Unless stated otherwise, all workshops are held in German.
- Fri 7.6.
- Sat 8.6.
- Sun 9.6.
Fri 7.6.
Friday
From 3 p.m. on
Arrive & register
Info Point, Dragonerareal
Approximate address: Mehringdamm 26, 10961 Berlin
U Mehringdamm, Exit Finanzamt/Obentrautstraße
Kickoff for the 10th Right to the City Forum: Involve More People, Grow Stronger, Winning Struggles Together
17:00 - 18:30
Kiezraum
The Right to the City Forum has been a place to come together for nine years. Not only do we see familiar activists and urban social movement groups again, we also get to know new initiatives that expand our understanding of the Right to the City. At this tenth forum, a little anniversary, we want to continue to cultivate these warm encounters, but at the same time make them more politically sustainable. Because in order to answer the question of how we can become more and stronger, we first need to understand how we can work together.
The aim of the kick-off event is to find out from each other what we are working for and against, what our demands and strategies are, what special skills and know-how our initiatives and organisations have that may be useful for others, and what points of contact and interfaces can be identified. This discovery process will begin with common strategic questions that will guide our discussion throughout the almost 30 workshops. These questions will then be taken up in the final fishbowl on Sunday afternoon and serve as the basis for a strategic debate on the question of “what next for the urban social movement”.
Sat 8.6.
9:30 - 11:15 Sat Morning
8:30 - 9:30 Breakfast
Alternative forms of popular organization
Ciudad Migrante
Network for communalism
We are two groups with different theoretical and practical backgrounds that have a common focus: alternative forms of grassroots organizing. We will discuss different ideas and practices to exchange with other collectives in the audience and inspire each other.
In our discussion, we would like to stimulate a debate between the two organizations that will enable us to develop new forms of grassroots organization. The idea is that each collective reports: What is the theoretical framework we rely on, and how did we arrive at it? How do we apply this theoretical framework in our political practice?
Key questions
- How does the capitalist system affect our forms of organization?
- What role should people play in solving social problems?
- What role does territory play in our political work?
- What obstacles do we encounter in our political practice?
- How can our everyday practice be seen as part of the general struggle for a new and better society?
- Specifically, how can we imagine forms of self-help that not only fill gaps in the retreating neoliberal welfare state, but also develop an independent alternative social project?
- How can solidarity networks use gaps to expand spaces of self-governance where our collective power grows, which challenges the dominant system "from below"?
- How can this be applied to the territorial and organizational context of the city?
- What is the relationship between the grassroots organizations and the work in the existing political institutions?
Brake rents together! A proposal for a campaign and practice for rent control
Sammel-AG, DWE
We will present a campaign to (collectively) “brake” rents, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the approach, and talk about whether and how the campaign can be established in other cities.
The “rent brake” is one of the few instruments that tenants can use to defend themselves against high rents. The problem is that many tenants do not make use of this option. The Sammel-AG (collection work group) of Deutsche Wohnen & Co enteignen has designed a campaign on rent control to encourage more tenants to (collectively) apply the “rent brake”.
In the workshop, we will first present our current status and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the plans. Afterwards, we want to talk to you about whether and how the campaign can be established in other cities.
Building the Caring, Queer-Feminist Women* City From Below — From Maps to Dough
FLINTA* Stadt
Sorge ins Parkcenter
Kollektiv Raumstation
The workshop consists of two parts. The first is "care mapping", in which we want to map our places, paths and people in our daily care routines. On the other hand, there is an invitation to use various creative means to create a caring city. After a short introduction, the two parts of the workshop can be carried out independently, simultaneously or in their own order. But there will also be moments of exchange. Everyone is invited to take part.
Wie könnte eine sorgende, queer-feministische Stadt von und für FLINTA* aussehen? Shouldn't this city be for everyone? In order to approach this question together, we want to try out different methods:
First, we want to do a "care mapping". Here, we map our care pathways, care practices and care infrastructures that we use every day. Which places, people and paths are relevant to your everyday life as care-givers? Who do you care about, who supports you and who cares about you? Which places and paths are "caring" for you and which are "uncaring"? Together, we want to record our everyday life as carers on a "care mental map" and then get talking. We hope that mapping care relationships can be a first step towards creating a care network, better meeting the needs of caregivers and creating appropriate framework conditions for care work. A first step towards a needs-based, queer-feminist and post-capitalist (urban) planning, that is not oriented towards patriarchal power structures and capital, but towards our everyday and generational care relationships. The "mental maps" of care can serve as a basis for the other part of the workshop.
In the second part of the workshop, we will look at our vision of a caring city. The "open table" of FLINTA* City is an invitation to everyone to create forms, texts and images of a different, common and caring city. We transform our ideas with clay, colors and writing: What would a city look like that is designed according to the needs of FLINTA* - women, lesbians, inter-, non-binary, trans- and a-gender people? What do we need to live, dwell, love, be ... in a city? What words, forms and images are created in this process? We will search for answers to these questions individually and collectively at the same time. The "caring city" will materialize before our eyes. The open table deliberately places the needs of FLINTA* at the center of the caring city, based on their expertise and their experiences of structural exploitation. Nevertheless, such a city should be a city for everyone, and everybody is invited to join.
Controversial Rendezvous — Cross-Generational Perspectives On the Future of R2C Protest Culture
LU'UM
Discourse on the past and future of forms of protest in the context of the right to the city movement. We want to collectively research, question and connect together what has been around for a long time and what is only just emerging.
We want to look at the changing culture of protest through different perspectives in the context of the right to the city and work out potentials for gaining power to act. We are interested both in the transformation of protest culture across different generations of the right to the city movement and in global perspectives on protest culture. We see an important role in an awareness of thoughtfulness and care, as well as a discourse about the "we".
We, the open collective LU'UM, work in the form of designing, building, researching and curating meeting spaces. The collective works in an open, site-specific and process-oriented manner.
We will bring three examples from Hamburg that demonstrate a certain spectrum of protest forms. The turbulent squatting history of Hafenstraße, the long and intensive process of different demands around the Esso houses and the Planbude as well as the current performative takeover of the Elbtower by AG Ost as a means of addressing spatial conflicts.
We will work together on the topic in three main areas: We explore the aesthetics, physicality and language of protest. We search for our motivation and the spheres of success and failure of our joint work. We think strategically about how we want to organize ourselves and act.
At the beginning, the topic is introduced in a performative way and the participants' knowledge is interactively integrated. Then, the three main topics are worked on in small groups. We want to develop a final product using discursive and experimental presentation methods.
