Exhibition

2nd of February - 3rd of April 2022

(c) Martin Grabner

Urbanism is the art, science and technology of developing human settlements. It is less about the buildings themselves than about their arrangement, relationship to each other and connection to the environment. Crises have influenced the discipline of urbanism as much as they have had an impact on the development of the various urbanist movements. Currently, the pandemic, but also the challenges of climate change, e.g. through increasing severe weather events, confront us with the fragility of the built environment and thus call for a rethinking of the goals and means of urban design.
In view of the immense ecological and social challenges, a paradigm shift in the planning approach is needed.

The exhibition Territorial Turn, developed by the Institute of Urbanism at TU Graz under the direction of Prof. Aglaée Degros, describes the essential change in fundamental framework conditions and values in urban design. This paradigm shift stands for a holistic, cross-sectoral and networked understanding of space as well as for a close connection of the built environment with living systems - an approach that replaces the predominantly building-oriented attitude in spatial development in favour of an increased appreciation of public space. In this context, the space between buildings is understood as essential for ecological and social change.

Projects should not be defined by site boundaries, but require planning that is situated in a larger context and integrates existing socio-ecological systems and cycles. This creates large, interconnected urban systems that gain greater resilience through interconnected structures and transcend the goals of economic progress, modernity and technology. Territorial Turn thus follows the notion of an overarching spatial vision of a just and ecological city with a high quality of life for people and the environment.

The exhibition introduces courageous concepts, presents pioneering possible solutions and describes fundamental urban design notions that contribute to actively thinking, planning, designing and implementing an ecological and equitable future of the city on a territorial scale. Seven selected practical examples from Nantes, Leipzig, Amsterdam, Leuven, Vienna, Péronnes-lez-Antoing and Trofaiach are used to demonstrate a future-oriented approach to urban planning.

The content of the exhibition is based on the publication "Basics of Urbanism - 12 notions of territorial transformation" by the Institute of Urbanism, Graz University of Technology, published by Park Books.

"Territorial Turn - Plea for a Paradigm Shift in Urbanism" is an exhibition by the Institute of Urbanism in cooperation with Haus der Architektur.
Curators: Prof. Aglaée Degros, Radostina Radulova-Stahmer, Carina Mazelle (Institut of Urbanism, TU Graz)

Photo Submission

As a collaborative extension of the exhibition, Graz residents are invited to identify and submit spatial situations in need of action in their city in order to jointly develop new spatial proposals for redesign in the sense of the Territorial Turn.

The photos are to be sent in at urbagraz@tugraz.at until March 15th. 

Before and After, Ungersgasse
The photos should be taken from human eye level with a spatial depth, as in the example image, in order to be able to achieve a transformation in the best possible way.