Is there an architectural and urban-planning agenda behind the politics of contemporary right-wing populist, right-wing radical, right-wing extremist, and (neo-)fascist forces? And if so, to what extent does the so-called “middle of society” make itself an involuntary assistant in this? These are the guiding questions behind the lecture by Stephan Trüby, who builds on his book Rechte Räume. Politische Essays und Gespräche (Right-wing spaces. Political essays and Conversations, 2020). By way of background to Trüby’s research: Many Western liberal-leaning democracies are currently seeing a rollback of society that was barely thought possible until a few years ago. The lecture outlines how the political right in Germany and beyond is attempting to shape architecture, town, and country.

Stephan Trüby (*1970) is Professor of Architecture and Cultural Theory and Director of the Institute for Principles of Modern Architecture and Design (IGmA) at the University of Stuttgart. He was previously Professor of Temporary Architecture at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe (2007-09), head of the postgraduate program MAS Scenography/Spatial Design at Zurich University of the Arts (2009-2014), taught architectural theory at Harvard University (2012-2014), and was a professor at the TU Munich (2014-2018). His most important books include Exit-Architektur. Design zwischen Krieg und Frieden (Exit Architecture. Design between War and Peace, 2008), The World of Madelon Vriesendorp (2008, with Shumon Basar), Die deutschen Beiträge zur Architekturbiennale Venedig seit 1991: Eine Oral History (The German Contributions to the Venice Architecture Biennale since 1991: An Oral History, 2016, with Verena Hartbaum), Absolute Architekturbeginner: Schriften 2004-2014 (Absolute Architecture Beginners: Writings 2004-2014, 2017), Die Geschichte des Korridors (The History of the Corridor, 2018), and Rechte Räume. Politische Essays und Gespräche (Right-wing Spaces. Political Essays and Conversations, 2020).