Georg-Simmel-Center for Urban Studies
One of the key aims of the Georg-Simmel Center for Urban Studies is to foster an international network of academic departments and other institutes that are active in metropolitan researches. Currently, the Geography Department, the Institute of European Ethnology and the Institute of Sociology are the foundation of the Georg-Simmel Center. The center is also intended to refer to current issues of urban politics, planning and to contribute to these in multiple ways, for example, through the organization of academic events or publication of specialized papers.
News
Georg Simmel Days 2025, November 13 & 14, 2025
"Save the Date": Georg Simmel Days including the Student Conference and the awarding of the Hartmut Häußermann Prize. Further information will follow.
Workshop Report: "Resilience and Sustainable Reconstruction of Ukrainian Cities", January 30 & 31, 2025
The workshop was organized by the "Urban Futures at Risk (UFaR)" research group at the GSZ. They brought together experts to discuss innovative strategies for urban renewal in post-war Ukraine. Through interdisciplinary dialogue, the event fostered new collaborations and insights on resilience, sustainability, and inclusive reconstruction planning.
The documentation of the event can be found here.
Workshop Report: "Illiberal Cities: Manifestations of Authoritarianism and Contested Space", January 20 & 21, 2025
The workshop is organized by the "Urban Futures at Risk (UFaR)" working group at the GSZ.
You can find the program here. The documentation of the event can be found here.
The report on the workshop "Urban Metabolism: The Potential of Urban Political Ecology for Critical Geographies" has been published here.
New Episodes of the Urban Political Podcast Online!
Episode 93 - Normative Insurgency: Responses to the Urban Polycrisis from the Global South
Click here for this episode.
Episode 92 - Radically Legal Politics and Housing Expropriation in Berlin, with Joanna Kusiak
Click here for this episode.
Urban Political Podcast Transcripts
The transcripts of episodes 58–65 of the Urban Political Podcast are now available online at https://urbanpolitical.online.
Georg Simmel Days 2024
On February 15 and 16, 2024, the 11th Interdisciplinary Student Conference of the Georg Simmel Center for Metropolitan Studies took place. Impressions and a summary of the event can be found here.
Tarde: A Handbook of Minimal and Irrelevant Urban Entanglements
Tarde (https://www.tarde.info) is a new printed publication that appears six times a year. It is independently produced by GSZ researcher Santiago Orrego, supported by the Georg Simmel Center, and initially distributed across Berlin.
Tarde aims to explore the often-overlooked elements and associations of everyday street life. Conceived as a fanzine, Tarde also has an online presence that expands on the magazine’s content. This allows people outside Berlin to download and print every issue for free under a Creative Commons license.
The first Tarde “Glitch Infrastructures” will be available starting September 11 in the vicinity of the Georg Simmel Center, Freie Universität Berlin, and Technische Universität Berlin—while supplies last.
UrbanOpen: Digital Database for Outstanding Theses in Urban Studies Now Online!
Our new digital database UrbanOpen is now online. It features outstanding theses in the field of urban research, written at the GSZ’s partner institutions.
The collection is intended primarily for students looking for inspiration regarding topics, research questions, and methods for their own thesis projects.
The database was developed as part of a GSZ project funded by the Academic Senate of HU Berlin's program for digital media in research, teaching, and learning.
UrbanOpen can be accessed via the following link.
Established in January 2018 by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Collaborative Research Center 1265 “Re-Figuration of Spaces” at Technische Universität Berlin examines changes in socio-spatial orders that have been occurring since the late 1960s.
It is currently in its second funding phase (2022–2025).
GSZ Goes Instagram
The Georg Simmel Center is now on Instagram! Follow our new account to stay up to date on our work and events.
Events
Thank you all for your active participation and engaging discussions during our Think&Drink events in the summer semester 2025. We’re already looking forward to welcoming you back in the winter semester 2025/26, starting on November 3 – with new topics, thought-provoking conversations, and, of course, great company.
Think and Drink Series
In cooperation with the Chair of Urban and Regional Sociology, our Think and Drink colloquium takes place each semester.
National and international scholars are invited to speak on various topics related to urban research.
More information about this semester’s speakers can be found via the following link: Think & Drink Colloquium
Institute Colloquium in European Ethnology
At the Institute for European Ethnology, members of the institute present and discuss their current projects every Tuesday.
Information about the current program can be found here.