{"id":4209,"date":"2019-12-05T15:41:05","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T15:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/?p=4209"},"modified":"2019-12-05T15:41:24","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T15:41:24","slug":"in-berlin-hyper-gentrification-has-proved-just-how-fast-conflict-torn-cities-can-change-jonathan-rock-rokem-writes-for-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/2019\/12\/05\/in-berlin-hyper-gentrification-has-proved-just-how-fast-conflict-torn-cities-can-change-jonathan-rock-rokem-writes-for-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"‘In Berlin, hyper-gentrification has proved just how fast conflict-torn cities can change’ – Dr Jonathan Rock Rokem writes for The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Jonathan Rock Rokem<\/a>, Lecturer in Human Geography, writes that Berlin\u2019s urban transformation continues to foster hope for\u00a0cities still divided by national conflicts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Modern day Kreuzberg is one of Berlin\u2019s most trendy and multicultural neighbourhoods. Its central location, dynamic mix of cafes, shops and nightlife, alongside residential streets and lucrative river views, all fuse to embody a vibrant urban lifestyle. Kreuzberg encapsulates many of the remarkable elements that make Berlin one of the most attractive German cities to live in today, as well as a leading tourist destination and hub for the international cosmopolitan elite.<\/p>\n

Over the past few decades, hundreds of thousands of people have chosen to settle in the reunified heart of the German capital. From 2012 to 2017 alone, the city\u00a0grew by 243,500 people<\/a> \u2013 81% of whom were foreigners. As a result, the previously peripheral and impoverished neighbourhood of Kreuzberg has, for some years, been undergoing an extreme process of hyper-gentrification<\/a>. This has meant that long-term, but less affluent, residents have been priced out<\/a>\u00a0by skyrocketing demand for property, fuelled by global investors and wealthier locals. All too often, it\u2019s a process that occurs along\u00a0lines of class, race and ethnicity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hyper-gentrification comes as a mixed blessing, especially in a city once torn by conflict, such as Berlin. There are positive and negative impacts on local residents. But, amid such complexities, it is still regarded by ousted residents as social cleansing, as a stimulating neighbourhood life is lost<\/a>\u00a0to the predatory practices of the real estate entrepreneurs. Berlin is an extreme example of just how rapidly cities can respond when a new political and economic status quo asserts itself \u2013 and proof that even during peace time, there is a need for urban citizens to unite and\u00a0fight injustice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The divided city<\/h3>\n

The border within Berlin was first imposed by the\u00a0Potsdam Agreement<\/a>\u00a0in August 1945. But it wasn\u2019t until August 1961 that the Soviet Union\u00a0installed the wall<\/a>, over the course of just two weeks \u2013 nominally to prevent ‘facists’ from entering the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), but also to stem the flood of outward migration. Until the border was sealed, some 2.7m East Germans<\/a>\u00a0moved to the west.<\/p>\n

\"Tweet<\/p>\n

Today it\u2019s almost impossible to imagine that, just 30 years ago, Kreuzberg was at the front line of the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. Located on the Western side of the Iron Curtain\u2019s demilitarised border zone, the neighbourhood was a rundown frontier precinct. Sniper fire from the eastern border guards was a daily reality and at night the area would be floodlit to detect defectors from the Eastern bloc.<\/p>\n

Though poorly maintained, the neighbourhood\u2019s cheap housing attracted migrant workers \u2013 predominantly from Turkey \u2013 who\u00a0settled in Kreuzberg<\/a> from the early 1970s and still make up a significant part<\/a>\u00a0of its large and diverse immigrant population. This heritage survives today in the form of some local shops and a\u00a0famous Turkish food market<\/a>\u00a0near the Landwehr Canal.<\/p>\n

Making history<\/h3>\n

The wall stood for 10,316 days, with military fortifications dividing and tightly sealing the streets and public spaces that once formed the city\u2019s civic centre. When citizens started tearing down the Berlin wall on November 9, 1989, it marked the return of the original urban core. People flooded across the defunct border to see the other side of their own city for the first time in more than 28 years.<\/p>\n