IPS (International Planning Studies), TU Dortmund - IPS - TU Dortmund

Welcome to the IPS research group!

Find out more about our teaching and research dealing with urban change and planning across the globe!

At the International Planning Studies (IPS) research group, we emphasise diverse perspectives on urbanization and spatial planning across the world. IPS focuses on infrastructure, mobility, housing, and governance.

Headed by Prof. Dr. Sophie Schramm, IPS is also responsible for the international Master's degree program SPRING.

News and events

Guest Lecture as Part of the SPRING International Planning Sessions

Prof. Dr. Mozart Fazito Rezende Filho will give a guest lecture on April 20, 2026, titled “Discourse Analysis Applied to Socio-Environmental Conflicts…

Portrait von Prof. Mozart Fazito Rezende Filho

New publication by Raffael Beier

This article looks at the relationship between affordable housing, finance and the state: What are motivations to intervene, the forms of financial…

New publication by Philipa Birago Akuoko

The article examines how “commoning” in Kumasi can serve as a customary law basis for more inclusive urban governance.

There is a market in the global south. There are people walking around with goods on their heads, balancing them

New publication by Raffael Beier

The article examines why former slum dwellers do not move into state-subsidized housing or leave it again.

A field with many plots of land for sale

New TRIALOG issue on ‘Reflexive Research Practices’ co-edited by Raffael Beier

Together with Nadine Appelhans (TU Berlin) and Janek Becker (TU Dortmund), Raffael Beier (IPS) has edited a new TRIALOG special issue on reflexive…

news-icon talk / presentation

Sophie Schramm publishes an article on the results of ICOLMA research

The article describes how differently migrants in the Ruhr region were affected by COVID-19 and what coping strategies they used.

Philipa Birago Akuoko publishes a new article on informal women's work in public spaces.

This article examines the significance of informal women's work in public spaces in the Global South.

A woman carries a large metal basin filled with blue bags on her head while holding a child secured on her back with a patterned cloth. She is walking along a busy street with vehicles and other people in the background.

New publication by Sophie Schramm

This article examines how COVID-19 has shaped experiences with water supply in the Nairobi neighborhoods of Kibera and Eastleigh.

Many people queuing at a newly errected free-water point in the Kibera area in Nairobi

Here you can find archived news and events.