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Laissez-Faire or Sensitive Policymaking: The Legacy of Creative Clusters on Brownfield Sites in Berlin

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  • Uwe Altrock

    (Department of Urban Regeneration and Planning Theory, University of Kassel, Germany)

Abstract

With his saying “Berlin—poor, but sexy!,” former Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit framed the motto for a decade of transition in which the German capital became a Mecca for artists, media industries, and creative people from all over the world. Building on a longstanding tradition of tolerating diversity and as a centre of high culture and bohemians, the city developed a new cultural-political identity from a deep transformation crisis after German unification and the extensive loss of its industrial base. In conjunction with a blossoming of temporary uses in a wide variety of vacant properties, often abandoned production, infrastructure, or storage areas, an intense creative scene unfolded. Since the 2010s, this scene has been massively threatened by displacement due to the changed real estate market situation. Over the years, the city has tried to counteract this situation through cultural policy initiatives and niche projects for bottom-up initiatives, with limited success. Against the backdrop of accelerated development of former brownfield sites and funding cuts in urban cultural policy, the question currently arises as to what place subculture can occupy in urban policy in the future. Based on official documents, books, scholarly articles, project websites, newspaper articles, and own observations, this article attempts to evaluate the respective policies in the city over time, to place them in the context of approaches to a more land-security-oriented policy, and to make clear what role the re-used spaces and buildings from the industrial age play in this.

Suggested Citation

  • Uwe Altrock, 2024. "Laissez-Faire or Sensitive Policymaking: The Legacy of Creative Clusters on Brownfield Sites in Berlin," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9.
  • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v9:y:2024:a:8236
    DOI: 10.17645/up.8236
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bastian Lange, 2011. "Professionalization in space: Social-spatial strategies of culturepreneurs in Berlin," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3-4), pages 259-279, April.
    2. Jamie Peck, 2005. "Struggling with the Creative Class," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 740-770, December.
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