Organizing Against High Operating and Heating Costs — An Exchange of Experiences
Kiezprojekt (Berlin)
Mietergemeinschaft Schönefelder Höfe (Leipzig)
Rising operating and heating costs are increasingly becoming a social issue. But there is also resistance: tenants are going on a "heating costs strike", refusing to pay until the landlord has presented them all the receipts. In this workshop, we want to share our experiences in organizing against operating cost rip-offs and make plans for the future together.
Rising operating and heating costs are increasingly becoming a social issue. High additional heating cost claims at Vonovia, Adler, LEG and Co. have increasingly made the headlines, especially in the winter of 2023-24. But there is also resistance: tenants in Bottrop, Leipzig, Göttingen and Berlin are going on "heating cost strike" and refuse to pay until the landlord has presented them all the receipts. Rental initiatives were already successful in various places: In Bottrop-Welheim, Vonovia waived additional claims amounting to 240,000 euros, and tenants in Berlin-Mariendorf also achieved a correction of their heating bills due to their protests.
In this workshop, we want to share our experiences and make plans for the future: How do we organize our neighborhoods as effectively as possible to fight back together against high operating and heating costs? What experience did we have in recent years with resisting against exaggerated operating and heating costs through voucher audits? What lessons have we learned and what challenges are we facing? What do we learn from the reactions of landlords? How can we prepare for the upcoming billing period next winter together? And how can we become even more, to activate and support even more initiatives to defend ourselves against operating and heating cost rip-offs?
Small Syndicates and New Cooperatives — New Opportunities to Take Houses and Apartments Off the Market
Solidarisch Wohnen Leipzig
Kritische Genossenschaftsvernetzung
GIMA Frankfurt e.G.
Likedeelerei, Syndikat für solidarisches Wohnen
Die Genossenschaftler*innen
Wohnraum für Alle! Berlin
Several groups, whose aim is to withdraw housing from the market sphere, report on their experiences. What developments are there? What do we criticize about existing concepts? What can the future look like?
Housing cooperatives have been around in Germany for ages. They make an important contribution to the provision of affordable rental housing. At the end of the 1980s, the Mietshäuser-Syndikat (MHS) (“tenement house syndicate”) became a new actor, expanding the concept to include self-administration and a solidarity fund. Both forms of tenure have (dis-)advantages. For instance, concerning who has access to them and how politically powerful they can be. In this workshop, we want to have a brief look at the past. What lessons can we learn from the history of cooperatives and the MHS? What went well, what can be improved? What might require completely new approaches? We will then report on our practical experience and look forward to questions and a lively discussion at the end.
Using law against the solid line of cars
Changing Cities
Volksentscheid Berlin Autofrei
Kiezblocks Karlsruhe
We show the general legal and political context as well as the forces of inertia that stand in the way of the mobility transition in Germany. What needs to change in order to distribute space fairly and shape the mobility transition? What options are there for action? The initiatives Kiezblocks Karlsruhe and Volksentscheid Berlin Autofrei present their approaches.
We show the general legal and political context as well as the forces of inertia that stand in the way of the mobility transition in Germany. What needs to change in order to distribute space fairly and shape the mobility transition? What options are there for action? The initiatives Kiezblocks Karlsruhe and Volksentscheid Berlin Autofrei present their approaches.
Block 1: Insight into the legal basis and need for action
Charlotte, Luisa and Tessa briefly present the legal basis (StVG/StVO, road law, approaches such as the Berlin Mobility Act) and the associated challenges (e.g. car-centricity, restrictions on municipal freedom of action, land use conflicts). In this context, the necessity of a reform from an ecological and feminist perspective will also be discussed, as well as the (political) forces of persistence against change in the law of the mobility transition (for example: failure of the StVG and StVO amendment) and discussed with the participants.
Block 2: Presentation of Kiezblocks Karlsruhe
Gabriel introduces the Kiezblocks Karlsruhe initiative. A Kiezblock (more commonly known as a superblock) is an urban neighborhood without through traffic. The roads are mainly used by pedestrians, cyclists and local public transport. Neighbourhood blocks already exist in several cities and can already be designed on the basis of the existing legal situation. Due to the existing legal situation, however, there is great resistance to overcome here. Considerable efforts are needed to counter the inertial forces in road traffic authorities, public order offices and other bodies. The response of Kiezblocks Karlsruhe and similar groups in other cities is to constantly highlight the potential for change and to seek support from residents and other groups. In principle, however, the initiative believes that structural reforms are needed to ensure greater openness in administrations to changes in street spaces. The relevant experiences and solutions will be presented from the perspective of the Kiezblocks Karlsruhe initiative and discussed with the participants.
Block 3: Berlin Autofrei (Car-Free Berlin)
Philipp then presents the referendum Berlin Autofrei, which goes a little further: with the "Law for public welfare-oriented road use", Berlin Autofrei wants to reduce the number of cars within the Berlin S-Bahn ring (environmental zone) by two thirds and thus self-make the mobility transition in Berlin with direct-democratic means. The first round of signatures was successfully completed in summer 2021. Since then, the law has been under review by the interior administration and the Constitutional Court. A central aspect of the project, in addition to the massive environmental benefits and the prevention of accidents, is the creation of spatial justice in Berlin. No other mode of transport takes up so much public space almost free of charge with such a low transport capacity. While people can no longer afford their flats in Kreuzberg, the cars are parked there for free (>90% of their lifetime). The initiative therefore also sees the law as a stop sign for the car industry, showing that it can no longer use cities as storage spaces for its space-consuming product. The law thus creates space for a different urban design. Since last year, there has also been a master's thesis from the Chair of Urban Design at the TU, which clearly demonstrates the urban development potential of a car-reduced city. You can find the study, the draft bill and all written submissions in the ongoing review procedure here.
Summary: What challenges and problems arise at all three levels? How to deal with it?
Workshop organizers
Tessa Hillermann, Charlotte Jawurek, Luisa Schneider (Legal Team Changing Cities)
Philipp Schulte (Volksentscheid Berlin Autofrei)
Gabriel Wilkes (Kiezblocks Karlsruhe)
11:45 - 13:30 Sat Late Morning
Climate and Tenants' Movement For a Social Heating Transition
Soziale Wärmewende (“Social Heating Transition”)
Klimaentscheid (“Climate Referendum”) Frankfurt am Main
Berliner Energietisch (“Berlin Energy Table”)
Warm in winter, cool in summer — and affordable all year round! This is how we want our housing. To this end, we have formed an alliance between the climate and tenant movements and are fighting together for a social heating transition in the building sector. We want to abolish the modernization levy and promote climate protection — without affecting rents. Our means of struggle are mobilization, organizing and legal means.
