Big in Berlin

Goodbye Tacheles, Liebig 14 and Scharni 29! The lists of the squats and alternative cultural places in Berlin which are closing is getting longer every day. Economical pressure is changing the face of the city. New trendy caffees and shops open, old and decayed appartments are done up, a new select population is moving in. The previous inhabitants get slowly pushed to the outskirts of the city due to the rising of prices: the so intensively discussed process of gentrification. Is Berlin's alternative life dying and the city turning into a place for the rich? Our team members reported on their own experience and observations to put together a multilingual snapshot of the matter.

Clemens Franke was on the ground to witness the atmosphere just before the eviction of the squat Liebig 14 (DE), as the supporters were getting ready to resist against the police, “a mix of strong organisation and demonstration folklore”. Christiane Lötsch took a look around her neighbourhood, Neukölln, where groups organise themselves to protest against the rise of rents (DE). On a flyer : “We don't want that our neighbourhood gets unaffordable!”. Months before she had left Kreuzberg (EN), where prises rose and are still rising: Escape!

And it's no new evolution. One year ago, Sébastien Vannier already expressed the hypothesis (FR) of a Berlin intramuros, inside of the ring road, which would be the expensive part of the city, far from distant banlieues. Something which still doesn't exist in Berlin, where some of the poorest parts of the city are in the city center. Stefano Lippiello captured in a photo reportage (DE) the already visible esthetical aspects of the change. Bye bye graffiti, hello clean and tidy owner-occupied flat ! His judgment is clear, Berlin is a victim of its own appeal.

It's a complex relationship between the city and the expectations of its inhabitants which leads to the emerging conflict, analyses Sandro Cândido Marques (PT). Different points of view and projections on the development of a neighbourhood appear between different population groups with diverging wealth. A complex phenomenom implying dynamics of community, identity and memory of inhabitants of a certain territory.

Maybe Sandra Wickerts prosaic description helps at best to grasp the change, with its positive and negative sides: ”When I moved to Berlin-Friedrichshain 12 years ago, I was woken in the morning by my alcoholic-neighbours, shouting at each other swearwords. Nowadays, I still live in Friedrichshain, but I am woken up in the morning by the children's playground which is now opposite my house. Gentrification for me? Higher rents (I pay nearly twice as much as in 1999), less creative and low-budget nightlife (I miss the tiny, temporary bars from and for locals and hate the touristy moneymaking bars), but also less (visible) decay and dirt.”

Berlin is the actual artistically booming city. And even if alternative culture seems very present on the first sight, it is fragile and is slowly disappearing due to economical pressure, which also harms the less wealthy. The end of an era? Some are already looking for the new Eldorado, further east.

Pictures : April 2011, Renovating Ostkreuz, Sergio Marx

by Elena Pinto

I remember my first sight of the river, all frozen. Since I come from quite a warm region, I must admit this was rather an exotic image, although its charm diminished as a never-ending winter lasted.

 
Now that I belong to the south side, I do not know what kind of gravity force holds me here on this side. It is not about laziness, what force keeps a Kreuzberger hanging around his local bars and showing his scepticism when crossing the Spree? With no doubt, the character of the city equals to that of Berliners, alongside the river one can find the matching place to one’s personality.

No other European city offers this view and this is rather a luxury belonging to all. But as it is always the case, no romanticism will last forever. What is the new urban planning about? We have the right to be consulted and so they did in 2008, but business sector and government hand in hand are allowed to close their eyes to this opinion.

Squatters, public leisure and cultural constructions are not profitable, and space is more than ever in this financial crisis time, precious. The recently approved project, Media Spree, is already being implemented in the name of capitalism and for the profit of gentrification.

Forthcoming neighbours are to be businessmen/women and tourists, coming in and out from cold offices and hotels, an unavoidably sad future for the Spree. Critics and demonstrations are still on course, we as Berliners, do not want our river to be sold, but hoping from politicians and business a change of mind is a very naïf bet.

Now I have to go, I can not wait to see it again; let’s enjoy our river as long as we can!

Pictures (c) Christiane Lötsch

By Emily Corfe

Anyone familiar with Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district will be well acclimatised to the sight of prams, buggies, babies, toddlers, kids... You name it, anything child related, Prenzlauer Berg will have it. It does after all, boast one of the highest birthrates in Germany. So if you're young and single, or not so young and child free, your choices are really either to like it or lump it. You're going to trip over parked prams when reaching for the light in your block's hallway, you will have to dodge the buggies on your way to the supermarket with the skill of an Olympic athlete, and you will also most likely have to put up with the sound of screaming kids while enjoying ein milchkaffee in your favourite café

Berlin has been described as both Europe's king of café culture and king of kiddie culture – to a humorous degree. Germans think that cycling along pulling a cart filled with 10 toddlers is a very normal thing to do. Any of the tourists taking pictures of this amusing sight might beg to differ.

Take a walk around Berlin at any time of day and the multiple cafés on any one street are likely to be packed with people watching the world go by, taking a quiet moment to read a book, catching up on the latest news, working on their laptops or simply meeting up with friends. Hey, I'm in a café right now... well I suppose I had to say that to make my point... but yes I really am right this moment sitting in a café.

For the record I don't mind the sight and sound of kids as I sip on my latte – in fact I find them a rather entertaining distraction. But for anyone who likes to drink their coffee minus the noise of children, their wishes have now come true in the form of Prenzlauer Berg's first ever child-free café – and people are loving it!

"My regulars were not finding it peaceful," Christine Wick, owner of Café Niesen, told German tabloid B.Z.

"Recently there were more and more parents with children, which is why we rented a premises to serve as a special, separate area for adults only.”

And judging by comments on Facebook, the café's child-free zone looks likely to be a hit. One Berlin based friend of mine wrote on his wall: “Trying to find a place to work... all the cafés are overrun with screaming babies.”

The replies to his comment said it all: “Go to that café with the child-free zone,” said one.

“Oooh where is that?” said another friend eager for a baby-free cup of coffee.

But why this story has become such a talking point – even working its way into newspapers around the world - is anyone's guess.

ABC news make it a political issue, quoting on their website Social Democrat Stefanie Winde, who sits in the Berlin state parliament.

The new child-free zone is "not acceptable," she is quoted as saying. "We are a society that is having fewer children. We need to be more tolerant."