Soft Opening of the ra:ve project space
On 12 June, we officially opened our ra:ve project space in Karlsruhe’s Südstadt district as part of a neighbourhood opening celebration held in the adjoining conservatory.
In a relaxed atmosphere, with neighbours, volunteers, students and researchers, new connections were made, ideas were exchanged and everyone raised a glass to celebrate the opening of the project space, all whilst enjoying snacks and good conversation.
Real-life experiments, postcards and visions of Werderplatz
As part of the opening event, guests were able to respond to the real-world experiment designs created by our Regional Science/Spatial Planning students as part of the seminar ‘Project Seminar: Transformative Research in the Neighbourhood’ and share their own ideas for making Werderplatz a more liveable space. The focus here was on modular seating options and playful street furniture elements. These will be tested as part of a real-world experiment in early July 2026 on the western section of Werderplatz.
Postcards featuring the Südstadt area were also designed – these offer visual insights into people’s hopes for a summer well worth living at Werderplatz.
The ra:ve project space was also visited by colleagues from the field of real-world laboratory research. Many thanks to them for the great feedback!
It was an honour for us to welcome so many guests to our first opening and presentation of the space. We are already looking forward to regular activities and getting together with the Südstadt neighbourhood. We can look back on a successful evening. Many thanks to everyone who attended and helped make the evening a success!
The project space as the real-world laboratory's headquarter
Through ra:ve, we want to work with you to rethink the future of Südstadt, exchange ideas and engage in dialogue. We are very much looking forward to getting to know the residents of Südstadt, bringing science and the neighbourhood together, and learning from one another. We look forward to welcoming you soon at Wilhelmstraße 16 during our opening hours!
The space at Wilhelmstraße 16 will become a learning and experimentation space where specific questions relating to equitable and sustainable urban development are addressed through scientific, creative and exploratory approaches. This takes place at the interface between urban society and academia, adopting a transdisciplinary approach. The aim is to generate socially robust knowledge for fairer and more liveable cities.
The opening marks the launch of the Südstadt Real-World Laboratory and the ra:ve – Raum für Veränderung (Space for Change) teaching and real-world laboratory project at the Institute for Regional Science (IfR) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
