Cities in Transition

New special affiliated Professor

Prof. Dr. Maddalena Ferretti is the new special affiliated Professor (part-time) for Cities in Transition at the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape of Leibniz University Hannover. With her focus on Cities in Transition she joins the Institute of Urban Design and Planning and strengthens the Faculty's research field Sustainable, Liveable, and Inclusive Cities aligned with UNSDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. Cities in Transition looks at cities as hotspots for change and test-fields for innovation in architecture. It aims at steering new ideas for future urban sustainable development and strengthening the crucial role of city making for society. Her teaching is part of the Faculty’s newly introduced English programme MSc Architecture and Urban Design.

Maddalena Ferretti

is an architect and urban designer, Professor at the Università Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona/Italy, with a Masters’ degree from Roma Tre University and a doctorate with Iuav University of Venice. Her research includes, amongst others, the National Research Project PRIN “B4R Branding for Resilience” and the project “Accessible and Inclusive Historic Centres” funded by the European Union. She is Dean of Studies of the Building Engineering–Architecture Degree Programme at the Università Politecnica delle Marche and member of the interuniversity Villard d’Honnecourt initiative in Italy.

Cities in Transition | Consolari

Short Project, 5 ECTS

MSc Architecture and Urban Design / advanced BSc Architecture

Summer Semester 2025–26

In times of fast and radical transformations, cities can be regarded as hotspots for change. In CITIES in TRANSITION (CiT) we explore how urban design and architecture can reaffirm their centrality for society. The goal of CiT’s second edition is to investigate spatial qualities, potentials, and visions for the metropolitan area in transition of Rome. The Italian capital city is characterised by the radial structure of the Consolari, the consular streets built in Roman times and still giving the imprinting to the urban image of the Eternal City. What are future visions for these connecting axes and how can they foster new ways of inhabiting between centre and periphery?

Building on a four-step methodology based on explorations, strategies, design actions, and narratives, Consolari proposes to reimagine these vibrant urban habitats that shape the collective visual identity of Rome and its citizens. Today, however, the severe conditions affecting these major urban corridors — including traffic congestion, pollution, and the scarcity of green areas and public open spaces — undermine their potential to evolve into lively environments capable of welcoming new activities, entrepreneurial initiatives, and innovative forms of inhabitation.

The aim of CiT is therefore to envision new urban scenarios able to combine ecological transition with renewed forms of living, attractiveness, and functionality, while supporting these contexts in their transformation toward higher standards of environmental quality and collective well-being. The project seeks to foster inclusive, beautiful, and resilient places in which both permanent and temporary inhabitants can live, work, and enjoy a dignified and fulfilling social life.

The teaching class “Cities in Transition | Consolari” builds upon the research and design project “Roma Consolari”, curated by IN/Arch and ideated by Pino Pasquali, Mosè Ricci, Susanna Tradati with Beatrice Fumarola and Massimo Locci. Among the research activities, “Roma Consolari” is about to launch an international competition to develop urban design projects for the consular streets of Rome. 

The work developed within CiT could thus be connected to this international competition.

Possible venues for the presentation of the international competition projects could be the Biennale of Architecture in Venice in 2027 and/or the Roma Urban Lab.

Cities in Transition | Vallesina

Short Project, 5 ECTS

MSc Architecture and Urban Design / advanced BSc Architecture

Winter Semester 2025–26

The intensive workshop for the Winter Semester 2025-26 is based on a larger area that includes several small and medium-sized cities in Central Italy, precisely in the Marche Region along the Esino river valley (Vallesina). This area displays a dispersed settlement structure, enriched by the presence of natural and buit heritage and small fortified towns and villages. The presence of the infrastructure along the flat valley, dating back from the historical street Clementina, built in the XVIII century upon the will of Pope Clemens the XII, has characterised the development of this territory since ancient times, contributing to its economic vitality and productivity. The remains of this past are today visible in the landscapes and in the cities forming the structure of this territory. Especially significant are the former industrial sites and the abandoned buildings both in the marginal contexts towards the coastline and in the inner area towards the mountain chain of the Apennines.

The aim of the workshop is to address the transition of this territory towards innovative visions of resilience and sustainable development, taking into account also the effects of climate change on cities.  In this context, the word  transition acquires a double meaning: on the one hand it points out areas in transformation, marginal and in need of regeneration and integration into the urban dynamics in a more systemic way, and on the other hand it represents the idea of transitional habitats, involving an idea of innovation and transformation towards a digital and ecological transition, essential for these contexts. The themes of recycle, industrial archaeology, agriculture and natural and mobility infrastructures are relevant assets that might be related to the possibility of more social housing, the challenge of sustainable mobility and need of public spaces, of social and cultural infrastructures.

The Vallesina is currently confronting a complex set of transitional conditions arising from territorial imbalances between the mountain areas and the coast, the depopulation of inner territories, and the stagnation of traditional economic models. These challenges are further intensified by technological and digital transformations, the emergence of new modes of work, and evolving forms of inhabitation. Together, these shifts generate new demands and expectations within local communities, which increasingly seek more resilient, inclusive, and fulfilling urban and territorial environments.

Working with a transcalar approach and following a 4-step methodology, the workshop aims to envisage meta-projects and spatial visions for the transitional habitats of the Esino river valley in the Marche Region, Italy, imagining new urban spaces, more sustainable infrastructures and developing new functions for buildings and heritage.

Cities in Transition

Short Project, 5 ECTS

MSc Architecture and Urban Design / advanced BSc Architecture

Starting from winter 2025–26

In times of fast and radical transformations, of new demands and needs from people, of rising inequalities, cities can be regarded as hotspots for change. Steering their transition towards more sustainable, resilient and just conditions is a specific task of the spatial disciplines and particularly of urban design and architecture.

This course confronts students with topical and innovative disciplinary issues that are connected to current societal transformations. CITIES in TRANSITION (CiT) aims to strengthen students’ capacity to understand and successfully handle the relationships between the different dimensions of an urban design project, both in rapidly changing urban constellations and in more spread settlement structures.

The intensive workshop format will make use of real-world cases, investigated through analyses, designs and visions, to reaffirm the centrality of city making for society. The outcome is the proposal of new ideas for sustainable development that can balance different urban conditions, strengthening the role of cities in complex constellations as linkage and measure between diverse and sometimes clashing worlds. How can urban design and architecture help to redefine the agency of cities in transition for a better society?