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

New: Dossier Socio-ecological Transformation and Property

This dossier deals with our current “topic of the semester”: property and socio-ecological transformation.In addition to many other contributions, our first dossier includes an interview with Tilo Wesche about his book "Die Rechte der Natur“ as part of the video series ”DFG bewegt“, as well as a blog post by Helen Bönnighausen, Luzie Gerstenhöfer, Maria Pfeiffer, Marco Sonnberger, and Anne Tittor on ”Energy transition for all? On the complex relationship between energy transition, co-determination, and ownership structures," (in German) which is the result of an SFB workshop on the topic. 

read more

Relaunch New Library of Property

Our New Library of Property is now available on this website. An extensive database provides information on relevant publications on the subject of property, the quarterly sources give an insight into our research projects, and our thematic dossiers present a wide variety of sources on current social debates.

New publication!

Sofia Bianchi Mancini and Maria Dell'Isola have published a special issue of the journal Civiltà e Religioni. The articles collected in this issue on the subject of property and religion examine the concept of ‘divine property’ from the first to the ninth century AD. They show that, in a religious context, property always serves to express ideas about God, community and power. 

Link to the special issue (open access)

New blog post online!

Why have a universal basic inheritance? Coco Lina Aglibut explores this question in his latest blog post. She examines the history of ideas surrounding universal basic inheritance, presents the various positions that all relate positively to the concept, and questions its transformative potential. 

To the blog post

New blog post online!

In her recently published blog post ‘The Beginnings of Mendicant Orders and Property,’ Jana Ilnicka describes the parallel development of the first mendicant orders. They differed mainly in their different views on poverty and non-possession. 

To the blog post

Event announcement

Three SFB events will take place on 10 December: At 2 p.m., Niklas Angebauer and Tilo Wesche will give an introduction to theories of property; at 4 p.m., the sociological sub-projects of the SFB will present their research results; and at 6 p.m., Niklas Angebauer and Tilo Wesche will present their book Umkämpftes Eigentum (Contested Property), published by Suhrkamp, as part of the Social Theory Colloquium.

read more...

Die Verletzliche Gesellschaft – wie geopolitische Spannungen und soziale Ungleichheit unser Zusammenleben beeinflussen

Silke van Dyk will be a guest in Dresden on November 25 in a series of talks on social inequality and global uncertainties. Together with Julia Jirmann from Netzwerk Steuergerechtigkeit e.V., she will discuss the effects of social inequalities, such as the unequal distribution of property, education, career opportunities, and living conditions, on our collective life.

More about this event here
To the News archive...

Events

Jena; Jena

Who Owns the Future? Conflicts over Property in the Climate Crisis

Seven SFB projects working on issues of property and the ecological crisis will present and discuss the results of their research. The event will conclude with a panel discussion with Greenpeace Executive Director Sophie Lampl and IG Metall Executive Board member Hans-Jürgen Urban. Together with members of the SFB, they will explore the possibilities of socio-ecological policies and politics in the current political climate and how questions of property and property relations might be relevant.

read more...
Kino am Markt; Jena

Movie series "Property in view"

On January 20 we will show the movie Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World? (D 1932).

read more...
FU Berlin; Berlin

Reproduction, Life and Property

On January 22, 2026, Institute of Philosophy (lecture hall), Freie Universität Berlin

Eva von Redecker and Penelope Deutscher discuss in the series »Standpunkte. Feministische Philosoph:innen im Gespräch«, moderated by Esther Neuhann.

Organized by Susanne Lettow, Esther Neuhann, and Francesca Raimondi in cooperation with the SFB project „The Dynamics of the Reproductive Economy. Forms of Appropriation in Global Fertility Chains“.

visit page
To the complete schedule of dates...

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