.
In the context of 100 Jahre Neues Frankfurt.