In the first part, we present the status of the heating transition. In the next part, you will find out more about our work, networking opportunities, and then we will work out the next steps together.
Enforcing Social Housing Policy at Federal Level – How Do We Build Up the Necessary Pressure?
Hanno Bruchmann, policy advisor to Caren Lay, Die Linke
Inga Jensen, DGB / Mietenstopp
Jonathan Diesselhorst, IG BAU
The current government coalition will not implement the reforms to tenancy law agreed in its coalition agreement. A new non-profit housing regulation (neue Wohngemeinnützigkeit) is a long time coming. How can initiatives, associations and social opposition bring about concrete improvements now?
Only one and a half years left until the next elections, and still the current federal government has brought no improvements for tenants. The parties of the "traffic light" coalition will not even implement the reforms to tenancy law that they agreed on in their coalition agreement. A new "Wohngemeinnützigkeit" (residential community benefit) is still not forthcoming. There is no time to be lost. Not for tenants and even less for the growing number of homeless people. How can we as initiatives, associations and social opposition work towards urgently needed tenant protection and social housing policy?
Inga Jensen is Head of Division for Housing and Consumer Policy at the German Trade Union Confederation (Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbund). Jonathan Diesselhorst is Head of Economic and Social Policy at the German Trad Union for Construction, Agriculture and Environment (Industriegewerkschaft Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt). The trade unions are part of the federal government's housing alliance. At the same time, they are part of the campaign for a rent freeze ("Mietenstopp") and are making further demands from the federal coalition. The Left Party in Bundestag supports the campaign for a rent freeze and has called for numerous reforms to tenancy law. The left-wing opposition is actively and critically supporting the numerous announcements of a new housing community benefit ("Wohngemeinnützigkeit") that creates more housing for the common good.
After the next federal election, the conditions for social housing policy could become even worse. What can still be achieved now? Do we have to concentrate our efforts on few demands? In which areas can we achieve which specific improvements for tenants? What roles can we play in each case? What actions and alliances can we use to build up effective pressure in the coming year?
We want to discuss these questions together with participants from different backgrounds and set the course for a final spurt of parliamentary and extra-parliamentary constructive opposition.
Workshop organizers
Hanno Bruchmann (housing policy advisor to Caren Lay, Member of the Bundestag, Die Linke)
Inga Jensen (DGB, Mietenstopp)
Jonathan Diesselhorst (IG BAU)
How to Socialize a Shopping Centre in a Feminist Way?
Initiative Sorge ins Parkcenter
(Inga, Leandra, Anna)
Shopping malls to care centres! Let's turn shopping centres into care centres! Find out in our workshop, how we can shape the future and transform vacant shopping centres into vibrant community spaces to avoid vacancies and demolition.
We want to socialize care work. This means understanding the local social space as a space for action: Our goal is the socio-ecological transformation towards a caring city! We see care centers in our neighborhoods as an important starting point for this. Care centers are places of local support for caregivers who perform paid and unpaid care and cycle work. In order to secure such projects in the long term, they must be withdrawn from profit-oriented uses.
While the care crisis is intensifying and non profit projects are struggling to survive, more and more shopping centers from Düsseldorf to Munich to Cottbus, but also in Berlin from Wedding to Steglitz, from Hermannplatz to Treptow, are simply vacant. In Berlin-Treptow, the almost completely empty ParkCenter shopping mall is to be partially demolished and replaced with new buildings. We say: That would not only be an ecological mistake, but also a social one. Instead of even more offices, we want to use the available space for local and community-oriented services.
Care centers should be adapted to the local needs of the neighborhood and the development of the centers should take place in a participatory process with the local people. For a queer-feminist (urban) planning from below.
In the workshop, we will share our reflections and initial experiences/approaches from our work and report on historical and international examples of de-privatization and the radical reorganization of care work. Against this background, we want to work with you to develop strategies and ways to socialize care work and shopping centers.
Revolutionary, Transformative or Emancipatory? Neighbourhood Work Between Utopia and Reality
Hände weg vom Wedding & Friends
We invite you to an exchange about neighborhood work with other Berlin groups. Together we discuss different approaches to neighborhood work.
We invite you to an exchange about working in neighborhoods with different groups active in Berlin. What do our approaches have in common and where do they differ? What can we learn from each other? What successes did we achiev with our work and what challenges are we facing? And, on a self-critical note: does our activist idea of change actually correspond to the needs of the people in the neighborhoods? Between utopia and reality: what are the next steps on the road to neighborhood revolution/transformation/emancipation?
Right to the City — Right to Play!
Silvia Hable, coordinator of urban “play development planning” (Kassel)
We appropriate the world through play — so the Right to the City is closely linked to the Right to Play. In many places, however, (children's) play and exercise is not possible or too dangerous in cities, and it is even actively prevented.
Domesticated, isolated, media-oriented and sedentary: these and similar conclusions are drawn by those studying modern urban childhood. But what factors might lead to cities, that are inviting to move, play and exchange? And how might other user groups benefit from these changes, apart from children and young people?
Together we will explore the surroundings of the workshop location for its "playability" and then enter into a theoretical exchange about the background, successes and possibilities of the urban planning instrument "Spielleitplanung" ("planning to enable playing), as well as other playful possibilities to intervene in urban space. Children are very welcome at this workshop.
Screen Printing: Template Creation and Poster Printing
Paul van Druck
Part I: Discussion/brainstorming session for a common topic of the motif, sketching and then transfer to a frame. Part II: The finished frame is set up, colour is mixed and reproduced on A3 posters. All resulting prints can be taken with you afterwards.
In the first part of the workshop, we will prepare a screen printing poster together, design a layout and then reproduce it using the screen printing process. Collectively, we decide which theme or message(s) we want to reproduce to create the final design together. In an open round of reflection/discussion, we choose a topic, make sketches, write texts. Finally, everything is traced onto a film and transferred to a screen printing frame. In the second part, we prepare the paper, mix ink and print everything. At the end, each participant can take the posters they have printed with them.
The process is completely analog, so there are no options for printing or digital editing. Short texts/graphics can also be prepared so that they are only transferred, if they fit the topic. A joint poster will be created, whether it will be a collage or something more uniform will be determined in the workshop itself.
