The Invisible City

A Design Research Project of the Research Center “Real-Time City” of TH Köln

The idea of opening up alternative possibilities of participation in the city and society through design was the focus of the project “The Invisible City”, conducted by the TH Köln research center “Real-Time City”. The project dealt with the Ebertplatz in Cologne Neustadt-Nord. With the aim of uncovering and developing the hidden potentials of this controversial place, the informal appropriations, the social and atmospheric milieus, the invisible infrastructures and spatio-temporal orders of the square were examined. 

As part of the design festival PASSAGEN 2019, the individual project works were exhibited in the art space “Tiefgarage” in the Ebertplatzpassage. The project participants created their works in a direct encounter with the local actors on the square. Through the exhibition, visitors were invited to engage with the use and possibilities of Ebertplatz and to participate in the design of the social space.

Organisation: Prof. Dr. Carolin Höfler (TH Köln); Mario Frank, designer & cultural activist; Christina Radermacher, design research assistant (TH Köln) 

Project Partners: Johannes Geyer (City of Cologne, City Planning Department); Maria Wildeis (art space “Tiefgarage”, Ebertplatzpassage, Cologne)

Participants: David Allrich, Tamara Francesca Bertran y Kaiser, Konstantin Johannes Hehl, Leandra Marie Henke, Pascal Christian Hennes, Charlotte Mia Holke, Marie Charlotte Klein, Lars Köppl, Peter Krohn, Ludwig Lederer, Elena Lohmann, Katja Valerie Merle, Amelia Sánchez Pastuszyk, Kevin Paterka, Johanna Pirwitz, Ben Simon Schrieber, Franziska Severin, Jonas Paul Spieker, Jennifer Zachlod

Duration: October 16, 2018 – February 08, 2019