Masterplan 10-82G
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust – remnants of the pub, as they are wafting over the railway tracks.
I am sorry to keep on talking about local politics. The pub from the last post has now been fully demolished. The little shops, which are adjacent to it are currently also under threat. A threat though of a slightly different sort.
The local district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf currently plans to invigorate a master plan according to which the settlement development of local retail is steered. The steering is however not e.g. via incentives (like to offer cheap retail space) but via strict regulations.
According to this plan any new retail, which offers not just local supply (i.e. food, etc.) is only allowed to settle down in predefined centres.
In our local surroundings there are quite a bit of little shops, which offer socalled “centre-relevant”, i.e. non-local-supply retail, like bikes, glasses, jewelery. The currently exisiting shops have probably a right of continuance, but any new (re-)settlement of this kind will be forbidden – if this master plan is allocated.
Tim and me think that in the long-run this means the end of the little shops in this area. We thus talked to the head of the department for city development here in Marzahn, Mr. Gräff (see also previous post) and wanted to explain the problems we see here. Unfortunately Tims remarks and questions were in the turn of the conversation more or less rebutted by asking him wether he wants to spoil for a fight. (We got to hear more, but those who know Tim and his natural gentleness will already find this rebuttal astonishing.) So our explanations and questions seemed to have been unsuccessful here. However last month the master plan was also opened online for public comments and Tim and me wrote a comment to it, which you might read here (in german).
Last but not least -similar to the death of the pub- the dying of little shops means in particular that public communication locations are diminished. Reminding of this fact was my main motivation for writing this post. Bringing the role of (academic) city planning to attention in this context was another motivation.
April 12th, 2016 at 7:05 pm
Interesting story. You wrote:
Was Mr. Gräff insulting you?
April 19th, 2016 at 8:01 am
law consultant wrote:
Currently the loss of the pub building appears to me as a way worse damage than any verbal insult of Mr. Gräff could possibly be.
July 6th, 2016 at 7:49 am
I don’t understand whats so cool about those old remnants.
Just accept that a lot of people want a new modern image for the district.
July 8th, 2016 at 8:54 am
Big question: who exactly wants a “new modern image for the district”? And what is the role of image campaigns, like these? I think the fact that some industries went to Marzahn-Hellersorf have been mostly due to its -in comparision to the rest of Berlin- more or less affordable real estate prices- and not to a what is imagined to be a “modern image” as displayed for example in the stock-photo-stereotypes on the website of the socalled cleantech business park. I currently more or less work in the sector of what is imagined there as “clean tech.” The company I work for is located in the centre of Berlin because (apart from the digital infrastructure, which is a problem there) there is a rather well working infrastructure, like copy shops, restaurants, stationaries, etc. Would my colleagues move out to this business park? If rents are going up in the center maybe – but not really voluntarily and definitely not because of the “image” of that shrub spot that is costly presented to them.
The image campaign in the above link to the article “Imagekampagne des Bezirks: Marzahn-Hellersdorf erobert das Zentrum ” (“Image campaign of the district Marzahn- Hellersdorf: Marzahn- Hellersdorf conquers the centre”) had cost at least 500000 Euros – a sum which was not available for saving the restaurant which was the last authentic historical witness of non-church social life in this area. In the article it’s written „Touristen suchen authentische Orte.“ Tourists are looking for authentic places”. This sounds like a really creepy cynism in my ears. It is incomprehensible to me that politics still seems to have not understood what had been destroyed here.
July 10th, 2016 at 12:40 pm
I think you are quite overestimating the importance of that type of “infrastructure” you are describing here. Isn’t it way more important that you have a professional infrastructure?
I mean this is not just a “shrub spot”. There is already a clean tech innovation center there, which offers coworking space and on their website it is written that they help you with setting up a strong network of partners:
Here a list of mentors and here a list of partners. They offer even an exchange program with NYU’s New York City Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy.
July 12th, 2016 at 9:17 am
this is great!!!!!
didnt know that they have a clean tech innovation center in Brooklyn!
Jee – just an instant ago I was checking out Yelp get some tips about what to do with
bugs in Brooklyn. See http://www.yelp.com/topic/brooklyn-mice-and-roaches-in-ny-are-they-really-as-common-as-everyone-says-they-are haven’t sofar found help with cockroaches on Acre website.
Did I miss a link? please let me know sounds cool
July 22nd, 2016 at 1:40 pm
nad wrote:
I guess you oversee here some crucial points.
A good “image” is incredibly important!
Like who at all is willing to listen or look at matters without a
beautiful presentation?
August 2nd, 2016 at 2:34 pm
Aren’t you a bit too spoiled? I mean there are people happily moving to even more remote locations for being part of the clean tech revolution.
September 15th, 2020 at 10:12 pm
With all due respect for german culture I have to say that I am a bit shocked about this rather restrictive approach to city planning. I live in a small town so I am indeed sometimes astonished about urban life style changes – but finally citizens usually choose what they need.