Squatting and Then? — Appropriation and Remunicipalization of Housing
Leerstand Hab ich Saath (Berlin)
iL (Berlin)
Gündi West (Frankfurt am Main)
In recent years, after a long period of time, there have once again been successful housing squats in which activists have appropriated flats together with homeless people. But what exactly happens after the occupation to secure housing in the long term? Instead of interim use, how can we save apartments from vacancy and demolition in the long term and create a home for people who urgently need it?
After a long period of time, once again there have been some successful occupations of housing in the recent years, in which activists have appropriated apartments together with homeless people. But what exactly happens after the occupation in order to secure housing in the long term? How can we save apartments from vacancy and demolition in the long term, instead of interim use, to create a home for people who urgently need it?
Using the examples of Habersaathstraße in Berlin and Gündi West in Frankfurt am Main, we would like to discuss the prospects of these projects. How can re-municipalization work? Which perspectives emerge from the two projects for other groups? What can we learn from these individual cases in general and for other projects?
Lunch
Vegan kitchen for all by Food 4 Action
2:30 p.m.: The Berlin Cuvry Settlement — Germany's First "Favela"?
Niko Rollmann (historian/writer)
The hut settlement on Kreuzberg's Cuvrystraße, which existed from 2012 to 2014, was one of the most extreme and controversial places in the city: for some it was an "eyesore", for others the last local bastion against gentrification. What is the reality behind these views?
The lecture will explain the history, nature and demise of the settlement — which was home to up to 120 people from various population groups — as well as the political controversies associated with it. It also explains why the "Cuvry" was symptomatic of local, regional and global developments.
15:00 - 16:45 Sat Early Afternoon
“Einstürzende Neubauten”: What opportunities are there in the construction crisis? What answers are provided by left housing policy?
Niklas Schenker, MdA (Die Linke)
Philipp Möller, Berliner MieterGemeinschaft
New construction is collapsing: we are experiencing a historic market failure, but the tenants’ movement and the left have long ignored the issue of new construction. Answers of our own are needed. But what could they look like?
New construction is collapsing: we are experiencing a historic market failure, but the tenants’ movement and the left have long ignored the issue of new construction. Answers of our own are needed. But what could they look like?
At the beginning of the workshop, the two organizers will give a brief introduction to the topic: What is the situation in new housing construction? Why is new construction going down? Why should the movement and the left be interested in this at all? Can ambitious municipal, non-profit housing construction programs that focus on socio-ecological qualities be an answer to the crisis?
Afterwards, three speakers will each be asked to provide brief introductory inputs and their perspectives on "new construction from the left" and the specific role of municipal housing companies and cooperatives. After comprehension questions, a fishbowl discussion will open up the round. The discussion will be moderated by Philipp and Niklas and a few key questions will be put to the discussion.
The aim is to record various perspectives and results at the end of the workshop: Is it programmatically worthwhile to continue working on "new construction from the left"? If so, how and with whom? What alliances are conceivable? What programmatic priorities could strengthen the movement and left-wing actors?
Workshop organizers
Niklas Schenker, Member of the Abgeordnetenhaus (Berlin Parliament), Die Linke parliamentary group.
Philipp Möller, active with the Berliner MieterGemeinschaft, writes for Jacobin, Jungle World, MieterEcho and others.
Together they run the podcast "Schöner Wohnen - Der Podcast zur Wohnungsfrage".
“Yummy Campaigns!” – Campaigning Workshop for Beginners & Advanced
Felix Filou, “Wann strahlst Du?”
How can you build a successful campaign and public relations for your political demands? Here you get a step-by-step campaigning tutorial.
Unfortunately, having good political demands is no longer enough these days. Every political project must now be accompanied by strong public relations work. But how do you successfully juggle press relations, social media channels and branding? In the campaigning workshop, we look at this step-by-step.
We analyze advertising, look at how to identify (and reach) your target group, how to use social media channels and what effect good layout can have. There are also tips on how to structure your own public relations work in the group.
Wann strahlst Du is an office for progressive campaigns based in Offenbach/Frankfurt. Among other things, we have contributed to the citizens' petition Mietentscheid Frankfurt and the campaign Mietenstopp (rent freeze) Germany, and we are the editors for Benjamin Ortmeyer’s TikTok channel.
Prevent Demolition!
Initiative Justizzentrum erhalten (München)
Anti-Abriss Bündnis (Anti-Demolition Coalition), Berlin
In times of housing and climate crisis, any further demolition is total madness! That's why there are initiatives in many cities that organize against demolitions. We want to talk to you about the problem of demolition, introduce you to our initiatives and make plans together on how we can prevent further demolitions.
Aims of the workshop:
- Information about the problems and dimensions of demolition;
- Brief introduction to the legal regulation of demolition: Why is demolition sometimes more profitable than preservation?
- Strengthening and networking initiatives that oppose demolition.
In the joint part of the workshop we will talk about arguments, dimensions and regulations of demolition. During a work phase in small groups, various initiatives introduce themselves and brainstorm action ideas with the participants.
Initiative Justizzentrum erhalten / “Initiative Preserve the Justice Center” (abbrechenabbrechen.de)
Anti-Abriss Bündnis Berlin / “Anti-Demolition Coalition” (@anti_abriss)
Radical Imagination, Creative Storytelling and Dance 1/2
Ivan Txaparro
Explore the connection between radical imagination, storytelling and dance. Explore embodied strategies for creating narratives for alternative futures inspired by South American musical traditions.
People who defend nature and speak out against social injustice often face serious emotional and mental challenges due to the demanding nature of their work, as well as increasing hostility from groups opposed to necessary change. In this workshop we will explore different strategies for collective care and creative storytelling for activists in the context of dance and rhythmic improvisation.
The workshop will include several practical exercises on the concept of "radical imagination" to promote storytelling and enable participants to create alternative historical narratives and possible future scenarios in a participatory way. In addition, we will incorporate several hands-on group exercises on body awareness, rhythm and groove, inspired by Afro-diasporic and Afro-indigenous community music practices such as cumbia, bullerengue and hip-hop, as an inspiration and preparation for our writing and performance experiments.
Rent Protest or Revolutionary Neighbourhood Work? How We Organize Solidarity on the Ground
Research project SONAR (Uni Jena)
Hände weg vom Wedding! (Berlin)
Wilhelmsburg Solidarisch (Hamburg)
Berg Fidel Solidarisch/ROSA (Münster)
Kiezprojekt (Berlin)
Where to start? Injustice and exclusion can be experienced concretely in everyday local life. How do we incorporate these experiences into a broad movement that overcomes divisions among neighbours and makes solidarity a practice?
