The SFB short film:

About property in transition and the work of the SFB.

This film is the work of Catharina Göldner and Katharina Hamann.

The members of the Collaborative Research Centre in summer 2023

Image: Marlen van den Ecker

Welcome to the website of the Collaborative Research Centre TRR 294 "Structural Change of Property"!

The Collaborative Research Centre pursues the goal of investigating the fundamental structural change of property that could be observed at the latest since 1989. The Collaborative Research Centre contains a total of 23 subprojects at eight locations in Germany: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (Sprecher*innenhochschule), Universität Erfurt, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, Leibniz-Institute for Research on Society and Space, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Technische Universität Darmstadt.

While private property has gained in importance worldwide since 1989 under conditions of increasing concentration and deregulation, the resulting property system has proved to be both crisis-prone and highly controversial in the face of new economic, political and technological challenges. It isn't challenged only by the global financial and economic crises, but also by political conflicts over the appropriation, distribution and containment of private property, as well as by the dynamics of the knowledge and bio-economies, which are linked to alternative concepts of common property, shared use and free access to resources.

News

Annual Conference "Problematic Objects of Property": Registration now open

From November 4-6, our annual conference will take place in Jena. Everyone is welcome. Admission is free.

See here for the program and registration

New blog post online!

In her blog post "Who Owns Charleston? Tracing Property through an African American Family’s Memory", which has just been published, Lara Rössig traces the memories and history of an African American family in Charleston. It becomes clear that the significance of property is reflected not only in legal titles, but above all in the stories interwoven with them. 

To the blog post

Event information

Who profits, who labours, and who is rendered dispensable in the global bioeconomy of reproduction? Under the title “Reproductive (In)Justice in an Unequal World”, Irina Herb is hosting a series of webinars organised by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which explores these issues. The next webinars will take place online on 15 and 29 September 2026, at 3 pm on both days. 

Registration and more information here

New blog post online!

Against the backdrop of the current debate on pension reform, Silke van Dyk, in her new blog post ‘Pensions as Social Property? On the insurance company, the propertyless and expropriation in the social security system’, approaches the topic from a perspective that is often overlooked: that of the social rights of contributors. In doing so, she analyses the role that questions of ownership play here and discusses the extent to which political interventions in pension entitlements can be understood as an expropriation of the insured.

To the blog post

Irina Herb appears on Phoenix and Jacobin

Surrogacy is once again at the centre of the political debate in Germany. Appearing as a guest on Phoenix and in Jacobin magazine, Irina Herb explains why surrogacy is linked to wealth inequality and unequal access to parenthood.

New podcast episode online!

The latest episode of our podcast, appropriate, focuses on the anthology „Umkämpfte Transformation: Konflikte um den digitalen und ökologischen Wandel“, published in 2025. Steffen Liebig, one of the editors, discusses the findings of sociological research on transformation conflicts in industry. He explains the Jena approach to “bottom-up” transformation research while also offering fascinating insights into the development of the DHL Group.

visit page
To the News archive...

Events

Forschungsbau; Erfurt

Book-Launch "Identitätsbildender Konsum und sozialökologische Transformation"

What is the tension between identity-forming consumption and socio-ecological transformation? Drawing on specific consumption practices and their social contexts, the contributors analyze how items such as drinking water, meat, plastic, and houseplants shape individual and collective identities while simultaneously generating ecological consequences and conflicts. To mark the book’s launch, we are hosting a panel discussion with the editors of the series Ökologische Ideengeschichte, Marco Sonnberger (University of Stuttgart) and Dirk Schuck (University of Erfurt). "Identitätsbildender Konsum und sozialökologische Transformation" will be published on October 27 and is available via open access. 

Forschungsbau; Erfurt

Umweltreflexivität in den Politik- und Geschichtswissenschaften

On October 22, a full-day workshop for authors on the topic of "Environmental Reflexivity in Political Science and History" will take place in Erfurt. There will be two keynote speeches open to the public by Frédéric Graber (CNRS Paris) and Andra-Iona Horcea-Milcu (University of Kassel). 

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Rosensäle; Jena

International Annual Conference "Problematic Objects of Property – Form, Materiality, Politics"

At the conference in Jena, we will discuss tensions that arise in the formatting of property objects, result from their specificity and are at stake in political disputes.

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Haus Dacheröden; Erfurt

Experiences of Transformation – German-German Memories of the 1990s in Film and Literature: “Verriegelte Zeit”

The year 1989 transformed life in East and West Germany. The fall of the Berlin Wall, German reunification, and the transformations following 1990 are associated with very different experiences and, accordingly, a diverse range of memories among Germans from both parts of the country. Looking back today, the fundamental upheaval of the political system, the end of the familiar social fabric, and the institutional property order of East Germany are imagined in very different ways. In this joint film series organized by the Collaborative Research Center “Structural Change in Property” and the Cluster of Excellence “Imaginamics,” we would like to examine the major and minor consequences of 1989. The series opens with the film "Verriegelte Zeit" (1990) by Sibylle Schönemann. The director will be present that evening for a discussion with the audience.

To the complete schedule of dates...

An overview of the most important events of the Collaborative Research Center is available here.