Prof Markus HESSE

Markus Hesse is Full Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Luxembourg, Department of Geography and Spatial Planning. Until recently, he was Director of Studies (DET) of the Formation continue en aménagement du territoire (FCAT) and was also an elected member of the Faculty Council of the FSHE for several years.

My current research path in « urban studies » includes different foci, which were about to be developed already before I arrived in Luxembourg in 2008. Most recently, they include the following three strands:

1. The process of urbanisation from which cities have emerged. We prefer an evolutionary perspective on the urban rather than the study of individual cities. We are therefore interested in the conditions for urban growth or decline, with a particular focus on agglomeration. The benefits and costs, advantages and disadvantages of agglomeration are key to understanding the state of cities. This includes a focus on metropolitan areas, for example their fringes and in-between areas, but also on the relevant flows that have emerged as makers and breakers of cities (C. Clark). Logistics hubs or port cities are a good example of the latter. In this context, we don’t see recipes for ‘good’ practice on the horizon of research, and there seems even less reason to believe in rankings or to talk about ‘superstar cities’. Rather, we observe that many cities are suffering: some from success, others from decline. Hence it is instructive to study both processes and the associated policy responses. Urban regions have to adapt to the consequences of growth (or decline). Any related strategies are made more complex by rapidly changing framework conditions, be it economic change, digitalisation, overtourism, gentrification and others.

2. We study a particular type of city that Thomas Sigler (2013) once called ‘relational cities’. This includes cities that are established primarily not by centrality but by an intermediate position, situated between local and global scales, or between different market areas. We have applied this idea to research on small but global hotspots of services, high tech and politics, such as Geneva or Singapore. More recently, in the FINCITY project, we study the financial centres of Dublin, Ireland; Frankfurt, Germany; and Luxembourg City, and ask how city governments and associated states are managing the pros and cons of this trajectory. We also want to find out whether they are able to balance these polarities, if at all. This seems to be a big challenge. 3. A third strand of my research looks more closely at the systems of policy, planning and (urban, state) governance. This focus is partly related to the two above, since urbanisation has never just happened, like good or bad weather, but has been actively and deliberately set in place. Similarly, financial centres are an ideal type-product of urban processes, driven by powerful forces in the economic, real estate and governance ecosystems. In terms of spatial planning, another research focus has been on the notion of conflict and the challenge of reconciling different goals and interests of shareholders and stakeholders—the lost art of Abwägung, if you like. How do institutions deal with conflict and

contestation? How do they take their own commitments seriously, rather than ceding too much responsibility to civil society? The above questions seem particularly relevant to the broadest and most all-encompassing notion of ‘transformation’, which is extremely popular but needs to be reconciled with the mundane practice of spatial planning. If implementation and impact are the proof of the pudding in spatial planning, then studying small or large transformations will be vital, more than fun. Or, first and foremost, we look for the potential to organize processes of ‘transition’ (Übergänge). As a passionate geographer/planner, I believe the knowledge base provided by these two trans/disciplines is best suited for this.

In our MaGeo Master in Geography & Spatial Planning, I teach two planning courses – 18-12 ‘Cities, Masterplanning and Urban Governance‘, which is also attended by first year Master in Architecture students, and 20-82 ‘Progress in Planning‘. While the former gives a historical overview of urban and regional planning and focuses on the analysis and evaluation of plans, the latter allows students to delve deeper into the critical analysis of planning systems as a framework for practice and planning projects that claim to be ‘progressive’. In Geography, I teach 02-11 ‘Integrated Planning and Sustainable Development‘ (with Constance Carr) and 12-81 ‘Foundations and Trends in Geographical Research‘, which aims to reconstruct recent paradigmatic and methodological changes in the discipline.

As a geographer and spatial planner, I have always been involved in debating theory and practice and advising local and government representatives. Among the bodies I have served on are the Scientific Advisory Board of the ILS Research Institute in Dortmund, Germany; the Conseil Supérieure Aménagement du Territoire (CSAT) of the Luxembourg Ministry of Spatial Planning; and the Conseil Administratif of the Luxembourg Centre of Architecture (LUCA). Since 2005, I have been an elected member of the German Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Society (ARL). While reflecting on my collaboration with these bodies, I also conduct research on the science-policy interface in geography and planning.

2014, I received the ‘Hay Award’ from the Transport Geography Research Group (TGRG) of the Royal Geographical Society, United Kingdom, acknowledging significant lifetime achievements in transport geography. From 2020 to 2024, I served as Vice-President of the Urban Commission of the International Geographical Union-Union Géographique Internationale (IGU). Since 2010, I represent Luxembourg as Vice-President of BIVEC-GIBET, the Benelux Interuniversity Association of Transport Researchers.

Prior to joining UL, I worked as an Assistant Professor (Oberassistent C1) at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany (Institute of Geographical Sciences), where I also completed my postdoctoral research in the preceding years. Previous research positions were held at the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS), Erkner, Germany, and the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW), Berlin, Germany. During my postdoctoral research, I spent six months at the University of California at Berkeley (UC Transportation Center) conducting field research on the locational dynamics of logistics in Northern California