Rent initiatives fighting rising housing costs are tackling a problem that affects broad parts of the population - albeit in different ways. The initiatives focus on the housing issue, but also hope to broaden the politicization of experiences of injustice. A different approach is chosen by initiatives that describe their actions as revolutionary neighborhood work. Right from the start, they focus on a whole range of problems, which besides rent issues might be trouble with the job center and cases of police violence. Both approaches share an interest in improving the lives of local people and in organizing experiences that enable solidarity between groups of different ages, backgrounds and political positions. During the workshop, we want to discuss our experiences in building solidarity in neighborhoods.
Workshop organizers
Research project SONAR (Organize Solidarity in the Neighbourhood and at the Workplace; Uni Jena)
Guests:
Hände weg vom Wedding! (Berlin)
Wilhelmsburg Solidarisch (Hamburg)
Berg Fidel Solidarisch/ROSA (Münster)
Kiezprojekt (Berlin)
Starting and Ending Campaigns: How Do I Strengthen My Political Position Through Allyship?
9-Euro-Fonds
Freiheitsfonds
Sanktionsfrei
Together with Arne Semsrott (Freiheitsfonds) and Helena Steinhaus (Sanktionsfrei), the 9-Euro-Fonds wants to discuss and illustrate how cross-initiative work strengthens common positions. In the subsequent workshop, we want to give you a roadmap on how to start and end political campaigns.
Part 1: Starting and ending political campaigns
In the course of our work, we have developed transferable questions and points of reference that arise in one way or another in most campaigns. Two overarching questions that we would like to look at with you are Representative:internal politics (at what point can an (organizing) group speak for and make decisions for a much larger group?) and when does a campaign end (when does the political momentum of a campaign end and how can it be ended responsibly?). We want to share our experiences and hear others because this movement knowledge is too often lost, but at the same time it is the most valuable thing we have.
Part 2: Political allyship — creating movement cycles
The 9-Euro-Fund is part of a multifaceted movement for fairer mobility and the fight for social justice. We want to illustrate this embedding in a political network and emphasize what became possible in our case, what successes and absurd possibilities arose. We want to talk to you about how movement cycles of political initiatives can strengthen each other and why it can be dangerous for the political struggle to fall exclusively into internal organizational logics. How is it possible to sustainably strengthen and support each other within a movement through political alliances without restricting or stopping each other with alliance plenary sessions?
The Campaign “Anmeldung für Alle” (Registration for All) — Migrant Perspectives on the Right to the City (EN)
Campaign alliance “Anmeldung für Alle”
In december 2023, an alliance of over 20 groups launched the "Anmeldung für Alle" campaign. The problem of “Anmeldung” (residence registration) is related to the lack of housing and speculation in real estate, but also focuses on the access to basic rights.
Our workshop focuses on migrant perspectives under a broad definition of „Recht auf Stadt“ and expands the struggles for the right to the city to include other aspects in addition to housing, such as the struggle for other basic rights (e.g. work, health, social participation).
We want to present our alliance and the work of the campaign; its goals and current activities. Similarly, we want to develop points of contact and possibilities for cooperation with other initiatives in order to win over a broader mass of groups and see how we can support each other. To achieve these goals and create an open collaborative atmosphere, we will first do an introductory presentation of the campaign and then use the World-Café model with several thematic tables between which all participants can rotate, followed by a round of open discussion with all participants to sum up the results.
17:15 - 19:00 Sat Late Afternoon
Concert: Afro-Indigenous Music of Resistance, Storytelling and Communal Joy 2/2
Ivan Txaparro
Experience a mixture of Afro-Latin rhythms and electronic vibes, paired with activist-inspired hip-hop. Explore the intersection of music, storytelling and dance as it relates to collective resilience and shared joy.
TXAP is a South American music project founded by Ivan Txaparro. It combines Afro-Latin rhythms with electronic vibes and integrates live looping and activism-inspired hip-hop. With blues harmonica, flutes, guitar and synthesizers, TXAP creates a powerful sound experience that listeners can dance to.
Take a look at the latest published videos here to get an idea of what we do: JAGUAR (Youtube) / REBUSKE (Youtube)
The concert explores the correlation between music, storytelling and dance and focuses on the performative and activist aspects of Afro-diasporic and indigenous music (e.g. hip-hop, blues, reggae, funk, soul, salsa, cumbia, etc.). This illustrates how such manifestations served to create an experience of resistance in Africa and the Americas and played a crucial role in evoking utopias and resilience.
During the concert, we offer space for dancing and rhythmic interaction with the musicians, paired with historical stories about the music and the activist struggles in the Global South. All of this is presented from the perspective of joy, healing and communal celebration.
Empowerment Through Embodiment: Methods for Overcoming Powerlessness
Lisa Conzemius (they/them/no pronouns)
Sorka Tzschabran (she/her)
In our activist endeavors for change, we encounter obstacles that seem impossible to overcome. In this workshop, we use co-creative methods to explore our feelings of powerlessness and look for ways out of them together.
In our activist work for the right to a socially, ecologically and economically more sustainable, fairer city, we constantly encounter a variety of challenges, resistance, feelings of powerlessness or stagnation. The right to the city means being able to change ourselves and our coexistence according to our wishes by transforming our cities. It is therefore directly related to our respective abilities to act and our plural, experienced realities.
As training in how we can constructively transform experienced powerlessness into an expanded scope of action, we would therefore like to use a methodical empowerment in this workshop, with which we can make the wishes in our respective work more tangible.
Therefore, we practise transformative methods of reflection, encounter and collaboration. The co-creative exercises central to this workshop allow us to draw on our emotional & embodied experiential knowledge and are derived from Social Presencing Theatre and Improvisational Theatre. They support solidary and interactive experimentation with shaping and experiencing processes of change. We deal with the change of a system from an actual state to a target state. This makes structures of transformations more visible, which can strengthen the ability to act and the understanding of a collectivity in processes.
Let's organize - but where to? Between tenants' association, tenants' union and neighborhood organization (DE & EN)
AG Starthilfe (Berlin)
Kiezprojekt (Berlin)
Discussion with: - Tenants' Union Berlin - Solidarity in Gröpelingen (Bremen) - Sindicato de Inquilinas e Inquilinos de Madrid - London Renters Union In German and English with simultaneous translation
In Berlin and other cities, we have been experiencing a strong self-organization of the tenant movement for years. Initiatives are being set up and are defending themselves (sometimes very successfully) against rent increases, energy-efficient renovations, heating cost rip-offs or the sale of their homes to speculators.
