Grundtvig - Archimedes

Workshop Reference number: 2011-1-DE2-GRU13-07884
Venue: Kurt Schumacher Haus Berlin-Wedding und Exkursionen im Berliner Stadtraum Date of
the Workshop: 02/06/2012 - 10/06/2012
The Future of European Cities – Examining Berlin (Die Zukunft der
europäischen Stadt – am Beispiel Berlins)
Subject area: Social integration / exclusion
Active citizenship
History and social science
Working language(s): EN
Target Group + Translation:
We warmly invite to Berlin inhabitants of European cities and European urban regions, who would
like to follow the development of their own living environment consciously – and who are looking
for opportunities for exchange and learning from other European regions. We especially invite
people in insecure employment and elderly persons as well as people with migratory backgrounds.
Our workshop invites inhabitants of European cities and urban regions to Berlin who are interested
in comprehending the transformation of the urban environment they live in and who would like to
exchange their view on these developments with participants from other European regions who
experience a comparable change.
Main activities Programme + Programme translation:
Taking the case of Berlin as a starting point, the workshop explains the mechanisms of urban
change that are at work both in this city and in many other European urban areas. These changes are
welcomed by some and deplored by others and they evoke discussions among city dwellers along
questions such as: - How long is an upgrading of my city district an improvement of living
conditions – and when does it turn into a process of unwanted replacement of not well-off people?
- Who owns my city? And who should decide its future? The investors, whose main interest is in
developing lucrative real estate? Or the people of the city, including poor people, artists and
tenants? - Is an inner-city brownfield an offence to my eye – or rather an excellent opportunity for
encouraging alternative visions of land use? - What kind of concepts are used in order to prevent
social hotspots from getting run down? When it comes to new forms of urban development, Berlin
can be understood as a “laboratory”. The city currently witnesses rapid structural and social
transformation. At the same time it is the site of several projects that aim at resolving conflicts and
social problems arising from this development. Through field trips, the workshop gives participants
the opportunity to look closely into some of these projects as well as into the concerned
neighborhoods and it helps them analyze the transformation of the city since the fall of the Berlin
wall in 1989. At the same time, participants will prepare inputs on their experience with the
transformation of urban space in their home regions. The workshop thus enables participants to
understand processes of urban transformation in a broader European perspective, to identify
similarities and differences between the cases discussed. We are looking forward to working with
you on these subjects!
87