1 km² Berlin – Spielfeld Stadt

As part of the festival by HAU – Hebbel am Ufer “Berlin beibt!”

The IBA Berlin ’84 -’87 wrote European urban history with the guiding principles of “careful urban renewal” and the “critical reconstruction” of the city. At that time still as experiments, the instruments and solutions developed in this framework – citizen participation, ecological building, new forms of living or the conversion of buildings – belong today to the standards of modern urban development. After more than 30 years, it is still the same topics that stir the environment around the area of Südliche Friedrichstadt”: “The city center as a place of residence”. Hardly any part of the city is so diverse: In an environment of 1 km² around the old post office one encounters tourist meccas, historically occupied houses, new buildings with a new investor face, abandoned houses, societies threatened with displacement and much more. As part of a commission from the HAU, we led two city tours accompanied by 10 experts through a constantly changing neighborhood that has been the playground of divers city’s makers for over 30 years.