Vanessa Ziegler
Vanessa Ziegler graduated with a master’s degree in spatial planning, with a specialization in urban planning, from the Technical University of Dortmund in 2019. During her studies, she spent a semester at the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning at Aix-Marseille University. Since 2019, she has been working at the consulting firm Reicher Haase Assoziierte in Aachen, Germany, where she has led the “Built Heritage and World Heritage” team since 2024. Her responsibilities include research and project management related to built heritage, such as heritage impact assessments, visual studies, and urban analyses of cities and historic districts. In addition, since 2024, Vanessa has been pursuing a Ph.D. titled “The Invisible Limits of Visual Integrity” under the supervision of Claudine Houbart (University of Liège) and Christa Reicher (RWTH Aachen University). While acknowledging that impacts on visual integrity always involve a certain degree of subjectivity, her dissertation aims to make these impacts more open to discussion in order to objectify impact studies. The research includes a clarification of the concept of visual integrity by breaking it down into its constituent elements: the site’s visual attributes or elements; its interpretation and meaning as perceived by various stakeholders; its visibility from the surrounding area; and the (psychological) factors of visual perception. This “framework” will be applied to three case studies in Belgium, Germany, and Austria.
Research interests : Built heritage / World Heritage / Visual integrity / Heritage Impact Assessment / Impact studies / Visual perception / Participation
