Leitbildwechsel. Dynamiken und Charakteristika städtebaulicher Innovationsprozesse.

Rohn Verlag, 2018.

Zupan D.

Paradigm Shifts. Patterns and dynamics of innovation processes in urban planning and design.

Through the case study of the paradigm shift from modernist housing estates to compact mixed-use urban neighbourhoods this study investigates how profound novelties enter the discipline of urban planning and design. It neither focuses on the reasons for change (why?) nor on its results (what?), instead it seeks to provide insights on how a novel approach is created, disseminated and established as new routine. It finds that the compact mixed-use city model has been collectively produced and shaped by actors in an intense search for a new consensus in a milieu of heightened uncertainty, and it was successfully spread and established by referring to pressing needs in rather arbitrary ways. The study contributes to basic research in the fields of planning theory and planning history. The object of this research is the transformation in the conceptualization and planning of new housing estates in the Federal Republic of Germany and in Austria from the 1960s until today. The field of housing estates was one of the origins of the paradigm shift under investigation. As the provision of large-scale housing continues to pose a challenge to contemporary policy makers, understanding how novelties enter this field is of high importance.

Keywords: Germany, Austria, paradigm shift, housing, urban planning and design