A short note from Bertram Niessen summarizing recent struggles in Berlin:
“Berlin witnessed a huge mobilization against the urban renewal plans for the Spree river in the last years, Media Spree Versenken (take a look also at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediaspree#Protests).
Basically, the city council approved a plan for the transformation of parts of the Spree in an area designed for media and creative industries (consider that Berlin is already plenty of such kind of spaces, and there are no real needs for this conversion), erasing public areas on the banks, parks, squats and underground clubs.
There is a more moderate group, AG Spreeufer and another one with a more ‘autonomist’ approach, Spreepiraten_Innen.
The protest focused on the idea of river banks as public spaces and commons, and many scholars in urban design, architecture and sociology were involved.
The protest rose in 2008 but I think that, especially in the areas of Friedrichshain and Kreutzberg, this is still a crucial topic.”
Here in North America, most of our public spaces have been replaced by shopping malls. The crowds in a mall create the illusion that you are in a public space. But try preaching or protesting in a mall and you’ll quickly be reminded that you’re in a privately owned, commercial environment that only resembles a public space or commons in the most superficial ways.
Citizenship in the 21st century is not just made up of pixels and bits: Our new civic infrastructure weaves the physical and the electronic into a single tapestry. The fight to maintain public spaces that empower us remains a vital part of our struggle to protect the shape of our networked culture. Keep up the fight Berlin.
/mark
When I lived in Berlin the daily wander along the River bank on my way to work in Kreutzberg was one of the main reasons I did not use the subway system. I was able to remain close to something more natural.
A new media space?? Is Berlin infected with Clear Channel boxes too? I am sure they will soon spread cancerlike with this new media space.