The Federal Government plays an important role in the further development of the building and planning culture in Germany. For this, IBAIBA Internationale Bauausstellung is a relevant and innovative format for urban and regional development which draws international attention. For more than 100 years, International Building Exhibitions have been a showcase and driving force for urban and regional development in Germany. An increasing number of federal states and municipalities – nationally and internationally – are using the format to address challenging urban development issues. IBA is not a certified label, International Building Exhibitions are a voluntary commitment. The Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community supports activities that ensure the quality and standards of the format an foster dialogue between the IBA.

In 2016, the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development launched the “IBA Qualitätsoffensive” quality campaign in close cooperation with the IBA Expert Council. In 2017, the Expert Council revised and refined the Memorandum on the Future of International Building Exhibitions from 2009, adding a handbook with recommendations on operational issues.

The Federal Government promotes exchange of experiences between IBA through its IBA meets IBA Network. It also strengthens national and international communication and cooperation, e.g. with the joint initiative National Urban Development Policy.

In order to intensify the specialist discourse on the future of IBA, the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development hosted an IBA Conference in 2019. The results of the conference were published in the workbook “IBA im Wandel – Zur Zukunft Internationaler Bauausstellungen” (“IBA in Transition – Towards the Future of International Building Exhibitions”) containing reflections, propositions and recommendations from conference contributors. In addition, the IBA Expert Council drew up for propositions for the further development of IBA on which future support by the Federal Government should be based. The propositions were published in the proposition paper “Thesenpapier des IBA-Expertenrats”.

Furthermore, the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development is committed to helping noteworthy IBA projects gain access to federal funding programmes. The Federal Government supports the IBA process by communicating all the instruments of the IBA Quality Campaign on this website under its own umbrella brand International Building Exhibitions.

The IBAIBA Internationale Bauausstellung process is being critically monitored by a council of experts appointed by the German Federal Government, the IBA Expertenrat. Established in 2009, it is made up of renowned stakeholders from research and practice as well as representatives from municipalities and federal states. The IBA Expert Council is responsible for securing, perpetuating and further developing the criteria of the IBA Memorandum. At the same time, it advises current IBA and IBA initiatives.

IBA are an internationally unique instrument of planning, urban, and regional policy. In contrast to World Expos, Biennials and Capitals of Culture, IBA have been created without fixed calendars, rules and standardised quality criteria. There is no binding convention on what constitutes an IBA, what its themes and forms of organisation should be.

Precisely because every IBA has to reinvent itself time and again, continuous quality assurance is necessary, which consolidates the high significance of IBA for building culture and urban and regional development and makes the experience gained from it productive both for planning practice and every new IBA. The IBA Expert Council makes an important contribution to this.

The members of the Expert Council are:

Dr. Sonja Beeck, architect, chezweitz GmbHGmbH GmbH

Angelika Fitz, Director Architekturzentrum Wien

Karl Jasper, Ministry for Regional Identity, Communities and Local Government, Building and Gender Equality of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia (until 2019)

Monica Linder-Guarnaccia, Director Marketing EuroAirport (Basel, Mulhouse, Freiburg); former Director IBA Basel

Dr. Reimar Molitor, Geographer, Managing Director of Region Köln/Bonn e.V.

Dipl.-Ing. Christa Reicher, Head of Chair of Urban Design and Institute for Urban Design and European Urbanism, RWTHRWTH Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University

Dipl. Ing. Stefan Rettich, University Professor Department of Urban Planning, University of Kassel

Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Jörn Walter, urban planner, former Chief Planning Director of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

Klaus Austermann, Ministry for Regional Identity, Local Government, Building and Digitalization of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia (guest)

Martin Rist, Ministry for Regional Development and Housing Baden-Württemberg (guest)

The IBAIBA Internationale Bauausstellung Competence Center was established at the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development at the end of 2020. The task profile of the Competence Center is in the areas of research-networking-communication. This includes the conception and implementation of research projects on relevant issues and topics related to IBA.

In addition, the Competence Center provides organizational and technical support for the IBA Expert Council and the promotion of the “IBA Laboratory” exchange format.

