Short CV
Felix Wiegand is a political scientist, geographer and urban and housing researcher and has been active at the interface between science, politics and (civic) society for many years.
- Since 2024: Research fellow (PostDoc) at the Institute for Social Research (IfS)
- 2024: PhD at the Department of Geosciences/Geography at Goethe University, Frankfurt (“Kommunale Finanzkrise und lokale Austerität. A historical-geographical framework for analysis”)
- 2019–2024: Scientific advisor for municipal and housing policy for the DIE LINKE parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament, Wiesbaden
- 2012–2018: Research assistant at the Institute for Human Geography at Goethe University Frankfurt
- 2005–2011: Studied political science at the University of Vienna
Research focus
- urban, municipal and housing policy
- local struggles, urban social movements and initiatives „Stadt für Alle“
- municipal financial crises, local austerity and ( fiscal) federalism
- political economy of urban and regional development
- Theories, methods and history of critical geography and urban research as well as the work of David Harvey
Recent projects
As part of the Research Training Group, Felix Wiegand establishes the Housing Lab at the Institute for Social Research (IfS) in Frankfurt, where he examines housing policy conflicts between the polycrisis, authoritarian neoliberalism and the socio-ecological transformation of housing. Using selected areas of conflict in urban and rural areas (such as vacant housing or living in one’s own home), he analyzes how such conflicts are socially negotiated and politically dealt with in Germany, and where there may be progressive and democratic potential in shaping the necessary socio-ecological transformation despite increasingly unfavorable conditions.
Previously, Felix Wiegand worked on theoretical, conceptual and empirical research projects on topics such as the municipal financial crisis and local austerity, urban development, real estate markets and (new) gentrification in Frankfurt am Main. He also studied the history of critical geography and urban research in general and the work of David Harvey in particular.