Research and activities

Overview of research areas

  • European studies with a focus on a geographical analysis of spatial policies of the European Union as well as comparative studies of European spaces
  • Comparative urban and metropolitan research along the lines of comparative urbanism
  • Interpretative, qualitative and spatial methodologies such as walking interviews, explorations of the built environment and visual methods
  • Cross-border urban development, especially in small and medium-sized cities
  • Geographies of housing: Urban housing policies in Europe (Habilitation project at University of Freiburg)

Funded Research Projects

DIALOG: Institutional Dynamics and Actors in Housing: Observation and Cross-Border Governance

In the DIALOG project, we collaborate with other universities across the Greater Region to advance the governance of cross-border cooperation in the field of housing. The project is co-financed by the EU's Interreg programme and aims to identify challenges in the individual border areas and to develop solutions for public and scientific actors towards a cross-border governance of housing.

The University of Saarland co-leads two work packages of the project.

In the work package on cross-border studies, we focus on the German-French border to examine how national housing policies affect border areas. Four thematic fields are at the centre of our work: land take reduction, access to housing and the integration of local markets, energy renovation of the housing stock, and cross-border residential mobility. In addition, we develop a comparative analysis of housing policy across the four countries of the Greater Region.

In the work package on good practices, we identify and document successful examples from the housing sector across the Greater Region and analyse their transferability. With a thematic focus on land take reduction and access to housing, we organise an expert workshop and produce factsheets on individual good practices as well as a concluding policy brief.

Programme: Interreg VI-A Greater Region

Project lead: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Carola Fricke
Duration: 01/2026 – 12/2028

Total budget: €2,065,232.90 (incl. €1,177,182.72 ERDF funding)