ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how economic development has shaped the way planners in the German Democratic Republic addressed the topic of urban renewal. It explains how neither a strong emphasis on knowledge production nor a push for rationalisation could prevent the ongoing decay of large urban areas. Important innovations like standards of quantifying the buildings’ conditions or substitution of blueprint planning documents with strategic urban plans were introduced in the 1950s and 1960s. Technologies and methodologies were improved in the subsequent years but had to be subordinate to political decisions. The study emphasises the meaning of economic crises to the development of strategic urban planning, linking the creation of either strategic and evidence-based planning methodologies or piecemeal approaches to the general economic situation. It also outlines how information technology was introduced in the planning and construction sector. Case examples are the cities of Stralsund, Halle/Saale and Bernau.