But one question that often remains unanswered is: Where do we actually organize people? What remains when the actual fight for your own home is over, the momentum dies down and initiatives fall asleep? What offers are there for people who want to politicize themselves in such struggles and become active in rent politics in the longer term? How can the many small initiatives come together and join forces to become assertive at local level, but also at state and national level?
Do we need tenants' associations as places to organize? And if so, how would they have to change in order to become powerful and conflict-oriented "tenants' unions"? Or do we need to build such tenants' unions ourselves in parallel? Do we need "revolutionary district unions" that network across cities - and if so, what could such a network look like in concrete terms? And what can we learn from the experiences of other cities such as Madrid or London when it comes to organizing?
The discussion will be held in German and English with simultaneous translation.
Life or Vacant Space
Eine Stadt für Alle! (Frankfurt am Main)
Presentation and discussion of a participatory campaign on the topic of vacancies in Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt is vacant. In every neighbourhood, in every street, there is a residential building with no one but the wind in it, a new luxury building where only half the lights are on in the evening or a store where nothing has happened for years. Vacancies are visible and commonplace — and should be abolished.
How can existing projects, such as the Leerstandsmelder, be used effectively to reach a public that goes beyond those with a professional interest? What approaches are there to combat different forms of vacancy that are effective in the public eye? And how can these be bundled in a meaningful way?
Eine Stadt für Alle! Frankfurt is planning a participatory campaign with other urban activists. The workshop will discuss the various forms of vacancy and how these can be brought back into the political discourse.
Right to the Street? Drugs, Criminalization and Space
Sarah Klosterkamp (Goethe University Frankfurt, moderator)
Luise Klaus (Goethe University Frankfurt, Input)
Moritz Rinn (University of Duisburg Essen, Input)
Ralf Köhnlein (Fixpunkt e.V., Berlin, Input)
David Kiefer (Wrangelkiez United, Berlin, Input)
The event invites you to critically examine the criminalization of drugs and their users under the heading "Right to the Streets?" and asks what is needed to overcome this criminalization.
Open drug scenes are a genuinely urban phenomenon. At the same time, gentrification is narrowing the niches for deviant behaviour, which means that visible drug scenes and the places associated with them are increasingly problematized. People from open drug scenes are often confronted with social and spatial exclusion. Nevertheless, new processes of appropriation of public spaces by drug users are constantly taking place, mostly under social stigmatization and repressive means of spatial control. We would like to discuss the criminalization that is often associated with this. Do we need a "Right to the Street"? What measures and means are (really) suitable for creating free spaces for the group concerned without criminalization and stigmatization?
During the panel discussion, the role of social work will be emphasized in particular, as well as the perspective of people from such drug scenes. Luise Klaus and Moritz Rinn, who both conduct research in this area, will shed light on the intertwining of space, control and criminalization. Ralf Köhnlein (Fixpunkt e.V.) will report on his activities in the field of Drogenhilfe ("drug help") and explain the effects of criminalization on local work based on his practical experience. David Kiefer (Wrangelkiez United) reports from the perspective of critical residents on racist police practices and political negotiation processes around Görlitzer Park.
After substantive input from the speakers and a moderated panel discussion, there will be plenty of room for open questions, additional contributions and perspectives. Sarah Klosterkamp will moderate the event.
Sat Evening
Protest Musical: Der Turm stürzt ein (reloaded) / The Tower Collapses
Location: StadtWERKSTATT
The collectively developed protest happening deals with big tech corporations that influence almost all areas of our lives in their unchecked expansion. It brings down the tower of thought that there is only the path of "smart dictatorship".
Party at Südblock
From 10 p.m.
Admiralstr. 1-2
10999 Berlin-Kreuzberg
(U Kottbusser Tor)
Sun 9.6.
10:00 - 11:45 Sun Morning
9:00 - 10:00 Breakfast
Art and the right to the city - opportunity or never-ending story?
Silvia Gioberti, art producer
Sandy Kaltenborn, communication designer
Jakob Wirth, artist*
What are the differences between the Right to the City movement and the artistic practice that is committed to a Right to the City? Where is the mutual potential?
Political art takes up the cause of fighting for political goals and the lines between activist and artistic practice have become increasingly blurred over the years. Political initiatives use artistic languages such as video, performance or aesthetic concepts for their appearance at protests and artists are increasingly using the language of activist groups and bringing this into the art scene; whether classic banners, clear and direct political demands or organizing demonstrations themselves.
Despite similarities, there are overlaps in the Right to the City scene, but there is also a distance to art and art is often rightly seen as too elitist, too liberal and not radical enough and not "useful" enough for its own struggle.
In this panel/discussion forum, the differences between the Right to the City movement and the artistic practice that is committed to the Right to the City will first be identified, before the shared potentials are discussed in a second step. Therefore, a focus is set on the experience from different corners of Europe.
Silvia Gioberti, Guerilla Architects
Sandy Kaltenborn, communication designer, image-shift.net
Jakob Wirth, artist*, stadtgewitter e. V.
Forced Loss of Housing — (Preventing) Evictions
Eine Stadt für Alle! (Frankfurt/M.)
Sarah Klosterkamp
Input and exchange. Dr. Sarah Klosterkamp gives an insight into the legal practice of enforced loss of housing and points out possible fields of action. Afterwards there will be an exchange by/for activists in the field of (preventing) forced evictions.
Forced eviction is the most violent type of displacement: more than 27,300 homes were evicted in Germany in 2022; and even that only documents the evictions that were carried out, leaving forced removals unexamined. Before an eviction takes place, the future of the tenants concerned is decided in court. How does an eviction action proceed in court and what is the logic behind it? What does the court case mean in concrete terms for those affected? What options are available in which escalation stages of the threat of losing your home? Urban geographer Dr. Sarah Klosterkamp (Institute for Human Geography, Goethe University Frankfurt) will provide an insight into this and discuss the concrete options for activists.
This will be followed by a moderated exchange format in the second part of the workshop, which will be offered by and for activists working in the field of (preventing) forced evictions. What can we learn from research for our urban policy practice? How do we deal specifically with the care of those affected? What role do we play as activists in such a situation?
We discuss this and more in an open exchange format:
- How do people who are to be evicted find you?
- What is the most common reason for a forced eviction?
- Which people usually come to you?
- What kind of support can you specifically offer as a group?
- What strategies do you use before the eviction (political, legal, public pressure)?
- How do you organize the division of tasks when accompanying a forced eviction?
- How do you communicate with the person concerned?
- How do you deal with your role as a politically active group that (largely) performs social work?
