In Memory of Benjamin Davy
- News
From 1999 to 2019, Ben Davy was the chair and professor of Land Policy, Land Management, and
Municipal Surveying at TU Dortmund University. During his tenure, he significantly shaped research
and teaching in the field. In his role as President of the International Academic Association on
Planning, Law, and Property Rights (PLPR) as well as President of the Association of European Schools
of Planning (AESOP), Ben Davy influenced and inspired the academic community through his passion
for academia and thorough research. He was a co-founder of PLPR and the thematic group on
Planning, Law, and Property Rights within AESOP.
His devotion to international academic exchange on theories and philosophy of property, planning,
and land policy is, for example, reflected in statements such as that PLPR felt like a "meeting with
friends" to him, however, friends who shared his love for critical exchange and his search for
questions to be answered. Even after his retirement, he supported and encouraged young academics
to find their own way of taking a critical stance, in particular in the Land Policy Reading Club. Most
recently, he served as a guest professor at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa).
Ben Davy will be remembered as an extraordinary thinker whose international perspective and
comparative approaches to planning, law, and property rights are his lasting legacy. Notably, he
introduced the Theory of Polyrationality into the field of spatial planning and maintained an
unwavering interest in questions of justice in spatial planning. He intended to write a book on the
rights of nature—another example of his courage in challenging conventional ways of thinking.
Ben Davy will be remembered by the international academic community across the globe as
someone who questioned conventional thinking and enriched scientific discourse with unexpected
perspectives. He will also be remembered as someone whose priority it was to support and promote
young academics. Many lose a valued mentor in him.
On a more personal note, Ben was not only my PhD supervisor and my predecessor in Dortmund; he
was also a valued colleague and friend. Losing him leaves a significant void in our lives and work.
We will miss him dearly as a friend and colleague.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Hartmann
Chair of Land Policy and Land Management
Department of Spatial Planning
TU Dortmund University