Oliver Frey

Oliver Frey is a Professor of Planning and Society at the Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences (HfWU), affiliated with the Faculty of Environmental Design Therapy (FUGT). He has held significant academic roles, including Head of the Urban Studies Department at the Vienna University of Technology’s Institute of Spatial Planning (2008-2018) and a research assistant there from 2000 to 2018. Frey is currently on a research semester at the Technical University of Berlin, Department of Planning and Architectural Sociology (2023-2024), and serves as a private lecturer at the University of Tübingen’s Institute of Sociology.

• PhD in Planning and Society: "Places. Networks. Milieus." (2008, Vienna University of Technology)
• Habilitation: "Controlling the relationship between built space and social processes" (2018, Vienna University of Technology)
• Visiting Scholar at Columbia University’s Department of Urban Planning (2002-2003)
• Studied Urbanism at Université Paris 8 (1996-1997) and Urban/Regional Planning, Sociology, and Modern History at TU Berlin (1992-2001)

His research focuses on the interplay between built space and social dynamics, urban sociology, and planning theory. As part of his current research semester at TU Berlin, he contributes to the Collaborative Research Center 1265 "Re-Figuration of Spaces." His work bridges architectural sociology and spatial planning.

Freys academic career spans institutions in Berlin, Tübingen, Vienna, and New York, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary teaching and research. He has led departments and conducted external teaching assignments, including "Research Perspectives in Urban and Planning Sociology" at the University of Tübingen (2019).