The "Virtual Beauty" project, which Dr. Hosang brought to our university, combines the vision of a city of the future with beauty as the core of a good life. In this article, you can find out more about the project and what part the students played.
Author: Salimato Timm
The idea is to develop a real-life laboratory for a city of the future in Weißwasser, which is around 50 km from Görlitz. In other words: a test room in which this innovative idea can be tried out under real conditions.
The city was chosen because of its location. As part of the structural change in Lausitz, Weißwasser is in the process of developing into a model city of the future. But also because there is enough space and support from the city. A specific location in the city has not yet been named. However, there are already initial ideas as to where the project could take place in the future. For example, in a former cultural center that is looking for a new purpose, to develop a new city center or to develop the historic glass museum into a museum for glass and beauty. This would be particularly appropriate as the city was once one of the centers of the global glass industry.
The project was initiated by a group of different activists. These include politicians, entrepreneurs and scientists. Funding and further planning ultimately depend on the exact location.
First of all, the question arose: What does a city of the future need? It was quickly concluded that not only sustainable food, energy and transport are needed, but also a new kind of culture. This led to the conclusion that the category of beauty would make a good core for this research. According to Dr. Hosang, "something is beautiful when some concrete event, a person, a product, a picture, a car or a garden, when it does not stand on its own, but expresses the whole universe." It would also be unique in the world to see and develop beauty as the core of a good life. For this reason, it was decided to make it the focus of the project.
