We warmly invite you to join our Kick-Off event of this year’s annual theme in Urban Design: Dirt Cheap! on Thursday, October 17 at 5pm.

For Dirt Cheap! UD investigates capital structures of the “world-ecology” from an urban perspective. Focusing on how global economic interdependencies are reflected in Hamburg's urban space. 

We will start with a fundamental material: sand…

Sand has the most diverse uses: as part of rock strata, the basis for building material, terra-forming volume, imaginations of dream beaches in Hamburg’s beach bars and on Instagram, research object, and Elbe silt—as a mass of material that is mined, cleaned, and transported.

The UD teaching and research team is joined in the conversation by four experts from academia and practice, who will talk about their everyday work with sand:  

Dr. Michaela Büsse, TU Dresden, RIFS Potsdam and HU Berlin
Postdoctoral Fellow & Associated Investigator in the context of speculative urbanism, climate change mitigation, and energy transitions

Dr. Boris Hochfeld, Hamburg Port Authority
Strategy & Innovation - Sediment Management HPA

Prof. Gesa Kapteina, HCU Hamburg
Professorship in Building Materials Technology in Civil Engineering, Supervisor in the Research Training Group "Urban Future Making" at HCU Hamburg

Dr. Ann-Carolin Meyer, Boberger Dünenhaus
Forestry Scientist & Environmental Pedagogue, Landscape Guide at Boberger Dünenhaus

We are looking forward to inspiring insights and a lively discussion! 

Introduction: Hanna Göbel und Monika Grubbauer

Moderation: Anna Hentschel and Antonia Lembcke