Urban planning in focus: ""Is there space?!" - Planners' meeting in Kaiserslautern

In the world of urban and spatial planning, everything revolves around creating space for people - space for well-being, space for safety, space for creativity and space that does not waste space. But how can such spaces be designed efficiently and sustainably? The planners' meeting of the Advisory Board for Urban and Spatial Planning (BfSR), which took place at the RPTU in Kaiserslautern in fall 2023, was dedicated to precisely these questions. The five-day event brought together over 130 students from the field of spatial and urban planning to take part in excursions and workshops and exchange ideas.

Stella Serafin, who studies spatial and environmental planning at RPTU, played a key role in organizing the planners' meeting in Kaiserslautern. Together with Michelle Hamm, Konstantin Ebling and a team of helpers, she worked for weeks to create an exciting and varied program for the students from twelve universities in the BfSR. The BfSR comprises universities that offer planning courses in German-speaking countries. This enables the students to get to know other cities twice a year and view them from an urban planning and spatial perspective. Each meeting has a chosen theme, which is determined by the respective planning team. In Kaiserslautern in October, everything revolved around the theme "Platz da?"

Sustainability as a common thread

This motto inspired university policy and planning-related workshops as well as excursions that addressed issues such as sustainability at the university, awareness-raising, work-life balance, cycling, the River Lauter and the creation of open spaces. Serafin explains that this is about the spatial requirements of different user groups, not only in a geographical sense, but also in a mental sense. During the meeting, questions about space for well-being and creativity were discussed.

It is particularly noteworthy that the planners' meeting was also designed according to high sustainability standards. The organizing team placed importance on four pillars in their sustainability concept: human, social, economic and ecological. This was reflected, for example, in decisions to use regional products for catering and to avoid unnecessary waste.

Take home ideas for your own university

The planner meetings are not only an opportunity for exchange and encounters within the "planner community". They also offer added value for the degree programs at the participating universities. Together, solutions can be found for location-specific problems and challenges, such as the need for additional workspaces in Kaiserslautern. A request has been drawn up to tackle this problem. Specifically, this involves access to workspaces that were previously only accessible to architecture students.

The biggest organizational challenge was to distribute the 350 work shifts created by the extensive programme fairly, says Serafin. This should be improved at the next meeting. Otherwise, the event was a complete success and the "planning community" spent some exciting days in Kaiserslautern. Next semester, the trip will continue to Weimar and Erfurt, where more fascinating discussions about the design of our cities and spaces are sure to follow.

From spatial and environmental planning to climate adaptation

For Serafin, the Planners' Meeting, created by students for students, is a unique platform for intensive exchange and networking between budding urban and spatial planners from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She raves about the feeling of being part of the "planning community", which was particularly noticeable during the event.

Serafin herself discovered her passion for spatial and environmental planning during her voluntary ecological year. As RPTU is one of the few universities in Germany to offer this course, she chose Kaiserslautern. She is currently writing her Bachelor's thesis on climate adaptation concepts in Europe. She also plans to specialize professionally in the development of climate adaptation concepts in order to advance Germany in this area.