Johanna Hoerning

Johanna Hoerning is a Professor of Spatial Sociology at the Technical University of Berlin (since May 2023), affiliated with Faculty VI - Planning, Building, Environment. She holds a doctorate from Goethe University Frankfurt and has held academic roles including Acting Professor for Urban and Regional Sociology at HCU Hamburg (2021-2023) and Visiting Professor for Social Inequality at TU Berlin (2014-2019). Her research focuses on urban and spatial theory, postcolonial approaches, housing policy, and social movements.

• Educations:
  • PhD in Sociology, Goethe University Frankfurt (2012)
  • Research Associate (PostDoc), TU Berlin (2014-2019, including parental leave in 2014)
  • Lecturer positions at Goethe University Frankfurt, Darmstadt, and Rhein-Main University of Applied Sciences

Research Interests: Her work explores spatial binaries (e.g., Global North/South), urban-rural dynamics, decolonial methodologies, and the interplay of housing/asylum policies with socio-spatial restructuring. She critiques spatial epistemologies in social sciences and emphasizes material spatiality in theorizing global inequalities.

Publications: She co-edited Considering Space: A Critical Concept for the Social Sciences (Routledge, 2023) and authored 'Megacities' between concept and reality (2016). Her articles critically analyze spatial politics, urban theory, and NGO roles in socio-spatial policy.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Spatial Sociology team at TU Berlin, focusing on interdisciplinary urban studies and global spatial dynamics.