The Destination Experience_dan pearlman

INTERVIEWS
INTERVIEWS
DAN PEARLMAN — THE DESTINATION EXPERIENCE
Be critical
and Humble
MAKE CITY – REMIXING BERLIN
Francesca Ferguson is the founder of
the MakeCity Festival, which launched
in 2015 as a cocreation with over 90
partners from the fields of architecture,
urban design, administration, and
civic organizations, e.g. dan pearlman.
2018 the second festival will take place.
What will it take to create a new urban
Why does Berlin need a festival like I believe that we need, in many ways, a
culture?
MakeCity?
new understanding and a new form of
social responsibility in our urban society.
What’s missing is a balanced and val-
MakeCity is a festival where decision-makers
It begins with the responsible planue-oriented
give and take. It’s time for
and important players from ning and use of urban spaces and public
a new social contract. The social “glue”
politics, business, administration, civic
places, and it ends with a responsible that holds together civic society has
institutions, culture, architecture, and approach to the way the city is used to be remade. And that’s going to require
urban planning – the people who literally
by tourism. In my opinion, the contin-
a diverse array of public places,
make the city – all come together ual hyping of Berlin as a “cool place” a collaboratively created urban culture,
around one table. From June 14 through has made for an attitude of thoughtless
and a variety of approaches to urban
July 1, 2018, under the title “Remixing
consumerism. It’s created a men-
life and urban space in the areas of al-
Berlin,” we’ll be taking stock of our urban
tality that says: “I’m paying for this, and ternative economy, neighborhood de-
society and taking a critical look I want to get something in return.” This velopment, and financing. The vision
at the status quo in Berlin and other
kind of “instant consumption” assumes is about reforging the social contract,
European cities in an international immediate gratification in exchange for through both business and planning.
context. Our aim is to show ways forward
money. But a purely consumerist cul-
70 for new architectures, social coture
eventually squeezes out local busi-
71
hesion and diversity in neighborhoods.
And we’re seeking quite deliberately
not just to highlight the differences
between perspectives, but to build
bridges and help bring different positions
closer together.
What’s the vision you’re trying to convey
with the title “Remixing Berlin”?
INTERVIEWS
nesses, local restaurants, and local residents.
And when the local disappears,
identity and quality disappear with it.
Which is why we say: The local is crucial!
We can’t allow the development
of our cities to be decided by money
alone. What we want instead is a new
attitude of “empathetic urbanism.”
INTERVIEWS
DAN PEARLMAN — THE DESTINATION EXPERIENCE