Urban Planning Students Honored at the Schlaun Competition
- News
This year’s 14th Schlaun Competition focused on the city of Hagen and centered on the development of the Volme area in the city center. Under the theme “City Life on the Volme,” students of architecture, urban planning, and civil engineering were invited to design innovative concepts for the future of this central urban space.
A total of 104 entries were submitted from 37 universities, including 65 entries in the fields of urban planning and landscape architecture. The jury reviewed and discussed the designs in detail. The evaluation focused in particular on urban planning quality, the level of design detail, and the long-term sustainability of the concepts. After intensive deliberations, the jury selected the most compelling entries and awarded prize money totaling 12,250 euros.
During the 2025–26 winter semester, the competition theme was addressed as a master’s thesis project in the Department of Urban Planning, Land-Use Planning, and Urban Design Processes. Two out of four projects in the field of urban planning and landscape architecture received awards.
3rd Prize:
Jannik May, Luis Wahlers, Felix Schorpp, Emelly Klassen | TU Dortmund
Advisor: Dipl.-Ing. Päivi Kataikko-Grigoleit
PDF-File: "Hagen. Auf der Seite des Flusses"
Acknowledgments:
Malin Schmeing, Katharina Vosberg, Leia Budde | TU Dortmund
Advisor: Dipl.-Ing. Päivi Kataikko-Grigoleit
The award-winning designs impressively demonstrate how aspiring planners reflect on current challenges in urban development and use them to develop creative, sustainable, and identity-building solutions for urban spaces.
The highlight of the festivities was the Schlaun Festival on May 31, 2026, in Münster, where the award winners were officially honored. The mayor of Hagen, Dennis Rehbein, opened the event with a welcoming address and emphasized the importance of the competition for fostering the next generation of planners. The keynote speaker was Ina Scharrenbach, Minister for Home Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Construction, and Digitalization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. In her speech, she addressed current developments in urban and regional planning and underscored the role of a high-quality urban planning culture in ensuring the sustainability of cities and municipalities. Together with supporters and partners, she presented the awards to the students during the ceremony.
