Study Award "Housing and the City

NRW.BANK awarded the NRW.BANK "Housing & City" study prize in Düsseldorf on 11.12.2023. The development bank honored four final theses by students from TU Dortmund University and RWTH Aachen University that deal with solutions for socially acceptable, liveable and sustainable housing. The prize for student research achievements, endowed with 4,000 euros, was awarded for the 15th time.

Housing shortages, the transformation of housing estates, the effects of urban development on mental health, homelessness - these were the topics addressed by the four prize-winning entries from young academics. The jury was impressed by their practical relevance.

"The 15th NRW.BANK Study Prize has once again shown that young academics can provide interesting impetus for urban and regional planning," says Claudia Hillenherms, Member of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK. "The prizewinners provide innovative approaches to tackle very current challenges in the municipalities. They offer solutions that enhance neighborhoods and make affordable housing possible."

The award winners 1st prize (€1,500): Katja Gadziak and Eva Krings (RWTH Aachen): Without End Beginning - On the Transformation of the Row Housing Estate in Eisenhüttenstadt

2nd prize (€1,000): Marian Flaßkamp (TU Dortmund): Needs-based instruments for local authorities to cope with the housing shortage? - A policy analysis of the amendment of land law instruments through the Building Land Mobilization Act

2nd prize (€1,000): Ella Hartke (TU Dortmund): ERHOLSAME STADT - An urban design to support people's mental health and well-being using the example of the former school for the deaf in Dortmund Hacheney

Special prize (500 €): Alexandra Falkenberg (RWTH Aachen): Negotiating diversity in public space - appropriation of space by homeless people in Aachen

Once a year, the NRW.BANK Student Award recognizes research achievements that address current issues in the field of housing and cities from an innovative perspective or with a high degree of practical relevance. In this year's award-winning projects, for example, the students looked at strategies that municipalities can use to maintain and create affordable housing. They also examined the use of former military properties and developed ideas for sustainable mobility. The projects were assessed by a jury of experts, who emphasized that all of the student projects dealt with topics that are highly relevant to the development of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia.

This is the 14th time that NRW.BANK has honored theses that deal with topics of municipal development and housing promotion. This time, the NRW.BANK Student Award was endowed with prize money totaling EUR 3,500.

The prizewinners 1st place: Lena Mengede, TU Dortmund University / Department of Spatial Planning, Master's thesis: "Affordable housing through social housing promotion? Municipal strategies and options for action" (prize money: 1,500 euros) 2nd place: Nathalie Hüppen, TU Dortmund University / Department of Spatial Planning, Master's thesis: "Hand in hand through the housing shortage? Strategies for cooperation between the private sector and local authorities using the example of Vonovia" (prize money: 1.000 euros) 3rd place: Michael Herwegen, University of Duisburg-Essen / Institute for Mobility and Urban Planning, Master's thesis: "Assessing the potential impact of a tenant ticket on mobility behavior - a quantitative analysis of the 'SennestadtTicket' in Bielefeld" (prize money: 500 euros) 3rd place: Melissa Münster, TU Dortmund University / Department of Spatial Planning, Bachelor's thesis: "Land conversion through the instrument of municipal interim acquisition. The role of the municipal development company" (prize money: 500 euros)

As part of its cooperation activities with IRPUD and the Department of Urban and Regional Sociology (SOZ), NRW.BANK has awarded the NRW.BANK "Housing and the City" prize for outstanding theses in this field for the 13th time. The prize was awarded at NRW.BANK in Düsseldorf. In addition to their high academic standard, the theses were recognized in particular for their topicality and practical relevance.

The selection committee, made up of renowned researchers and practitioners, decided to honor five exemplary theses by master's and doctoral students at the Technical University of Dortmund and RWTH Aachen University in 2021. The award winners are:

1. 1st place: Lena Gronau and Raffaela Reinecke: Zwischen den Zeilen - Weiterentwicklung von Zeilenbausiedlungen der 1950er bis 1970er Jahre (Master's thesis, RWTH Aachen University) Milena Anna Schieber: Neue Räume für die Produktive Stadt (Master's thesis, RWTH Aachen University)
2. 1st place: Vinzenz Rosenberg: Living together in the city! Urban design of a new neighborhood at Viktoriaspeicher I in Berlin-Kreuzberg (Master's thesis, TU Dortmund University)
3. 1st place: Anna Waldhoff: Health-promoting neighborhood development for socially disadvantaged children: Criteria for urban planning analyses and concepts applied to the case study of Dortmund's Nordmarkt neighborhood (Master's thesis, TU Dortmund University) Special prize: Julia von Mende: Between kitchen and city: On the spatialization of contemporary eating practices (dissertation, RWTH Aachen University)

As part of its cooperation activities with IRPUD and the Department of Urban and Regional Sociology (SOZ), NRW.BANK has awarded the NRW.BANK "Housing and the City" prize for outstanding theses in this field for the twelfth time. This year, the prize was awarded for the first time in an independent, digital format. In addition to their high academic standard, the theses were recognized in particular for their topicality and practical relevance.

