Whether it is the climate crisis, disputed territories, an ageing population or issues of mobility and healthcare, metropolitan regions all around the world are facing major challenges. How to solve them? How can we change our cities for the better? The BHT Research and Transfer Day sought to answer these questions. “Research can and should deliver answers to pressing questions”, said Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Villwock, BHT Vice President for Research and Transfer, in his opening speech. The event thus provided a broad overview of the projects currently underway at BHT.

In her keynote speech, architectural journalist Friederike Meyer introduced the concept of the resilient city. She emphasised the need for metropolitan regions to provide healthy and safe living environments where citizens are informed and connected. In her vision, people engaged in their cities. To illustrate what this could look like, she gave several examples, ranging from Barcelona’s superblocks, where traffic is reduced, to Copenhagen’s use of urban green spaces to manage heavy rainfall. "The measures for a resilient city are in many ways congruent with the measures for a sustainable city," said Meyer.

Following the keynote, professor Dr. Yasmin Olteanu led a panel discussion on urban development in the wake of the climate and housing crises. BHT professors Felix Bießmann (machine learning), Dr. Christian Butz (business administration, logistics), Thomas Sakschewski (spokesperson for BHT’s Sustainable Cities collaborative research unit), Dipl.-Ing. Laura Vahl (design and presentation in landscape architecture, and architectural journalist Meyer each gave their professional perspective on urban development issues.

Afterwards, scientists from BHT presented their work in science pitches, with just 60 seconds to get to the heart of their research. For those who wanted to find out more, there was the opportunity to talk to the experts over finger food and drinks afterwards.

• A-B-Circular: Kreislaufwirtschaft in den Bereichen Design, Fashion & Mode sowie Architektur & Bau, Adam Formanek, Sven Klinkow
• Appl-FM: Berliner Initiative für Forschung im Bereich Foundation Models, Prof. Dr. Felix Gers, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ivo Boblan, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Alexander Löser
• BIOKIT: KI auf biomechanischer Simulation zur Bewegungsanalyse in der Therapie, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ivo Boblan, M. Sc. Lukas Strunz, B. Sc. Marvin Grimm,
• CCLT: COMBOO Cross Laminated Timber: Entwicklung und nachhaltige Verwendung von Werkstoffen aus nachwachsenden Rohstoffen, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ralf Förster, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Loth, M. Sc. Chris Schrembs, Dipl.-Ing. Jean Marc Witzmann
• Cognitive Algorithms Lab: Machine learning applications and methods to achieve our social and ecological sustainability goals, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Felix Bießmann, M. Sc. Teodor Chiaburu, Andrej Gottfried, M. Sc. Sebastian Jäger, M. Sc. Philipp Jung, M. Sc. Cem Kozcuer, B. Sc. Maryam Mohebi, M. Sc. Ivana Nanevski, B. Sc. Vipin Singh
• COMFORT: COMputational Models FOR patienT stratification in urologic cancers – Creating robust and trustworthy multimodal AI for health care, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Alexander Löser, M.Sc. Connor Fallon, M.Sc. Dennis Fast
• EffTecSo: Energetische Quartiersmodernisierung, M. Sc. Maria Kuzminkaia, Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Katja Biek
• Ein Gebäudeleben: Warum zirkulär... wenn dauerhaft geht? Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Matthias Haber, B.Sc. Ludwig Kroll
• Environmental Justice Indicators: Evaluating Quality of Life in Private Residential Environments, M. Sc. Lisa Friedrichsdorf, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Immelyn Domnick
• IMPACT: Interaction, Metabolism, Purification, Analytics, Co-Culture and Target-specific Drug-Design, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Grohmann
• Impact of Wastewater Irrigation on Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Mezquital Valley Soils, Dr. Leila Soufi, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Grohmann
• InnoEff: Entwicklung eines innovativen Verfahrens zum energieeffizienten Betrieb heiztechnischer Anlagen, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Huu-Thoi Le, M. Eng. Thomas Scheunemann
• INSPIRER: PartizipatIoN in StadtPlanungsprozessen In viRtuEllen und Realen Räumen, Prof. Dr. Margitta Pries, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Ute Wagner
• Mindful Mobility: Urbanes Mobilitätsmanagement und -verhalten, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Christian Butz
• Optimierung von Verdunstungsbeeten hinsichtlich der hydrologischen Funktionsweise sowie der Vegetation, M. Sc. Elisa Bieber, M. Sc. Robert Teichmann, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Schneider, Prof. Dr. Benny Selle
• PAN-Assistant: AR-VR-gestütztes Orientierungs- und Gedächtnistraining für Post-Akute Neurorehabilitation, Prof. Dr. Kristian Hildebrand, M. Sc. Johannes Hoster
• PWGram: Experimentelle Forschung zur Entwicklung eines Multisensor-Messsystems mit Marktreife zur berührungslosen Bestimmung des Wasserversorgungszustands mittels Nahbereichsphotogrammetrie, Prof. Dr. Markus Richter, M. Sc. Hassan Tagharobi
• Real Life Lab Pflege: Angewandte Forschung für Hitzeschutz in Pflegeeinrichtungen, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Dattner, M.Sc. Magnus Busch, B.Sc. Patrick Mahrholz
• ReComTrans: Revenue Controlling mit mathematischem Prognosetool im Praxis-Transfer, Prof. Dr. Thomas Winter
• Seoul – Berlin City Dialogues: Urbane Strategien im Vergleich, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Eva Maria Froschauer
• Solve The Slime: Elucidate New Targets For Biofilm Inhibition, M. Sc. Florian Martin, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Grohmann
• Sustainable Cities: Ideen und Konzepte für eine nachhaltige Stadtentwicklung, Prof. Thomas Sakschewski
• The vision of the landscape and urban planning in Berlin – Tempelhofer Feld from 1800 to the first half of the 20th century, M. Sc. Alonso Sanz Merlo, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Eva Maria Froschauer
• Wie wollen wir leben? Kiezblöcke in Berlin, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Johannes Schlaich
• WindDruck: 3D-gedruckte Flügel für Klein-Windkraftanlagen aus biogenen Materialien, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Nicolas Lewkowicz, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Loth