Carola Hein

Carola Hein (born 1964) is a German urbanologist. A 2007 Guggenheim Fellow, she has written and edited numerous books on urban studies, including Rebuilding Urban Japan after 1945 and Cities, Autonomy, and Decentralization in Japan (2006). She is Professor of History of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Delft University of Technology Department of Architecture. She studied architecture and urban planning at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg with a concentration on history and theory, obtaining a Diplom-Ingenieurin in 1990 and Doktoringenieurin in 1995.

During the late-1990s, Hein worked as a visiting lecturer in Japan, particularly at Kogakuin University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo University of Science, and Tsukuba University. She studied the geography of oil during her time in Bryn Mawr and TU Delft.

Another field of interest of Hein is the relationship between a port and its adjacent city, inspired by her experiences of living in one. She co-chaired the expert panel of the Association of Port Cities' Antoine Rufenacht Prize. In 2022, she was appointed UNESCO chair of water, ports and historic cities. Works Hauptstadt Berlin, internationaler städtebaulicher Ideenwettbewerb 1957/58 (1991) European Brussels: Whose Capital? Whose City? Bruxelles l'Européenne. Capitale de qui? Ville de qui? (2006) (ed. with ) Cities, Autonomy, and Decentralization in Japan (2006) The Capital of Europe: Architecture and Urban Planning for the European Union (2004) (ed. with Pierre Laconte) Brussels: Perspectives on a European Capital (2006)