- How do you deal with the emotional situation (people who are threatened by an eviction are usually in a very tense overall situation, and this is inevitably transferred to the people who have direct contact)?
We want to answer these questions in a relaxed exchange in order to jointly develop strategies for sustainable and solidary support for forced evictions. The Initiative Zwangsräumung Verhindern Berlin (Prevent Forced Eviction) will also be present.
Get it written! Learn to write magazine articles and features
Común Magazine
Participatory workshop to encourage your own writing, learn techniques for creating and implementing magazine or blog articles, etc.
Talk is silver - writing is gold, or something like that. Writing is a key means of political organization - whether reporting on or promoting campaigns, criticizing, mobilizing or publicizing, on social media, in magazines, blogs and newspapers: Whoever writes, participates. Well-written texts are stirring, fun and appealing. And you can learn to write well. We from the Común editorial team would like to guide and encourage you to write your own articles: from the movement and for the movement. How do you find a good topic for an article? What should be included in a headline? How to start, how to end? Do you actually need sources? These and other questions as well as practical exercises are the subject of our workshop. Regardless of your writing experience, everyone who wants to write is welcome: Just get it written!
Nationwide network against “Heimstaden”
StopHeimstaden (Berlin)
Heimstaden Stoppen (Hamburg)
We invite Heimstaden tenants and initiatives from Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Potsdam, Halle, Erfurt, Magdeburg and Rostock to join us in a nationwide network and develop mutual strategies against the Heimstaden business model.
Heimstaden, as the second largest private landlord in Europe, represents the entire range of problems that tenants and neighborhoods everywhere are struggling with. Whether it's rent increases, neglected maintenance, exorbitant utility bills, conversion and sale of former rental apartments as condominiums or just the general service wasteland - it's annoying and destroying our cities and livelihoods.
We need a collective response to this. We invite Heimstaden tenants and initiatives from Leipzig, Dresden, Potsdam, Halle, Erfurt, Magdeburg and Rostock to join us in a nationwide network and to develop mutual strategies against the Heimstaden business model.
Right to urban nature
Judith König, Initiative Emmauswald bleibt
Caroline Seige, AG Artenschutz Naturfreunde
Panel discussion on the question of what needs to change in municipal politics so that every living being can experience the right to access urban nature.
Urban nature means living space. Urban nature means rebellious wilderness in the midst of utilization and density. Urban nature means the right to uncommercial open spaces. Urban nature means the climate-resilient and biodiverse city of the future.
The right to urban nature means: the right to a habitat for all living creatures that share the urban environment with us. It means the right to protected green spaces, wild hedges, birdsong, flower strips, cracks in walls, dead wood, old cemeteries, green backyards and abandoned attics. The right to urban nature also means the right to an intact environment - and to species protection. Who can claim this right for themselves and who has to fight for it? At a political level, the city and nature are often seen as opposites. Again and again, it is urban nature that seems to stand in the way of new office buildings, roads and expensive condominiums. Accelerated construction procedures make it possible to bypass environmental assessments and citizen participation. Far too often, it is enough for investors to simply make compensation payments for the destruction of forest and green spaces.
Come to our panel discussion and find out what needs to change in urban policy so that every living being can experience the right to access urban nature. Caroline Seige, who campaigns for the protection of building nesting birds and habitats in the city, and Judith König, who campaigns for the protection of the largest forest in Neukölln, meet for an interview. The event will be hosted by Laurie, who is involved in various groups fighting for urban nature and against gentrification. We will provide you with specific information on how you can campaign for the preservation and promotion of urban nature and how you can defend yourself against unbending politicians and major investors. What problems are there in the fights? What does it take? What options do people have to protect and promote urban nature? At the end there will be room for discussion and questions.
Workshop organizers
- Judith König is part of the Emmauswald bleibt initiative, which is fighting to preserve a former cemetery site in Neukölln that has become a forest.
- Caroline Seige is a volunteer for building breeders, habitats and urban nature in urban areas, species protection law, expert opinions and is active in the Naturefriends Berlin working group on species protection.
Smart city, transhumanism and alternatives
Elisabeth Voss
Smart City and transhumanism follow patriarchal fantasies of dominance over all living things. In contrast, there is "room for many worlds" in the pluriverse. What conclusions can be drawn from these contrasts?
Everyone is talking about Smart City, but what is it actually? The smartization of the city encompasses all areas of life: Housing, transportation, supply/logistics, communication, health, "security", public administration, etc. Transhumanism goes one step further, humans and digitally controlled machines are to merge - it is the end point of patriarchal feasibility fantasies of domination over all living things.
This digitalization affects everyone. Smart City and transhumanism are not technical topics, but social ones. This is about powerful interests, because total digitalization is a profitable business area with destructive effects on people and nature. The opposite pole can be found in diverse ideas and practices of life-affirming self-organization, which often see themselves as feminist. This pluriverse resists the equalizing ideas of progress and development. It is "a world in which many worlds fit", as the Zapatista say.
After an input, which is essentially based on the book "Pluriversum - A Lexicon of the Good Life for All", I would like to discuss with the participants whether these ideas can be used to develop perspectives for the "battle for minds" and for everyday resistance.
The book is available online free of charge here: https://agspak.de/pluriversum/
Elisabeth Voß, NETZ für Selbstverwaltung und Kooperation Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.
The elephant in the city: debt brake, austerity and decaying infrastructure
Extinction Rebellion, AG Postwachstum
Fiscal Future
Public finances remain the key to ensuring the well-being of all. This workshop will focus on how to build demands for public funding of social infrastructure.
The scarcity of funding is a cross-cutting issue between movements for social issues and for climate justice. Private investment alone is insufficient and leads to the privatization of public goods, which limits their accessibility. Public finances remain the key to ensuring the well-being of all. However, the debt brake creates an artificial climate of austerity in which different social movements are played off against each other in the competition for public funds.
However, public funding is rarely discussed seriously by the general public. Our workshop therefore includes a concise introduction to public funding mechanisms and the common challenges for social movements. The debt brake limits government debt - the other name for public financing. In practical terms, this means that the infrastructure must generate sufficient revenue for the common good in order to be "self-sustaining" or even profitable. Hospitals are threatened with closure, for example, and poorer cities could try to sell off social housing or gentrify in order to generate more municipal tax revenue. The paralysis of local politics, privatization and dilapidated public infrastructure are the consequences.
Given the need to change the rules of public funding, this workshop invites you to develop demands and leverage points together to free up the public resources needed for the good of all.
