The relationships between economics, architecture and urbanism find their relative zero in the term oikos. Under the term oikos one understood first the basic unit of society in Greek city-states in the sense of an economic municipality, which formed the center of life of a large family. Later, from the early modern period, the housekeeping turned into a city and finally a state or national economy.

The fact that economic contexts require design artifacts has perhaps been insinuated most meaningfully by the neo-Marxism of David Harvey. In The Condition of Postmodernity, Harvey presents postmodernism as the cultural logic of post-Fordist late capitalism or neoliberalism. Architectural and design forms, as can be seen after Harvey, always refer to economic contexts. As part of this research, through the examination of selected international examples, the spatial effects of historical and contemporary ways of dealing with money, credit and investment will be investigated and the question will be posed as to what extent a new (urban) ethic is necessary.

Preliminary work: Gerhard M. Buurman, Stephan Trüby (ed.): Geldkulturen. Ökonomische, philosophische und kulturtheoretische Perspektiven (Fink, 2014).

Contact Person: Stephan Trüby