10.00 am - 4.00 pm
De-/Reindustrialization Processes in the City of Berlin (Albert and Ingo)
The starting point of this field trip is the process of de-industrialization and it’s expression in the cityscape of Berlin. In academic debate this process is traced back to the "crisis of fordism" and initial problems of postfordist accumulation, but it does not sufficiently explain the de-industrialization of Berlin. Crucial for the understanding the transformation of Berlin is the general political condition. Both parts of the formerly divided city had to deal with rapid transformation processes especially after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 because of the end of the special role of both, West-Berlin (subsidized outsourcing) and the "Capital of the GDR" - here especially the sell-out of the state-owned industry by the Treuhand (semi-official institution managing the privatization of GDR state property).
There are, however, several redevelopment attempts mainly to re-industrialize the abandoned former industrial areas. The urban imagination of the local government was to develop Berlin into a hub for the east-west trade, an international service node and even a "global city". These ideas failed to be realized at least in the 1990s. Also, the recent replacement of great coalition local government by a post-communist and social-democratic alliance has altered economic policy only a little.
Despite the failure of ambitious concepts, on a lower level, there are some vantage points for reconstructing the city’s economy, especially in the cultural economy but also in other industrial sectors.
Another process is also important for the urban development in the 1990s. The abandoned industrial sites were re-used by activists, mostly members of the cultural underground. On the one hand Berlin’s semi-legal club culture was a pioneer for re-industrialization by the cultural economy - for example, the development project "Media-Spree" were Universal and MTV are situated was an area with many subcultural clubs in the 1990s. But on the other hand this kind of culture projects are part of the resistance against a neoliberal city concept like the "fuck-parade" from the Berlin hardcore-techno scene. This parade sees itself as a demonstration against the sell-out of techno by the "Love Parade" and the repression against Berlin’s underground.
"Oberbaum-City" and "Media-Spree", the industrial area between Spree and the railway area in the district Friedrichshain will be shown as an example for de- and re-industrialization. Until the end of the GDR, the light bulb factory NARWA and GDR´s Reichsbahn (railway company) were located here among others. Redevelopment for this area works only selectively: Today, there are firms of the crisis-ridden „new economy" (the IT-company Pixelpark, call centers, fashion- and design-companies) and the cultural economy (Universal Music, MTV) but also alternative cultural projects like RAW-Tempel and techno clubs in this area. Lately a huge development project with an entertainment hall for around 15.000 people is being build, completing the destruction of the subculture situated there.
The main questions of this field trip will be:
How does urban restructuring change this area spatially?
What are the outcomes for the social structure in this area?
Why is the global cultural industry situated at the same place as subculture?
How do economic and cultural processes affect gender relations?
To answer these questions it is planned - beside a trip in this area - to contact members of the GDR-opposition, trade unionists, members of subcultural projects, call-center-agents and city planners.