Theater buildings are, and always have been, a characteristic feature of the European city. It is they, above all else, which provide impulses for the regeneration of the city centres and the redevelopment whole urban areas; they are indispensible identification points of urban communities. In that sense, good theater architecture is also shaping the future of our cities. Apart from demonstrating great competency in planning and building well-functioning cultural spaces through their designs and inventions around theater architecture, pfp architekten from Hamburg also show great sensitivity to urban space. Numerous photos and plans make their designs tangible to the last detail; essays by Dirk Baecker and Martina Löw extend this architectural perspective into the sociological significance of theater and theater buildings. Their main users — theater managers — also have a say, reporting on their experiences of “their” new theaters. This book proves: theater is future — an insight that is perhaps more important than ever today, considering pan-European cuts in culture budgets.