Seminar The Porous City

The block structures of the European city often appear closed and monolithic, with infrastructure buildings sometimes forming kilometers-long barriers. However, a closer look reveals many niches, holes, cracks and fissures in the urban fabric. These “pores” of the city have their own logic and quality - and yet have been little studied to date.

In the seminar, we go in search of the “porous city” away from the street network. Sneak paths, passages, through-houses, underpasses, superstructures, garage complexes, gutted blocks and boarded-up secret passageways will be the subject of a scientific examination of urban structures, which will also be an exercise in reading the city - in Vienna and elsewhere.