The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning

Research Project: Narratives in urban development

A determining factor for integration and transformation

Project briefing

  • Status Completed
  • Project duration April 2021 – March 2022
  • Programme ExWoSt

Narratives provide a crucial framework for all phases of urban development, from problem definition to goal formulation and the choice of implementation tools to the evaluation of success or failure of urban development policy actions. An exploratory study now lays the foundations for a better understanding of narratives in urban development policy.

Background and Objective

Narratives shape our thoughts and actions and thus also the processes of urban development. But what are narratives? What role do they play in the urban context? And how can they be meaningfully analysed? This study demonstrated the relevance of narratives in social discourse in general and set out how they can shape discussions around urban development in particular. To this end, a basic understanding of narratives was provided, including a description of how they function and operate in political discourse. For this purpose, the study used a narrative concept established in political science inspired by linguistics. This methodology was adapted to the urban development context. Starting with a research overview, the study unpacked the methodological considerations of how narratives can be analysed in urban development.

Contractor of the research project was neues handeln AG in Cologne.

Contact us

  • Stephan Willinger
    Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development
    Division RS 2 "Urban Development"
    Phone: +49 228 99401-1275
    Email: stephan.willinger@bbr.bund.de

  • Katharina Hackenberg
    Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development
    Division RS 2 "Urban Development"
    Phone: +49 228 99401-1323
    Email: katharina.hackenberg@bbr.bund.de

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