The post-race city and non-racial urban imaginaries

The post-race city and non-racial urban imaginaries

What do imaginaries of radical urban change involve that are based on a shared commitment to an anti-oppressive and non-hierarchical world? How can urban imaginaries reach, politicise and radicalise people? In this presentation I discuss these questions in relation to an examination of three dimensions of Nazi urban planning and design: monumental approaches to re-planning the Reichshauptstadt Berlin and Gauhauptstädte; neighbourhood ‘recovery’, i.e. the systematic destruction of 'deprived' neighbourhoods with large Jewish populations; and imaginaries of the 'new city', i.e. the city after all Jews have been deported or killed.

Date

23-27 March 2023

Language

English

Author

Günter Gassner

Keywords

Spatial imaginaries

Racism

Fascism

Spatial practices

Aesthetics

© 2026 Günter Gassner
© 2026 Günter Gassner