Workshop organizers
- Extinction Rebellion, AG Postwachstum
- Jan Tovar, Philipp Bauer, Vienne Chan
- Fiscal Future
Closing event: What next for the urban social movement?
12:00 - 13:30
StadtWERKSTATT
The Germany-wide urban social movement has been meeting once a year for ten years to exchange ideas, network and discuss strategies for a city for all. The numerous demonstrations, actions and the organisation of tenants in many cities have shown that a lot can be achieved in local struggles. At the same time, we have rarely been able to assert our demands together at federal level.
At the end of this year's Right to the City Forum, we would like to discuss the status of our nationwide organisation in a fishbowl discussion. How can we become a powerful nationwide movement? Which demands should we prioritise? How does the forum need to change so that it becomes more of a strategic place for the movement?
Together with all participants, we would like to look back on and analyse the forum in a fishbowl. At the same time, we will look to the future and want to enter into a joint strategic debate. What should the nationwide Right to the City movement focus on next?
Let's discuss and develop strategies together!
Sun Afternoon
Zeit: siehe Beschreibung
Guided tour through the Gleisdreieckpark, where the so-called "Urbane Mitte" is to be built
Aktionsgemeinschaft Gleisdreieck
Matthias Bauer
Patrick Vater
14:30-15:50
119,000 m² of office space, hotel, commerce in Gleisdreieckpark - on site we talk about nebulous contracts, investor threats, hasty politics and Luxembourg speculators. But we are also talking about resistance and success: the Development plan has been overturned.As part of this walk along the - possible - future construction sites of the so-called Urbanen Mitte, we will explain the background to one of Berlin's largest speculation and new construction projects.
We talk about the history of the area and why a gigantic concrete jungle is to be built here on former railroad land, if politicians and investors have their way. We talk about the background: an urban development contract, the so-called citizen participation and other tricks of the investors, the speculation and the immense profits. We talk about our years of struggle, the expertise gathered in the Ini, our resistance to erroneous and embellished expert opinions, our successes at the administrative, legal and political levels, and our tools for mobilizing neighbors, activists and sympathizers.
Last but not least, we show how planning could now be restarted: Our crowdfunded legal assessment of the urban development contract, which supposedly justifies recourse claims in the hundreds of millions if the project is rejected by the district, is a precedent and can also be an interesting tool for other Inis. Or as the taz wrote at the time: "The report puts a stop to the crazy idea that politicians, in an act of elected self-castration, make promises to private actors that freely elected members of parliament would still have to keep decades later."
Neighborhood walk through Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Berlin vs. Amazon
Make Amazon Pay
14:30-16:00
On a short walk through the neighborhood, we will talk about the changes in the neighborhood, visit places and discuss why Amazon is so problematic for the neighborhood structure and the world.A walk through Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg clearly shows how the neighborhood has changed over the years. Once characterized by alternative cultures and a lively street life, many corners are now dominated by gentrified apartments and hip cafés.
Amazon has a major influence on these changes. Due to the company's expansion in recent years, more and more local stores and small businesses in the neighborhood have disappeared. The convenience of online shopping has led to many people preferring to order from Amazon instead of shopping in small local stores.
Amazon's presence in the neighborhood is not only problematic locally, but also globally. The company is repeatedly criticized for its working conditions in the warehouses and for its tax avoidance practices. In addition, Amazon's mail order business contributes to environmental pollution caused by packaging materials and delivery vehicles.
Overall, Amazon's presence in the neighbourhood and worldwide is problematic, as it leads to a monopolization of the market, displaces local businesses and has a negative impact on the environment. It is important to be aware of this problem and to support local businesses in order to maintain the diversity and vibrancy of the neighborhoods.
Workshop organizers
Right to the City & space for all at Hermannplatz
Initiative Hermannplatz
17:00-18:00+
A walk around Hermannplatz, which focuses on the planned demolition of the Karstadt building, the redesign of Hermannplatz, the related gentrification and the resistance against it.The Hermannplatz Initiative is campaigning against the demolition of the Karstadt building on Hermannplatz and against the redesign of Hermannplatz, because this would further push the displacement of small businesses and tenants from Kreuzberg and Neukölln and further destroy the predominantly immigrant neighborhoods. The Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing is continuing to pursue the prestigious project planned by the Signa real estate group on Hermannplatz despite the group's insolvency. The Senate is waiting for the next real estate sharks to push through their planning goals. What do these consist of? At least not in terms of caring for the interests of the residents. Signa had used a perfidious strategy to transform an initially abstract idea into a formal development plan process despite resistance from the district authorities and the neighborhood - a strategy that is still working even after its insolvency ... We would like to present these strategies to you on site and, above all, discuss our own strategies and tactics.
We start at Hermannplatz, next to the central sculpture on the square. At the square, it will focus on the history of the site, but also on the question of the visibility of migrant communities, on racist, territorial stigmatization, but also on spaces of protest and demonstrations. The second stop is the backyard of the Karstadt site. The Kiezwashing, Artwashing and Greenwashing campaign, but also Signa's political lobbying, is visible there. Our last stop will be at our protest kiosk on Hasenheide to discuss our spatial and political strategies and to have a snack for a donation at the Kiez-Küche, which serves delicious vegetarian and vegan food in the kiosk every Sunday, and to help the Kiez-Küche clean up.
Sold out - A neighborhood walk in the footsteps of Berlin's privatization
Florine Schüschke, artist
14:30-15:50
Why have so many municipal properties in Berlin been privatized? What are the consequences of this policy today and what would be alternatives? Neighborhood walk in Wedding with Florine Schüschke. Duration approx. 80 min.Meeting point: Residenzstraße 42, directly at Franz-Neumann-Platz subway station (U8). Duration approx. 80 min (pure running time is approx. 30 minutes / 1.5 km).
Since 1989, the state of Berlin has sold almost 8,000 state-owned properties. The tour takes a close look at the sell-off in the 1990s and 2000s and leads to exemplary properties. Why were the municipal properties privatized at all after reunification? What is there today and what can the city do now to protect itself from speculation?
Based on her audio walk "Attractive properties for dream investments", Florine Schüschke presents the consequences of the privatization policy. In addition to the various reasons for the numerous consequences of speculation, the focus is on alternative strategies for dealing with municipal real estate.
The walk leads to the PA58 cooperative, which has escaped privatization since the 1980s as a resistant counter-example and still exists today as a self-managed cooperative.
The tour starts at Franz-Neumann-Platz subway station (U8) and ends at Prinzenallee 58.
Audiowalk: https://www.trauminvestitionen.de
