"Who owns the land?" is a central question because space is a resource as vital as air and water. Today, however, data ownership has become just as relevant as the question of land ownership in the context of urban planning. Technology companies are entering the field of architecture with algorithm-driven planning methods and massive investments in infrastructures and smart cities. In their technocratic vision, citizens become users, architecture becomes an instrument of statistics, and concepts such as the city and society become mere "algorithmic assemblages." This issue, co-edited by ARCH+, Arno Brandlhuber, and Olaf Grawert of station+/ETH Zurich, discusses the politics of space and data; the real and virtual assets of the city of the future.

In 2019 it will be the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus. Prompted by this occasion, with "project bauhaus" ARCH+ has undertaken a critical appraisal of the Bauhaus ideas: working for several years, an international group of experts from a wide range of disciplines has investigated the socio-political relevance and emancipatory potential of the Bauhaus – historically, for today, and for the future. How can design still become effective as a political project? What are the possibilities and problems encountered by universal design in the age of globalization? Can the emancipatory potential of technology still be activated in a digitalized world? The answers to these questions are published here for the first time for an international readership.