DAM Explores the Challenge of New Urban Neighborhoods in Germany with “Building Cities Today?”

To complement the exhibition, DAM partnered with Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences for a teaching and research project that investigated large-scale neighbourhood planning. Students conducted field studies in selected neighbourhoods and contributed to the creation of Plan.Spiel.Stadt., a new urban planning board game in collaboration with the games company Lookout GmbH, based on the game Conflicity, produced by the non-profit urbanequipe e.V. Rather than publishing a traditional exhibition catalogue, DAM uses this game to engage visitors in the complex decision-making processes behind urban development. By framing neighbourhoods not just as physical environments but as dynamic systems shaped by ecological, economic, and social factors, Building Cities Today? invites reflection on how cities can grow responsibly and inclusively. The exhibition also underscores the need for adaptive frameworks that remain open to experimentation and learning.

Exhibitions highlight how architecture and urban planning continue to evolve in response to pressing social and environmental challenges. Other 2025 exhibitions include The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, the exhibition offers a retrospective on the building’s 50-year lifespan at MoMA, New York, and Studio Gang: The Art of Architectural Grafting, the exhibition explores the studio’s design methodology through six recent projects at Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin. Meanwhile, the 19th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale runs through November 23, and Expo Osaka continues until October 13 on the artificial island of Yumeshima.