Een andere rechtvaardigheid in het oudbouwgebied van Prenzlauer Berg, Berlijn

: een voorbeeldproject waarin de belangen van de bestaande bewoners een centrale rol spelen als alternatief op de genormaliseerde marginalisatie

Abstract

The transformation of the existing city is an important part of the urban planning profession.1 Within these transformations the interests of the inhabitants are increasingly marginalised by the actors who are responsible for the production of urban space. Therefore various researchers have declared an urgent need to counter the growing disenfranchisement of urban inhabitants.2 The intention of this graduation project is to contribute to this relevant assignment as an urban planner and designer by giving the interests of the inhabitants a central role in the transformationplans of their environment. The problem of marginalisation is specifically hard to overcome in big cities. This is because big cities are to big and complex to be understood in the detail necessary to translate the interests of inhabitants into constructive actions.3 To deal with this complexity a practical recommendation of Jane Jacobs is followed in this project. She recommends dat urban planners in big city should mainly work in a decentralized fashion in so called districts. The 'Altbaugebiet' of Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin is the district which has been chosen in this project. Two existing researches have been used to identify the interests of the inhabitants of this 'Altbaugebiet'. These researches show that: • the inhabitants of this 'Altbaugebiet' have problems with the ongoing gentrification in the area. The high popularity of the area has caused a shortage in space (for living) en rising prices, which causes the displacement of existing inhabitants. • the area has a shortage in several public amenities like schools and green spaces. • the liveliness and the broad en diverse availability of amenities in the 'Altbaugebiet' are the most relevant qualities for the inhabitants. The 'Altbaugebiet' is predominantly the lively living environment with the broad and diverse availability of amenities which makes the area so popular with the inhabitants. However in several places in and at the borders of the area the physical properties which create this attractive environment are not present. These places are identified in this project and used to deal with the shortage in space (for living) and public amenities and to raise the main qualities of the area. The amount of identified locations fit for transformation is however to big to treat all of them in this project. For this reason the choice has been made to make an urban plan for the redevelopment of three of these locations. These three plans will function as an example for the redevelopment of (eventually) all the locations fit for transformation. Taken together these redevelopment plans offer an ambitious transformation agenda that will be of great significance for the inhabitants of the 'Altbaugebiet'. This high ambition is made possible because the plans are not restricted by the limited power of the local government but the possibilities of the market are used for the transformation of the area. The urban redevelopment plans are actually investement opportunities that have been designed in physical space and which are potentially interesting for investors. However it will take the joint effort and willingness of the responsible urban planners, government and investors, to make these beautiful plans for the inhabitants come true.

Date of Award	31 Oct 2012
Original language	Dutch
Supervisor	C.H. (Kees) Doevendans (Supervisor 1), Sophie S.S. Rousseau (Supervisor 2) & J.P.F.A. (Hans) Snijders (Supervisor 2)