The Competence Center is the first point of contact for IBA initiatives and those interested in IBA and is in contact with ongoing and final IBA. It mediates and provides information on IBA.

With the research program “Experimental Housing and Urban Development” (ExWoStExWoSt Experimenteller Wohnungs- und Städtebau), the federal government promotes innovative planning and measures on important urban development and housing policy topics in the form of research fields, studies, initiatives and model projects. The experience gained is used to derive indications for the further development of urban development and housing policy and to support the transfer of knowledge.

The research program “ExWoSt” is a program of the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB) and is supervised by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) at the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBRBBR Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung).

The following research projects have been carried out on the subject of IBAIBA Internationale Bauausstellung:

Reicher, Christa; Bundesinstitut für Bau- Stadt- und Raumforschung. 2011. Die Zukunft Internationaler Bauausstellungen: Internationale Fallstudien und ein Monitoringkonzept; Ein Projekt des Forschungsprogramms „Exwost“ des Bundesministeriums für Verkehr Bau und Stadtentwicklung (Bmvbs) betreut vom Bundesinstitut für Bau- Stadt- und Raumforschung (Bbsr) im Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (BBR). Berlin: Bundesministerium für Verkehr Bau und Stadtentwicklung.

www.bbsr.bund.de/BBSR/DE/veroeffentlichungen/ministerien/bmvbs

sbca; Bundesinstitut für Bau- Stadt- und Raumforschung. 2019. IBA im Wandel – ein Stadt- und Regionalentwicklungsformat mit (internationaler) Zukunft. Ein Projekt des Forschungsprogramms „Exwost“ des Bundesministeriums des Innern, für Bau und Heimat (BMI) betreut vom Bundesinstitut für Bau- Stadt- und Raumforschung (BbSR) im Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (BBR). Berlin: Bundesministerium des Innern, für Bau und Heimat

www.bbsr.bund.de/BBSR/DE/forschung/programme/exwost/Studien/2018/iba-im-wandel

Currently, the research project “IBA as a catalyst for excellence in urban and regional development: Supporting Impulse Projects in IBA”. The text below provides an insight into the content and current status of the project and will be updated as the project progresses:

International Building Exhibitions (IBA) learn and develop their impact through their projects. IBA solutions to the challenges of building, living and housing in cities and regions are expressed both as spatial results and through the quality of (planning) processes. In the sense of supporting the high quality standards of the format as well as a transfer of experience from IBA, the federal government will in the future focus more strongly on the identification, visualization and multiplication of outstanding – in the sense of impulse-giving – projects that emerge from the respective guiding themes of an IBA. The research project is to trace the conditions for such projects in completed as well as in ongoing IBAs in order to develop recommendations for preferential funding and support of individual IBA projects.

On behalf of the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR), the STUDIO | STADT | REGION office is working on the ExWoSt research project “IBA as a catalyst for excellence in urban development: Supporting Impulse Projects in IBA”.

The special concern of this research project is the co-productive, iterative set-up. The procedure is essentially based on incorporating the knowledge of the IBA Expert Council into the various work steps. Against this background, the results of the first work phase – development of basic concepts and initial hypotheses on the mode of action and characteristics of IBA impulse projects – were presented to the IBA Expert Council and put up for discussion. The workshop, which lasted just under four hours, took place on June 02, 2022 as part of the final presentation of the IBA Heidelberg.

The focus of the second project phase is to gain a deeper understanding of both the genesis and mode of action of IBA projects and their support needs and opportunities. To this end, the range of different IBAs and their corresponding project characteristics will be mapped by means of round table discussions in the period from September to October 2022.

Based on the cross-comparison of the round tables, key criteria for the early identification and qualification of impulse projects will be derived in the third project phase and an application procedure based on this will be developed, as well as a matrix of potentially suitable federal funding programs. In a second expert council workshop in the first quarter of 2023, the prepared results will again be intensively discussed and adjusted together. The key criteria will then be consolidated and transferred into a practice-oriented handout.