Comparative Urbanism

In the Spring 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters, faculty and students of Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany and Virginia Tech’s Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center in the United States worked collaboratively to explore urban research methodologies and study accessibility and health in public space. Focused on accessibility in its broadest definitions, the 2021 seminar compared the metropolitan regions of Darmstadt and Washington, DC. The following year, in 2022, the seminar centered on healthy cities through investigation of Wiesbaden and Alexandria. This joint seminar intensified the long-standing collaboration between our universities, incorporating student perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic, and opening many avenues to study public life in cities.

The final output of each seminar took the form of collaborative posters displaying the final results of students’ comparative studies. Each poster focuses on different public spaces, different research methods, and different aspects of the broader topic. Yet all touch upon important – often unnoticed – aspects of the city.This exhibit shares these studies so the research can spark new ideas, expand to new places, and forge a discourse of comparative urban research.