Stadtlebensraum: The Great Good Place

GREAT GOOD PLACE: Öffentlich – Räume der Stadt für alle

In the midst of Frankfurt’s banking district and station quarter, an exceptional place is taking shape: the Weißfrauen Church is envisioned as an open living room for the neighborhood – a space that brings together social participation, cultural impulses, and spiritual calm.

As part of the official World Design Capital 2026 project, Diakonie Frankfurt, the Protestant Academy Frankfurt, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, and BDA Hessen invite to a symposium addressing key questions of urban transformation: What tasks do cities face today? How can community be strengthened? And what might a future church space look like – a space that brings together people with diverse life realities?

Students from Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences present initial design approaches and discuss new forms of shared spaces, democratic negotiation, and spatial transformation with experts, the urban community, and interested attendees. Contributions are provided by Sabine Tastel (TH Köln) on pathways toward circularity and by Gerald Klahr (Studio Prinzmetal, Cologne), offering perspectives on the activating appropriation and transformation of existing spaces.

The symposium invites participants to envision future scenarios for the Weißfrauen Church and to refine its potential as an open and shared place within the urban fabric. No registration is required.

A project by Diakonie Frankfurt and Offenbach, the Protestant Academy Frankfurt, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, and BDA Hessen (initiator), in cooperation with WDC 2026.