Alleged Apartment Shortage in Germany is Limited to Trendy Areas
According to Kleinhubbert's article, rent is not atrociously high as some would have you believe.
Kleinhubbert claims that those who are disputing the rent are those who want to live in the trendy
neighborhoods that, consequentially, have apartments with higher rent.
Saver Berlin: Renters vs. the System!
Rent is rising quickly in Berlin, where once there was plenty of housing available for an inexpensive
price. Unfortunately, property owners and investors are taking advantage of this and using it to bring in
renters who can pay a higher price in rent. Those who have been in their homes for a long period are
being forced to leave because they are not able to afford the rent anymore.
Berliners War Against Gentrification
This article by Matt Shea includes several relevant images illustrating the gentrification issues
prevalent in Kreuzberg. Shea is hopeful, and states: “Most people see gentrification as an unstoppable force,
but Berlin might be the first city that actually has a chance to effectively challenge that preconception.”
The photograph to the left was taken during July of 2012 during my month long stay in Kreuzberg. This grafitti'd building was right across the street from the apartment building in which I stayed during this time. While we were there, the end of our street (Adelbertstrasse) was blocked off due to construction. Upon my latest visit to gather photographs for this project, I found that the street was no longer blocked off and there was now a furniture showroom on the street corner. (www.sitzfeldt.com). This new furniture shop stood in sharp contrast to the older buildings all around it in the middle of what was once (and still is) a poverty stricken area. From peering into the windows, I saw sleek displays of living rooms complete with modern furniture counterparts. Looking across the street from this furniture showroom is the Wagon Castle, and so one can understand how much this place did stand out. Not only did this storefront stand out, but it appeared as if it had been vandalized not so long ago. (see photograph below). All along the entire glass, first-floor storefront, the windows had been shattered with rocks. There were several holes in each window, all with broken glass streaking out from the original entry point. I began to think that perhaps this act of vandalism is in protest to the construction of expensive outlets such as these that encourage those with more money to move in, hence adding to the problem of gentrification and equalling to rising rent.
Loretta Lees, in her article "Gentrification and Social Mixing: Towards an Inclusive Urban Renaissance?" discusses how perhaps gentrification does more harm than good. Lees claims that gentrification or "social mixing" can threaten existing social networks and can essentially displace those who once called a particular place home. (2461). However, Tom Slater, the author of "The Eviction of Critical Perspectives from Gentrification Research" states that there is no way to measure displacement, and deemed this action "measuring the invisible" (748).While this may be true, it is safe to assume that there is some form of displacement that occurs during gentrification, even if the results cannot be measured. Based on the vandalism evidence alone from the furniture showroom, this "mixing" of social classes is an issue in the Kreuzberg/Mitte district. Kreuzberg is just one of the districts in Berlin that is appealing to the younger and more "hip" crowds. Because this district is popular, the rent continues to rise as the demand for living space here does as well. A larger "number of people today exclusively focus on the hip districts in spite of prices. So rents continue to rise and the search for apartments is growing increasingly harder," (qtd. in Kleinhubbert). There are other nearby districts that offer lower rents, however, "apartments offered in Berlin's popular Kreuzberg area attract six times as many interested parties as properties in Wilmersdorf, which is close by," (Kleinhubbert). Investors and property owners are capitalizing on this growing popularity of Kreuzberg, and the increased popularity of Kreuzberg, where once it was a place no one cared to go, is now a highly desired place to live.
It is difficult to answer the question of whether gentrification is positive or negative because viewing it in one way or the other is a matter of perception. While gentrification does push long-term residents out, it also brings a new crowd in. Ideally, these two social classes or differing social groups could live together peaceably, but when the old crowd feels the new crowd is pushing them out, there is room for resentment. However, is it really the new crowd that is pushing the old crowd out, or is it that the rules governing rent have been lax so that this brings more income to that particular area? Bringing more capital to an area because of the demand can be a good thing, because if this never happened the district or city has the potential of dying out. By popularizing the district through any medium, the district lives on. Places like the Kreuzberg musem keep Kreuzberg's history alive while the building sits right in the middle of all the changes.
One thing is certain -- change is inevitable, and through this time of change in Krezberg, that is when the district's residents must fight the hardest to hang onto what they love about their culture. The fact that the Wagon Castle now holds a permanent address in the district of Kreuzberg is encouraging, and shows that Kreuzberg's resididents will fight hard to remain true to their roots and fight the system if need be. And that is just one of the aspects that make Kreuzberg so attractive.
