Support for the learning processes in the city is just as important as any other measure. The concept of the learning city highlights the necessity to expand and diversify the spaces for all types of learning and all types of learners, as well as accommodate the knowledge in and on the city. The learning infrastructure, however, does not exist in vacuum — it is interconnected and correlates with other urban infrastructures and systems. For example, a student city needs a sufficient housing infrastructure for the learning infrastructure to be able to sustain the students. Or does it?

This codependency of learning with other infrastructures brings us to fundamental questions of urban planning and well-balanced urban development, which we will investigate at the Planners Lab 2023. We are inviting young scholars and researchers to become the students of Viadrinicum 2023 and to merge in this process, having an opportunity to learn from two cities at once: Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice.

Maintaining the focus on the integration of the learning processes in Frankfurt (Oder), including the student life of Viadrina University, with the other systems of the city, the students are invited to learn in-depth and conduct functional and stakeholder analysis, to study the city’s housing sector and to use ASB (analysis, synthesis, evaluation) methodology to develop a vision for the Zukunftsplatz in the city — a possible urban focal point for integration of the learning city concept in Frankfurt (Oder).