Frankfurt once stood for welfare-oriented building: in 2025, the city will celebrate the centenary of the New Frankfurt and in the post-war decades, social housing estates were built by the city. […].
The exhibition at the city lab focuses on the past, present and future of the housing issue. It focusses on the voices of the residents and the social consequences. What stories do they have to tell about the buildings and their struggles for the affordability and quality of their flats? What structural and architectural changes are needed to enable socially and ecologically sustainable housing? Experts from science, urban planning and politics will explain the urban policy changes of the last 40 years.
Among them is Dr. Dhara Patel, Associate of the Research Training Group “Organizing Architectures”, with a video contribution:
Dhara Patel, urban sociologist, TU Darmstadt:
“We know how to build cooperatives and create residential neighborhoods for mixed income groups. What is really missing is the structural commitment and political will. We need to institutionalize the principles of social inclusion, environmental responsibility and democratic participation so that they don’t just remain optional, but actually form the backbone of all housing policy.”
“The housing estates of tomorrow must be more than just a collection of buildings. They should be living spaces that promote social inclusion, ecological responsibility and democratic participation.”
“Can housing estates be more than just buildings? Yes, absolutely. They are, in my opinion, the real building blocks of solidarity when it comes to creating a community […] that truly prioritizes people over profit.”
CITY LAB, Historical Museum Frankfurt
18 June 2025 to 1 February 2026