The Centre of Development Studies at Freie Universitaet Berlin carried out a student project in Varanasi from July 11th to August 1st, 2012. Under the theme of "Economy, Space and Social Representation in Varanasi" a group of students enrolled in the Master Course "Geographical Development Research" at Freie Universitaet Berlin carried out independent research in cooperation with Indian students supervised by Prof. Dr. Hermann Kreutzmann, Dr. Stefan Schütte from Freie Universitaet Berlin, and by Prof. Rana PB Singh from the Geography Department at Banaras Hindu University. Different student research teams worked on the economies of devotion in Varanasi, on itinerant economies, aspects of the built environment and utilisation of space and interpret social spaces of marginalised groups. The supervised teaching and research project shall provide students with the opportunity for intercultural dialogue and support them in gathering experience in empirical fieldwork in a complex setting. In addition we expect an exchange between Berlin and Varanasi students-