Field trip to Eisenhüttenstadt, Dresden and Chemnitz

The RTG’s first field trip explored how cities and regions engage with their past while imagining and shaping possible urban futures. Across five days, we visited Eisenhüttenstadt, Dresden, the Lausitz region and Chemnitz, examining different forms of transformation and the tensions between preservation, decline and renewal.

In Eisenhüttenstadt, a planned socialist city shaped by the legacy of the GDR and the iron and steel industry, we explored questions of post-socialist transformation, demographic change and the role of architectural heritage. In the Lausitz, we focused on the transformation of a post-industrial landscape shaped by the region’s coal industry. Site visits and discussions with local actors addressed the challenges and opportunities of the ongoing structural transformation, from active coal mining to new forms of regional development and landscape transformation.

In Dresden, we discussed the city’s architectural heritage and the contested reconstruction of its historic centre, asking which pasts are preserved for the future and how different approaches to architectural heritage shape contemporary urban identities.

The field trip concluded in Chemnitz, where we explored the city’s preparations for its role as European Capital of Culture 2025. A visit to the Sonnenberg district provided an opportunity to examine how cultural initiatives and city branding can become tools for urban transformation and how these ambitions translate into local change.