Nonsolution. Disputed Closures in the Politics of Architecture

Saturday, 17 October 2026, 3pm, Matek Moduel, Linnahall

Book presentation and launch of the English version of
By Gabu Heindl, Drehli Robnik

Problems require solutions. But what is defined as a problem, and how are answers and solutions found? In view of the climate catastrophe, the unjust distribution of wealth, and the demand for liveable housing and urban spaces for all, purely technical solutions are often promoted, while existing power relations are ignored.

In contrast, we propose nonsolution as a politicised approach to the problem of finding solutions. We adopt the term nonsolution, and the conceptual outlook it represents, from the writings of sociologist, historian, and urban theorist Siegfried Kracauer in order to open up spaces for critical thinking along the lines of radical democracy: solutions are not avoided; rather, an active nonsolution is pursued. The “non” signifies the rejection of closed identities, the affirmation of conflict and opposition, and the integration of architecture into political alliances.

With regard to housing and urban development under the pressure of capitalisation and exclusion, we combine planning practice with political theory to develop a critique of architectural practice.

About the Authors

Gabu Heindl is professor and chair of the Department Building Economy and Project Development | ARCHITECTURE CITIES ECONOMIES at the University of Kassel. She has taught at the AA in London, the University of Sheffield, and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where she received her PhD, and completed postgraduate studies at Princeton University. As an architect and planner, she runs GABU Heindl Architektur in Vienna, focusing on public space, common-ownership housing, and collaborations across history, politics, and critical artistic practice. Her recent publications include Stadtkonflikte. Radikale Demokratie in Architektur und Stadtplanung (2020), her PhD thesis on democratic agency in urban conflicts; the research report Gerechte Stadt muss sein! (2022) on justice as a planning parameter; and (with Drehli Robnik) Nonsolution: Zur Politik der aktiven Nichtlösung im Planen und Bauen (2024).

Drehli Robnik is a critic and free-lance theorist who works on matters of politics, film and history; he is also an edutainer and disk-jockey (Sonntag’sdisco, Vienna). He holds a PhD from Amsterdam University (2007) and has co-edited books on David Cronenberg, Siegfried Kracauer, X-Men, and male violence in domestic thrillers. He has written monographs on anti-nazi-resistance, on Jacques Rancière, on Kontrollhorrorkino, on power logics in pandemic-themed movies, on popular cinema and politics. His most recent monographs include: Flexibler Faschismus on Kracauer’s analyses of right-wing mobilisation then and now (2024); and (with Gabu Heindl) Nonsolution: Zur Politik der aktiven Nichtlösung im Planen und Bauen (2024). He is currently completing a book on penultimate truths in politics.