In 2025, the project The New Frankfurt will celebrate its centenary. From 10 May, a wide range of exhibitions and events will invite the public to reflect on how society has been shaped – in the past, present and future.
A City Rethinks Itself
Since 1925, the city of Frankfurt has been transformed into a laboratory for far-reaching social and design innovations, as part of the ‘New Frankfurt‘ initiative led by Lord Mayor Ludwig Landmann. This interdisciplinary project brought together architecture, design, art and communication with the aim of permeating all aspects of life and shaping a new urban society in line with industrial developments. At the heart of the project was the belief that design and social engagement must be seen as inseparable: solution-oriented, based on real needs and free from dogmatic principles.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of ‘The New Frankfurt’. Numerous museums and cultural institutions across the city are celebrating the occasion with exhibitions, events and a diverse supporting programme, allowing visitors to re-experience the ideas, impact and continuing relevance of this visionary project.
Between Remembrance and New Beginnings
The Museum Angewandte Kunst main exhibition ‘What was the New Frankfurt?’, which opens on 10 May, explores the core themes of the movement’s founding ideas, key figures and social significance – then and now. Also opening on 10 May is the exhibition ‘Yes, We Care’, which focuses on the concept of the public good as a guiding principle of urban design and draws parallels with today’s care crisis.
With ‘Jazz Club Frankfurt 2025’, opening on 25 September, the museum turns its attention to jazz as a resonant expression of modernity and a vibrant element of urban identity. From 10 October, the exhibition ‘Departure into the Modern City’ draws international comparisons with Vienna and Hamburg to explore the different outcomes of urban reform movements in the 1920s – and what lessons can still be learned today.
From 20 May, the Jüdische Museum will also highlight the role of Jewish figures in the process of modernisation. Names such as Landmann, Asch and Flesch stand for a cosmopolitan, open-minded urban society, the values of which must be re-examined today. From 18 June 2025 to 1 February 2026, the Historisches Museum’s City Lab will focus on the ‘housing question’, linking past and present through three exemplary housing estates. Meanwhile, from 28 June to 2 November, the Deutsches Architekturmuseum will be exploring how the principles of the past can inspire contemporary neighbourhoods in an exhibition entitled ‘Building the City Today’.
But the centenary is not confined to museum spaces: ‘lantern festivals’ in the historic housing estates will revive the social spirit of the 1930s; the ‘Mayhaus’ will become an experimental space for future-oriented living with a temporarily redesigned model house; and digital formats such as the Frankfurt History App will invite users to embark on an architectural voyage of discovery.
This anniversary is more than a retrospective – it marks a new beginning: As World Design Capital 2026, the Rhine-Main region will once again become a beacon of visionary design. ‘Design for Democracy – Atmospheres for a Better Life’ takes up the legacy of The New Frankfurt and carries its mission into the 21st century.
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