#stadterneuerung: Otto-Suhr-Siedlung

26.4.  15:30 I R336 / 18.-19.5. / 22.-23.6.

During the seminar we take the history of the Otto-Suhr-Siedlung in Kreuzberg as an example of urban renewal in Berlin, of its conflicts, negotiations, everyday life, political narratives and the role of the different actors. Built in the late 1950s as a social housing project, back then located on the edge of the city, the settlement was recently in the media for the possible significant increase of rents as a consequence arising from the planned energetic renovation works (Energetische Sanierung). The location of the settlement within Berlin, near Moritzplatz and the area of the former Berlin Wall, renders it a perfect case-study for current contestation of conflicts of the urban development and the fragmentation of the city.

Within the two blocks of the seminar we question the concept of social housing and work with the legacy of the post-war urban structure. We physically move into the vacant space of the former library, creating a base-camp for our interaction with the city during the semester. Through the occupation of the ex-library-as-studio we actively become an actor in the agency of the settlement. Being present and working with the everyday life, with the dwellers, vendors, workers, initiative members etc. will be significant part of the seminar.

Kick-Off  26.4    15:30    R336