Berlin Study Abroad: Community Asset Map

Note: Our Community Service Partner asked us to try to go into a small shopping plaza to get opinions on his mobile furniture project. Justin & I attempted to maneuver with our limited German and English – we got turned down a few times. We finally were invited into the retirement home / community center where two very gracious, patient women were willing to try to talk to us in limited English (and limited German, on our part!). The language barrier was pretty big here – we managed to get some info regarding the project but weren’t really able to steer the conversation away into a new topic (for the list of info we were asked to get through the assignment.)

1. We spoke to two women who worked in the retirement home that was situated on a small plaza with a grocery store, a couple of small shops, a small bar, and apartments above these small shops. The woman who spoke most was active in working within the community – when we asked about the refugee camp, she mentioned that she was trying to help a couple of them find homes. Though we could not find out exactly, it seemed they have lived here for a long time. When we communicated that there was a potential project for the refugees in the camp, she was very happy to hear it – they said that they knew of the camp, but didn’t have any news on it. She was glad to hear that someone was working with him and thought it would be good for the men to have something to do. Her impression of this community seemed to be that it wasn’t “urban” enough for the mobile furniture project. (We gleaned this information when she wrote down a list of places she thought it would be good for – all were more urban areas.) The particular community she’s works with is older, as she mentioned several times – the people tend to spend more time in their rooms and have visits with families. It’s a fairly quite area and good for families. My impression was that even though they were within walking distance of the container camp, it was a very separate thing from the rest of the community.

2. I spoke with “M” (I prefer not to use full names here), one of the people living in the refugee camp. He has lived in Germany, in spaces for refugees, for nearly two years, but in this particular community for about 6 months. He has a very different perspective from the woman above – this is a very residential area and, like me, he prefers more urban centers with more activity and things to do for younger people. He also feels more like an outsider in this particular area. The best part is having the bus right outside the camp so that he can easily get around to other areas. Though he prefers to wander every corner of Berlin, many of the people that live in the camp with him spend time on Sonnenallee as it feels more familiar (Arab restaurants, grocery stores, language, hair salons, etc.) He’s not allowed to work so he doesn’t feel he really gets a chance to contribute and isn’t happy with the system and support offered to people that come here as refugees. Though he didn’t say it, I think he is glad for the German lessons – even though they are required, having learned German within 5 months has given him greater mobility in the city. He has the highest level of German certification in the camp and when I asked, said that others do come to him for help with their own German learning. Though humble, he seemed to take some pride in this so I would say that he feels, in some way, an asset to this part of THIS community.

3. Housing: This is an interesting category for this area. This is a very residential area – almost “suburban”, I think you could say. There are primarily many small houses – what we would call “unattached, single family homes”. There are a few smaller clusters of apartments – such as the one that Justin & I spent time around in the shopping plaza. It seemed to me that though the single family homes were spread out, the apartments tended to be connected to small shopping plazas. This makes sense as if you have a full house, you most likely have a car and can get around a little easier to do grocery shopping, etc. Apartments are more of a “one stop” kind of place where you can live and get basic necessities with access to public transportation (mostly by bus here). And then, of course, we have the Container Camp across from one of the main roads which we were told houses approximately 200 refugees. The Containers are shipping containers with basic needs – electricity, water, toilet, shower, etc. They also have some have a stove/cooking area, two cot style beds in the main space, very close together, and two metal, military-style lockers for clothing, etc.

Upon researching online, this area is described as “Bourgeois Residential Area” which very much matches the impression I got when walking around here. (This area is considered Buckow but is very close to Rudow and matches the features of this region.) The real estate info I found also confirmed apartment clusters as well as single family homes in addition to multi family. (Most info on rent, etc makes me nervous in regard to housing problems, gentrification, etc, but this seemed like good news… for now: “The southern area of the district has even more appeal since residents here have a stronger purchasing power – meaning that they spend a lower percentage of their income on rent than in other areas of Berlin. This indicates that future rental growth is affordable in areas such as Rudow East and South and Sonnenallee.”)

4. Physical Land Assets:

As stated, this is a very residential area, more spacious than somewhere such as the region of Neukölln where Kotti is located. I did not notice much that was vacant, this seemed a well populated and safe area (though I cringe as using the word “safe” because I’ve been told AFD is active down here and it’s hard to think about AFD and safety in the same region. So let’s say this area is “safe” for certain groups of people and maybe not others.)

The Refugee camp is situated between the end of Berlin (Southern Neukölln / Buckow ) and Brandenberg in what was known as “no man’s land.” (Especially poignant as I read once that this space was created to create a clear line of fire at fleeing refugees.) I am seeking more information as to who owns this property, though I assume it’s government owned. The area around the camp itself is a large field – some dirt and some grass.

There doesn’t seem to be much that’s not in use – at least, not in the area we explored. HOWEVER, from a “public space activation” perspective, there is a lot of space that could be “activated”, in my opinion. We noticed this when scoping out the plaza for our community partner and potential spots to use the mobile furniture. Within the one shopping plaza there was only a couple of benches on the edge and a HUGE amount of space that could be used to liven it up – more benches, plants, tables, the mobile furniture project, etc. Surrounding areas were sidewalks with homes, restaurants, small shops and a larger shopping plaza.

5. Historical and Cultural Features

There aren’t any historical or cultural features (that I saw) in the traditional sense, though the refugee camp I consider to be quite significant in both senses. This area also borders (and houses the refugee camp in) the former “no man’s land” between Berlin and Brandenberg. (I also find it extraordinarily significant that they would place a refugee encampment in this space.)

Also an interesting question – are there artists, musicians, craftspeople, etc. I would like to think there may be several of these within the camp that may be known someday. Though they are vastly different – I considered the Lampedusa camp at Oranienplatz and the fact that it was wiped clean to the point that you would never know there was a camp here once. Will this site be completely dismantled and wiped out at some point also to the point that you’d never know there was once a camp here.

As to nonprofit or community organizations – there is a Community center in the plaza we explored that is coupled with the retirement home and church. Pantelis from Empati is also here doing work with the community.

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