Prof. Dr. J. Alexander Schmidt | City Planning and Urban Design
Personal Details
Professor Prof. Dr.-Ing. J. Alexander Schmidt studied architecture and city planning at the University of Stuttgart. In 1978 he graduated at the University of California Berkeley (M.Arch.). He received his Ph.D. from the University Stuttgart in 1989 with a thesis on the evolutionary principles in structural and formal change, which can be used for the modeling of transformation processes in the built environment.
J. Alexander Schmidt has been the Head of the Institute of City Planning and Urban Design since 1998. He has over 25 years professional experience in the fields of spatial planning, city planning and urban design. He has worked as licensed architect and city planner for more than 25 years partner in a consulting firm that undertakes projects in city planning, urban design and city research. The clients who commission projects, consulting reports and applied research include municipal administrative bodies within the Federal Republic of Germany, regional associations, national redevelopment agencies and a number of state ministries within Germany. Dr. Schmidt provides consulting services internationally, with contacts stretching across Europe and as far as Japan, Chile and China. Combining both research from various universities as well as professional planning work ensures that all planning undertaken at the Institute is part of an applied research approach.
Teaching
In the bachelor and master curriculum (B.Sc. and M.Sc.) the modules are dedicated to the fact, that urban planning is crucial and basic to most planning disciplines in civil engineering: Urban planning is giving form and structure to most decisions in the fields of planning, i.e. transportation planning, water management and waste management. Because of that, some modules have a multidisciplinary character. Students not only need to know the technical facts of engineering know-how but also must be acquainted to the form-giving decisions and the design questions. Dr. Schmidt has been visiting professor at the Department of Landscape and Environmental Design, University of California Berkeley as well as at the Urban Architecture Program of the University of Oregon Portland.
Research
During his past few years as urban planner and designer, he has conducted integrated projects in intensive cooperation with environmental engineers in the fields of transportation, waste management and urban water management. Currently, the Institute is consulting the French Ministry of Culture and Communication in the field of large-scale urban development, i.e. L’architecture de la grande échelle. Also the team is working on the subject of urban form, mobility and energy in different projects in cooperation with different consulting firms and universities (University of Oregon/Portland.USA, Tongji University/Shanghai.China), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The fields of practical planning and consulting include Urban Development Planning and Urban Design Master Planning for Metropolitan Areas, Urban Renewal Planning for historic districts and large scale housing areas, Open Space Design Guidelines, Building Codes for historic districts, Integrated Development Planning with a focus on urban and ecological aspects in various German cities as well a Asian and South American cities such as Osaka/Japan, Santiago de Chile/Chile and Shanghai/China.
Moreover, various publications about practical and theoretical issues in Urban Planning have been authored by Prof. Schmidt.