The University of Kassel was founded in 1971. It is located in the state of Hessen, Germany. The university employs more than 3.265 staff, including 303 professors as well as approximately 1.484 additional academic staff and 1,246 technical and administrative employees. Currently more than 24.500 students from 115 countries are enrolled in a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The University focuses on four fields of competence: Nature, technology, culture, society. The University is particularly known for its excellent environmental study and research programmes.    

Architecture, planning and the design of built Environments and landscaping are an important focus of the Eco-University of Kassel. The Faculty of Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape Planning (ASL) has a long standing reputation for an interdisciplinary and integrative approach combining all the three above disciplines under one roof and focusing on the relationship of people and the environment. The department is committed to teaching and researching the principles of sustainable development. Examples of this are loam/clay construction research and practice, energy saving construction, experimental housing, and the "Kassel School" of open space planning, which has markedly influenced the residential sector. New specialized courses such as "Construction Management" and "Environmentally Conscious Construction" demonstrate the department’s continued commitment to an ecologically, economically, socially and artistically sound education. User-oriented planning and enhanced design training cultivates a critical, responsible creative approach.  

The German team is based at the chair for Urban Regeneration and Urban Planning (Stadterneuerung und Stadttheorie), Prof. Uwe Altrock, at the Faculty of Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape Planning (ASL), Kassel. The department is part of the Institute for Urban Developments (Institut für Urbane Entwicklungen). It conducts research on urban regeneration and develops concepts and planning solutions, covering a thorough analysis of the existing physical, social and economic structures and their improvement as well as the political economy, and the effectiveness and efficiency of grant schemes. Moreover, the chair is particularly interested in the theory, history and the methodology of urban regeneration. Its international focus includes the EU, USA, Australia, East Asia and Africa. Thematically, it looks especially at urban governance and urban politics and at spatial development in the post-modern era. Since April 2016 a new research group on “Dis-ordering African cites: urban planning, housing and infrastructures from above and below in Dakar and Nairobi" was initiated. The chair is (co-)editor of various publications, such as the Planungsrundschau and the Jahrbuch Stadterneuerung. Moreover it is member of numerous national and international research networks such as DASL, SRL, CEU, Trialog and N-AERUS.