Klaus studied architecture and urban planning at the Technische Universitaet in Munich (1967) and obtained his doctoral degree in urban planning from the Technische Hochschule in Vienna/Austria (1971). From 1971 to 1974 he was working with consulting engineers, partly in Duesseldorf and in Bangkok/Thailand, before he was appointed to be the founder Director of the Institute of Spatial Planning of the School of Planning at the University of Dortmund (IRPUD), a position which he held until 1994. As a visiting professor Klaus R. Kunzmann has been at the Institut Francais d'Urbanisme of the Universite Paris VIII (1990), at the ORL-Institut of the ETH Zuerich/Switzerland (1992), and at the Graduate School of Architecture and Planning of the University of California, Los Angeles (1993). He has also been a visiting fellow at the Technion/Haifa/Israel (1992) and the Tinbergen Institute/Rotterdam (1995).
His research fields are mainly comparative spatial planning in Europe and spatial restructuring of traditional industrial regions. Over the past five years his research has focused on the role of creativity and cultural industries for endogenous regional development. Over the past 20 years Klaus has been project leader on numerous research and policy projects for various German ministries at the federal and the laender level, for the council of Europe and the European Commission. Other research projects have been supported by research grants from the German Research Society, the Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society and the Agnelli Foundation. Moreover, he has been a frequent consultant to German Technical Assistance projects in developing countries.
Klaus has held many administrative and advisory functions at the University of Dortmund and beyond. Among others he was the founding president of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP, 1987-1990), chairman of the Advisory Council to the Bundesanstalt fuer Landeskunde und Raumforschung (Federal Institute of Regional Research), Bonn (1992-1994) and chairman of the Federal Review Board for reforming the education of spatial planners in Germany (1984-1989). He has published widely (in German, English and Italian) on European spatial planning, urban development, regional restructuring, the role of culture and cultural industries in urban and regional development, and on planning education. Klaus is on the advisory board of several international journals such as 'Habitat', 'Built Environment', 'International Planning Studies' and 'European Planning Studies'. As a frequent advisor to local institutions, especially to the local economic development agency, and his involvement in university policy, Klaus is well linked to stakeholders of the knowledge complex in Dortmund and its hinterland. He has supervised many dissertations on innovation and urban development in the region. At many occasions and conferences abroad he has presented assessments of local and regional efforts of spatial, economic and structural revitalisation.
Selected Publications:
Kunzmann, K. R. (2004) Venice, Venice, and Venice, Three Realities of the European City. In: Koll-Schretzenmayr, M., Keiner, M. and Nussbaumer, G. (eds) The Real and Virtual Worlds of Spatial Planning. Berlin, Springer.
Kunzmann, K. R. (2004) Wissensstädte: Neue Aufgaben für die Stadtpolitik. In: Matthiesen, U. (ed.) Stadtregion und Wissen : Analysen und Plädoyers für eine wissensbasierte Stadtpolitik. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Albrechts, L., Healey, P. and Kunzmann, K. R. (2003) Strategic Spatial Planning and Regional Governance in Europe. Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol.69 , No.2, 113-129.
Kunzmann, K. R. (2003) Governance e pianificazione creativa nelle città-regione d'Europa. In: Instituto Nazionale di Urbanistica (ed.) Citta e regioni metropolitane in Europa: pecularità e convergenze nella pianficazione delle grandi reti urbani, Milano, 16-23.
Knapp, W., Kunzmann, K. R. and Schmitt, P. (2003) RheinRuhr. In: Meijjers, E. J., Romein, A. and Hoppenbrouwer, E. C. (eds.) Planning Polycentric Regions in North West Europe. EURBANET Report No 2. Housing and Urban Policy Studies 25. Delft, 154-195.
Kunzmann, K. R. (2003) Creative Planning in City Regions: The European City between Globalisation, Local Identity and Regional Governance. In: Ministry of the Environment (ed.) European Cities in a Global Era: Urban Identities and Regional Development- Messages and Conclusions- Follow-up Report to the Conference European Cities in a Global Era, Copenhagen 14-15 November 2002, Copenhagen/DK, 44-55.
Kunzmann, K. R. (2002) The Future of the European City: Qingdao, Celebration or Las Vegas? Thomsen, Henning (ed.) The Copenhagen Lectures: Future Cities. Fonden Realnia. Copenhagen, 91-108.
Kunzmann, K. R. (2002) The Ruhr in Germany: A Laboratory for Regional Governance. In: Albrechts, L., Alden, J. and da Rosa Pires, A. (eds.) The Changing Institutional Landscape. Ashgate, Aldershot, 133-158.
Lars worked for ERP from January 1999 to November 2000, during which time he was involved in the EU-project Universities in Regional Development (UNIREG). From December 2000 to May 2003 Lars was employed at the dortmund-project, a public-private-partnership aimed at strengthening the new economy in Dortmund. In June 2003 he returned to ERP to work on the CRITICAL project. Lars holds a PhD (Political Science) and a diploma (Spatial Planning) from the University of Dortmund.
Selected Publications:
Tata, L. (2004) Stadt und Hochschule. Partnerschaft zum gegenseitigen Nutzen. Dortmund.
Tata, L. (1999) Das Ruhrgebiet als "internationale Kompetenzregion": Zur Rolle der Hochschulen und weiterer Akteure. In: Kommunalverband Ruhrgebiet (ed.) Regionalmarketing für das Ruhrgebiet: Internationale Erfahrungen und Bausteine für eine Region mit Zukunft. Essen, 63-92.