Phillipp Oswalt analyzes the four areas - Halle/Leipzig, Detroit, Ivanova, Manchester/Liverpool - involved in the German Federal Cultural Foundations research and exhibition project Shrinking Ciities of which he is chief curator. Oswalt studied architecture at the Technical University and the University of Fine Arts in Berlin. From 1988 to 1994 he was editor of the architectural journal Arch+ and from 1996 to 1997 he worked for OMA in Rotterdam. Since 1998 he has been in practice and teaching in Berlin. He has published widely on contemporary architecture.