European Cities as a Laboratory
Few questions are more important than how we live together. Urban development shapes daily life, economic opportunity, social interaction, culture and environmental quality. It is where politics, business, science, culture and civic life intersect, and where societal change becomes visible in physical form.
Across Europe, cities face many of the same challenges: housing, mobility, climate adaptation, public space, demographic change and economic transformation. Yet they often respond in very different ways, shaped by their histories, institutions and local cultures.
Together, European cities form a unique laboratory of ideas, approaches and experiences. The comparison of concrete projects and practical solutions creates opportunities for learning that no city could generate on its own.
Stadtluft is based on this idea. By creating direct exchanges between practitioners, decision-makers and experts from different disciplines and places, Stadtluft helps identify new perspectives, practical solutions and opportunities for improvement that might otherwise remain unseen.
New Ideas, Solutions, and Tangible Improvements
If you are a city, a public authority, or a foundation aiming to improve urban quality of life, talk to us. Stadtluft’s smart peer-review format helps you connect internationally and strengthen your work.
The View from Outside
The city, authority, or organization that commissions Stadtluft gains the opportunity to have national and international colleagues observe and provide input — colleagues who are facing similar challenges. In this way, new ideas, solutions, and tangible improvements emerge from ongoing projects, ideally at an early stage.
The Classic Edition
Stadtluft – Classic Edition is a full-day urban dialogue format built around a specific theme. It combines three workshops, an urban walk, shared meals (lunch and apéro riche), and a curated evening event.
International guest teams and a large interdisciplinary expert forum of up to 50 participants contribute diverse outside perspectives. The focus is on broad thematic exploration, exchange, and collective reflection across disciplines and cities, with the aim of substantially advancing and qualitatively strengthening the three early-stage projects presented in the workshops.
Stadtluft Folio
Stadtluft Folio is the focused edition of Stadtluft. It concentrates on a single challenge or early-stage project and examines it through an intensive peer-review process.
Two international guest teams and a carefully composed interdisciplinary expert forum contribute targeted outside perspectives. In a dedicated 120-minute workshop, collective intelligence is mobilized to generate concrete solutions and measurable improvements in a condensed format.
The Manhattan Principle
These exchanges follow the Manhattan Principle: experts from near and far, and from diverse fields, come together in a concentrated setting. Their mission is to improve selected projects through a peer-review process, driven by collective intelligence within a clearly defined timeframe.
Improving Urban Quality of Life
So far, topics have included Cycling in the City: The Last Adventure of the 21st Century, Urban Trees: The Mascots of Our Time, and The Recycled City: Back to Nature.
Other potential topics that can enhance urban quality of life include lidos, parks, football pitches, rivers, markets, backyards, libraries, roof terraces, train stations, or any major challenge in urban planning.
Founder
Since 2001,
Andrea Roman Sorg has been
responsible for dozens of events in Germany, Austria, Switzerland,
France, Belgium and Scandinavia with high-quality content for
various clients. He was a producer for ARD in Geneva and Zurich and
director of the NZZ Podium Europa in Berlin, the international event
series of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung at the time. He is a partner in
Schwarzsee Limited, an editorial event boutique based in Zurich.
Schwarzsee's clients include leading European media organisations
and universities or government agencies. In addition to Stadtluft,
Schwarzsee Limited also operates the peer review format European
Blend (www.european-blend.org), an identical format for governance. Andrea Sorg studied history,
journalism and literature (lic. ès lettres) in Geneva, London and
Fribourg and speaks German, French, English and Norwegian. He is
married to a Scandinavian and has two daughters. In his free time,
he enjoys sport, devouring newspapers, reading books and exploring
big cities.
Advisory Board
Max Dudler is a Swiss born
architect. He has headed his own practice with branches in Berlin,
Zürich, Frankfurt and Munich, since 1992.
Anouk Kuitenbrouwer is a
Swiss-Dutch architect and urban planner. She is a lecturer at the
ETH Zurich and partner at KCAP, an urbanism, architecture and
landscape design firm with offices in Rotterdam, Zurich and Paris.
Simon Kuper is a Paris-based
British columnist for the Financial Times since 1994. He is the
author of several books and also writes for magazines in Japan,
The Netherlands, Switzerland and other countries.
Anna Schindler is director of
the Office for Urban Development of the City of Zurich since
November 2011. The office consists of five agencies: Migration and
Integration, City and Neighborhood Development, Economic
Development, Foreign Affairs and Smart City.
Simon Strauss is a Berlin born
journalist and writer. He is arts editor for the Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung since 2016.