The selection committee, made up of renowned researchers and practitioners, decided to award two first places in 2020. The winners are:

1st place: Julian Antoni: Wie die Stadt gemacht wird - Einflussfaktoren planerischer Entscheidungsprozesse am Beispiel von Bonner Wohnbauprojekten (Master's thesis, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) Robert Sabelfeld: Cohousing: A Suitable Strategy for Ageing in Place? Lessons Learnt from Bonn, Germany (Master's thesis, University of Cologne)

3rd place: Malte Yannick Leonard Gonschewski: Potential for redensification in major German cities - An analysis using the example of Spar- und Bauverein eG Dortmund (Bachelor's thesis, TU Dortmund University)

Special prize: Theresa Kotulla: Price-linked rental housing construction in Germany - Identification of relevant development potentials for the promotion of new construction (dissertation, RWTH Aachen University)

The jury, chaired by Dietrich Suhlrie, member of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK, decided on the winners. The jury members are Prof. Manfred Hommel, formerly of Ruhr University Bochum, who is on the jury for the last time this year, Dr. Daniel Zerweck, Managing Director of europiZe UG, Dipl.-Ing. Anne Luise Müller, former Head of the Cologne City Planning Office, and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sabine Baumgart, President of the Academy for Spatial Research and Planning, formerly of TU Dortmund University.

The prize is awarded by nomination. The teacher at the university who supervised the work in question is entitled to nominate candidates. The prerequisite is that the work was written at a North Rhine-Westphalian university. The prize will be announced again next year.

Enclosed you will find the announcement poster

The NRW.BANK "Housing and the City" study award recognizes final theses that deal with this complex of topics and is endowed with a total of EUR 4,000. "This year's award winners have dealt with important issues of urban development and developed solutions for current challenges. The scientific quality of the theses was outstanding this year and confirms the relevance of the study award," explains Dietrich Suhlrie, Member of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK.

The winners The first prize of EUR 1,500 is awarded twice and goes to Lorenz Thomschke with his work "Empirical Evidence on Rent Dynamics in Germany" (dissertation, WWU Münster) and Jonas Reuber, who dealt with "Reurbanization in the state capital Düsseldorf - Residential location decisions of residents of the "Le Quartier Central" district" (Master's thesis, TU Dortmund University).

The second prize of 1,000 euros went to Lena Mengede for her work "Generationsübergreifende Nachbarschaften - Anforderungen an Wohnquartiere für jedes Alter am Beispiel eines städtebaulichen Entwurfs für das Lippetal in Dorsten" (Bachelor's thesis, TU Dortmund University).

As there were two first places, a third prize was not awarded.

In addition to their high scientific standard, the theses were recognized in particular for their topicality and practical relevance. The prize is awarded by nomination. The teacher at the university who supervised the work in question is entitled to nominate candidates. The prerequisite is that the work was written at a North Rhine-Westphalian university.

The winners were selected by a jury chaired by Dietrich Suhlrie, member of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK. The jury members are Prof. Hans H. Blotevogel (University of Vienna), Prof. Manfred Hommel (formerly Ruhr University Bochum), Dipl.-Ing. BDB Hartmut Miksch (Honorary President of the Chamber of Architects) and Dr. Daniel Zerweck (Managing Director europiZe UG)

Enclosed you will find the tender poster

As part of its cooperation activities with IRPUD, NRW.BANK last year announced the NRW.BANK "Housing and the City" prize for outstanding theses in this field for the tenth time.

Graduates from all disciplines who have written their final thesis or doctoral dissertation on this topic at a university in NRW in the last two years can be nominated for the prize to promote young academics.

The selection committee, made up of renowned researchers and practitioners, decided to award three first places in 2018 due to the high quality of the work submitted. The winners are:

Simon Hein "Mikroapartments als neues Phänomen am Immobilienmarkt- Eine Untersuchung der Auswirkungen und Potenziale von Mikroapartments am Beispiel der Stadt Köln" (Master's thesis, RWTH Aachen) Rogério Lopes "Tourismusgentrifizierung in Lissabon: Eine empirische Analyse der bisherigen Folgen in Mouraria" (Master's thesis, TU Dortmund University) Felix Leo Matzke "Der Verfügungsfonds als Instrument kooperativer Stadtteilentwicklung? An analysis based on case studies in program areas of the "Socially Integrative City" NRW" (Master's thesis, Ruhr University Bochum)

The special prize goes to the dissertation by Dr. Danielle Gluns: "From Planning to Policy? Local Housing Governance for the Growing Cities Vienna and Washington, D.C" (WWU Münster).

In addition to their high academic standard, the theses were honored in particular for their topicality and practical relevance. The ceremonial presentation of the certificates and prize money took place on November 21, 2018 as part of the NRW.BANK colloquium "The digital future of our cities - new opportunities for urban development" in Münster.

Enclosed you will find the competition poster

In 2017, as part of its cooperation activities with IRPUD, NRW.BANK awarded the "Housing and the City" prize for outstanding theses in this field for the ninth time.

The prize serves to promote young academics. Graduates from all disciplines whose thesis or doctoral dissertation relevant to the topic was written at a university in NRW are eligible for nomination. The selection committee, made up of renowned researchers and practitioners, chose the following winners in 2017:

1st place: Lion Lukas Naumann "New real estate districts in booming metropolitan areas - an analysis using the example of the city of Cologne" (Bachelor's thesis TU Dortmund University)

2nd place: Moritz Hans "Demographic return or cost explosion? Municipal services of general interest in demographic change using the example of primary school provision in North Rhine-Westphalia" (Master's thesis TU Dortmund University)

Special prize: Frank Schulz "Urban design of urban redevelopment - theory and practice in dealing with the urban form in the Urban Redevelopment East and West funding programs" (dissertation TU Dortmund University)

The ceremonial presentation of the certificates and prize money took place on 15.11.2017 as part of the NRW.BANK colloquium "A liveable city for all - new challenges and players" in Münster.