Short biography:
BIO
Christopher Dell (Prof. Dr. phil. habil.) works as a theoretician in urban design and architecture, as composer, as musician and as artist in Berlin, Bergen and Copenhagen. He is the head of ifit, Institute for Improvisation Technology, Berlin. Dell held professorships in Urban Design Theory at the HafenCity Universität Hamburg (where he contributed to the conceptualizing and establishing of the newly founded Master's programme Urban Design) and the Technical University Munich. In addition he held the chair for Urban Design and Urban Renewal at the University of Fine Arts, Berlin. In the international context his Urban Design teachings also include a.o. the Architectural Association London, the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, the Fine Arts Academy Arnhem, the HSL Luzern and the ETH Zurich.
Holding a PhD in Organization Psychology and a habilitation in Cultural Science, Dell has published numerous books and articles, mainly on the subject of urban studies. Since 2017, Dell has been a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2020 he joined integral designers network, Paris as associated member. In the framework of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021, Dell collaborated with Christophe Hutin Architects on the French pavilion. He took up a fellowship abroad at the Studio for Architecture of the Federal Republic of Germany at the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris in 2022. Together with Sally Below, he curated the performative installation and exhibition project "Piazza Spinelli" as a contribution to the International Building Exhibition Heidelberg 2022.
In addition to numerous essays and book contributions, Dell has published an extensive body of monographs: “Prinzip Improvisation“, Köln 2002, „Improvisations on Urbanity“ Rotterdam 2009 (with Ton Matton), „Tacit Urbanism“, Rotterdam 2009, „Replaycity“, Berlin 2011, „Die improvisierende Organisation“, Bielefeld 2012, „Ware:Wohnen!“, Berlin 2013, „Das Urbane“, Berlin 2014, „Epistemologie der Stadt“ Bielefeld 2016, „Stadt als offene Partitur“ Zürich 2016, „Improvisaton und Organisation“ (with Wolfgang Stark) Bielefeld 2017, „The Improvisation of Space“ Berlin 2019, "Das Arbeitende Konzert/ The Working Concert" Leipzig 2020, “Tom paints the Fence, Re-Negotiating Urban Design“ (with Bernd Kniess and Dominique Peck), Leipzig 2022, „Dialogue Concerts. Conceptual Research on Architecture and Music“, Leipzig 2022, “Raum und Handlung”, Bielefeld 2023, “Piazza Spinelli. Übungsraum für die Stadt” (with Sally Below), Berlin 2024, “Raumpolitik”, Bielefeld 2025, „Erweitertes Raumdenken I: Michel Foucault“ Bielefeld 2026 (upcoming)