For the first time since 2010, more people worldwide live in cities than in rural areas. (Source: un.org). Further urbanisation is forecast for the future. Cities are the engines of social, cultural and technological development. The scarcity of space revealed in dense areas has led to the invention of new building technologies, high-rise buildings and new mobility systems. At the same time, however, global urban growth has also led to an increase in global energy and resource consumption. Around 60% of the energy provided worldwide is now consumed in buildings (source: statista.de). City dwellers in Germany suffer more frequently from cardiovascular and lung diseases as well as mental illnesses than inhabitants of rural areas. With the predicted increase in "heat island effects" due to climate change and growing heavy rainfall events, further events will have an impact on the health of city dwellers in the future. Further future challenges lie in demographic change, inclusion and participation. Citizens want to play an active role in shaping their city.
The history of mankind is written in their cities.
The HFT Stuttgart has taken on this enormous task and has bundled all the necessary expertise in the research thrust " Future-oriented Planning, Building and Management " (research thrust 1). In total, research active professors from five competence centres work on the topics of urban development, architecture, energy technology, building physics as well as economics and management.
The active professors are closely linked to the Baden-Württemberg Center for Applied Research (BW-CAR), which was founded in 2014. This means that the research profile of the HFT Stuttgart is optimally networked with other researchers from Baden-Württemberg universities of applied sciences, resulting in further synergies. With more than 50 HFT employees within research thrust 1, interdisciplinary projects are increasingly becoming part of everyday research. The project teams also conduct research with partners in practice such as planning, the service sector, industry and municipalities.
The speaker of the research thrust is Prof. Dr.-Ing. Berndt Zeitler. Dr. rer. nat. Beatriz Unger-Bimczok is the managing director.
