»Bauhaus Participation Lab« Receives Over One Million Euros in Funding for Joint Urban Development and Virtual Reality Project
Over the next three years, the Departments of Computer Science in Architecture, Urban Studies and Social Research, and Virtual Reality and Visualisation in the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism and the Faculty of Media at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar will be working together with partners in Weimar and Berlin to research how citizens can participate in urban development processes using virtual reality. The »Bauhaus Participation Lab« joint project is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with nearly 1.3 million euros.
»In order for citizens to actively participate in community planning projects, they need to understand what the planning problems and their spatial solutions are. Based on this understanding, they need accessible ways to express their opinions and contribute their design suggestions«, says Professor Dr. Sven Schneider, Deputy Chair of Computer Science in Architecture and project coordinator, explaining the reasoning behind the research project. »Our research team is developing digital methods that quickly and interactively generate planning scenarios as well as methods to compare, analyse and discuss these spatial options.«
Researchers will be holding »Bauhaus Participation Lab« workshops as part of the »Mobilitätsknoten Weimar« development concept until September 2026. Based on the findings in these workshops, the researchers will be able to gradually improve upon the technologies and make recommendations for using digital tools in the public decision-making processes.
Project partners include the City of Weimar (Dezernat III Bauen und Stadtentwicklung - Stadtentwicklungsamt, Weimar), Form Follows You GmbH, Berlin, Consensive GmbH, Weimar, and the German Institute of Urban Affairs (DiFu), Berlin.
Further information can be found on the Department of Computer Science in Architecture website: www.uni-weimar.de/infar/ and on the Ministry of Education and Research website: www.interaktive-technologien.de/projekte/bpl
Questions can be directed to Prof. Dr. Sven Schneider, Deputy Chair of Computer Science in Architecture Marketing Manager for the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, by phone at +49 (0) 3643 58 42 05 or by e-mail at sven.schenider[at]uni-weimar.de.