James Hobrecht’s development plan for Berlin’s expansion from 1862 is a recurring (often negative) reference in planning history and the basis on which the inner city was created and is based upon until today. The interdisciplinary research project aimed at illuminating the ideas behind and the real history of the plan(s) in an integrated way. The focus was on:

1. the plan’s logic as an urban growth framework (Chair for Urban Design & Urban Development),

2. the development of urban space with regard to the robustness of the growth framework (Chair for Urban Transformation), and

3. the urban space as a work of architecture and its cultural, historical and artistic value (Chair for Urban Heritage).

Attributions of value, spatial development and plan statements were combined in the term „Hobrechtian Berlin“ in order to do justice to the multidimensionality of the object of investigation. At the same time, this complexity was reflected in the combination of urban-morphological analyzes with investigations into mission statements, social values, and comparable 19th-century European urban planning. Thus, local insights into the urban structure of Berlin were set into the European context of the time, historical and methodological knowledge gained and Hobrecht’s contribution to urban planning reevaluated. In addition, the plan was examined as a control and regulation instrument under changed conditions of the 19th Century. The revisiting of the underlying design decisions deepened the understanding of the development of urban planning discipline in a significant way: By looking at the built city to this day, it is possible to view the history of ideas and real history over a long period of time. In addition, a contribution was made to current debates about the European city and its common heritage, and critical reflection was encouraged.

K LAB (or the Kartographieverbund as predecessor institution) was involved in cartographic work on the research project. Based on existing Berlin geodata-inventories and the ISR’s map collection, new information levels of the city – especially historical maps – were digitized and integrated into a geographic information system and diferent cartographic output (analog and digital) created. The maps and visualizations were included in various publications.