About My Work
My doctoral research explores the role of cooperative building projects (Baugenossenschaften) in shaping urban transformations in post-reunification Berlin. Focusing on two case studies (Spreefeld and Holzmarkt), I investigate how architects and activists have experimented with collective modes of design, financing, and inhabitation in the specific urban and political context of Berlin, and I critically examine these practices to understand how they navigate between activism and the pressures of neoliberal urban development. Trained as an architect, and currently a PhD student at ENSA Strasbourg (AMUP), I naturally approach these questions through an architectural lens, analyzing their spatial, social, and historical dimensions.
This approach speaks to the GHUP’s focus on connecting global and local dynamics, challenging dominant narratives of urbanization, and fostering interdisciplinary dialogue. My work analyzes the tensions and limits within these cooperative urban experiments and explores how Berlin’s recent urban developments relate to broader questions about collective design and urban commons. Through this doctoral research, I aim to deepen understanding of how Berlin’s historical and spatial context shapes these urban transformations, and to shed light on their significance for contemporary urban practice and theory.
Citations
d'Halluin, Thomas. “Concevoir et construire la ville créative : les Baugenossenschaften du Holzmarkt et du Spreefeld à Berlin” (PhD dissertation in progress). Université de Strasbourg, ENSA Strasbourg / AMUP.