Doctoral Thesis

Working Title:
Conflicts of Socio-ecological Transformation and the Hegemonic Crisis of the German Housing Regime. A historical materialist policy analysis.

Supervisors:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marc Wolfram, IOER and Dresden University of Technology (TUD)
Jun.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marcus Hübscher, Dresden University of Technology
Prof. Dr. Phil. Sebastian Schipper, Goethe University Frankfurt

TUD Faculty:
Faculty of Environmental Sciences  

IOER Research Area:
Transformative Capacities

Abstract:
The German neoliberalized and financialized housing regime is affected by multiple crisis dynamics. The fossil energy and heating supply of the housing stock as well as the housing constructions are one of the main drivers of the ecological crisis. The social crisis of housing supply manifests itself in rising rent prices and heating costs, transcending the limits of affordability. The termination of the low-interest-rate policy by the European Central Bank plunged the housing and construction policy into a severe economic crisis. These paradoxically intertwined multiple crises represent an immediate need for far-reaching reforms and socio-technical transitions toward a socio-ecological future of the GHR. However, the latest, highly contested implemented regulations and policies in the fields of heat transition, construction policy, and rent regulation stand in contradictory relation to each other and point to different transformation paths. Based upon the working hypothesis that the current institutional, material, regulatory, and scalar architecture is not capable of mediating the crisis dynamics into a coherent trajectory of development, I argue that this incoherence represents the hegemonic crisis of the German housing regime.

This research attempts to investigate the dialectic relations between 1) the transformational processes and sociotechnical transitions of the GHR, 2) its spatial materialization, 3) shifts in power relations between political parties, tenant and environmental organizations, as well as the housing, energy, and construction industry, 4) regional development, and 5) its multi-scalar political regulation. The research design consists of an integrated approach of the Multi-Level Perspective theory (MLP) and the Historical Materialist Policy Analysis (HMPA), enriched by spatial and scale-sensitive concepts. The research operates on three dimensions, which are constantly intertwined throughout the research process. In a first step, the current state of the GHR as a socio-technical system is examined with regard to the property relations, and the spatial and material structure of the housing stock, construction, and energy infrastructure. Based on this contextual analysis, I investigate conflicts over the implementation of new regulations on national and EU scale (Gebäude-Energie-Gesetz, Bau-Turbo, Sondervermögen Infrastruktur, Wärmeplanungsgesetz etc.) as struggles between hegemony projects attempting to shape the transformation of the GHR in accordance to their interests, strategies, associated technologies, and imaginaries. Finally, I analyze the reciprocal relationship between political regulation, reconfiguration of scalar and spatial structure, and the socio-technical transition of the GHR through two regional case studies.

CV

Education:

Since 03/2025
Doctoral Student at the Dresden Leibniz Graduate School (DLGS)

10/2020 - 04/2024
University of Leipzig
M.A. Political Science

10/2015 - 03/2020
Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
B.A. Political Science and Philosophy

Professional Experience:

Since 09/2024
Lecturer at the Institute of Geography, Dresden University of Technology (TUD)

11/2020-04/2024
Research Assistant, Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy

07/2019-09/2020
Research Assistant and Lecturer, Innovation in Learning Institute, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)