The research group is being funded by the DFG since 2022 and is a cooperation between the University of Münster, the University of Cologne and the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. On the one hand, it focuses on the localisation of xenocratic rule, its modes of operation, modes of mediation and forms of symbolic representation on site. On the other hand, it sheds light on the administration, its representatives and administrative practices.

In order to focus on urban development in a comparative way, the HiSMAComp project, which has been funded by the DFG and NCN since 2022, relies primarily on survey maps from the 19th century. The development and spatial structures of six Polish and German cities are being reconstructed and compared on the basis of typological criteria. The influence of certain functions on the shape of the individual cities and the development paths that characterise the city types form the first objective of the project.