Europe's City Beaches as Post-Fordist Placemaking

Stevens, Quentin; Ambler, Mhairi

doi:10.1080/13574809.2010.502341

Cited by 26 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…It built upon an existing dense fabric of artistic, musical and subcultural activities which had earned the area a reputation as one of post‐reunification Berlin's most vibrant (sub)cultural hubs, home to a number of famous alternative bars, techno clubs and small music labels. As abandoned industrial buildings were turned into clubs and bars, and waterfront plots into urban beaches (Stevens and Ambler, 2010), the public and private promoters of the Media Spree project quickly came to the conclusion that the ‘authenticity of the subculture’ and the ‘creative and alternative image of the neighborhood’ was a key asset which could serve as a catalyst for the clustering of creative industries in the area (Scharenberg and Bader, 2009: 331). Yet to date Media Spree has triggered less investment than conflict, as only a fraction of the plans for the area has been implemented.…”

Section: Not In Our Name! the Resistance Of The ‘Creatives’ In Berlinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Struggling for the Right to the (Creative) City in Berlin and Hamburg: New Urban Social Movements, New ‘Spaces of Hope’?

Novy

Colomb

2012

Int J Urban Regional Res

237

151

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In cities across the globe there is mounting evidence of growing mobilization by members of the so‐called ‘creative class’ in urban social movements, defending particular urban spaces and influencing urban development. This essay discusses the meaning of such developments with reference to the hypothesis made by David Harvey in Spaces of Capital about the increasing mobilization of cultural producers in oppositional movements in an era of wholesale instrumentalization of culture and ‘creativity’ in contemporary processes of capitalist urbanization. After briefly reviewing recent scholarly contributions on the transformations of urban social movements, as well as Harvey's hypothesis about the potential role of cultural producers in mobilizations for the construction of ‘spaces of hope’, the essay describes two specific urban protests that have occurred in Berlin and Hamburg in recent years: the fight for Berlin's waterfront in the Media Spree area, and the conflict centred on the Gängeviertel in Hamburg. In both protests artists, cultural producers and creative milieux have played a prominent role. The essay analyses the composition, agenda, contribution and contradictions of the coalitions behind the protests, discussing whether such movements represent the seeds of new types of coalitions with a wide‐ranging agenda for urban change. The essay finally proposes a future research agenda on the role of artists, cultural producers and the ‘creative class’ in urban social movements across the globe. Résumé Dans les villes à travers le monde, on constate une mobilisation croissante des membres de la classe dite ‘créative’ dans des mouvements sociaux urbains afin de défendre certains espaces de la ville ou d'influencer l'urbanisme. La signification de ces évolutions est analysée en référence à l'hypothèse qu'a formulée David Harvey dans Spaces of Capital sur la mobilisation accrue des producteurs culturels dans des mouvements contestataire à l'ère de l'instrumentalisation massive de la culture et de la ‘créativité’ dans les processus contemporains d'urbanisation capitaliste. Après une courte étude des récentes contributions sur les transformations des mouvements sociaux urbains et de l'hypothèse d'Harvey sur le rôle potentiel des producteurs culturels dans les mobilisations en vue d'élaborer des ‘espaces d'espoir’, deux contestations urbaines qui ont eu lieu ces dernières années à Berlin et Hambourg sont présentées: le combat pour les quais de Berlin dans le projet Media Spree et le conflit centré sur le Gängeviertel hambourgeois. Dans les deux cas, artistes, producteurs culturels et milieux créatifs ont joué un rôle déterminant. Cet essai analyse la composition, le programme, la contribution et les contradictions des coalitions qui soutiennent les contestations, tout en cherchant à savoir si ces mouvements sont les germes de nouveaux types de coalitions dont l'agenda se diversifie en faveur du changement urbain. Pour finir, un programme de recherches est proposé sur le rôle des artistes, des producteurs cultur...

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Section: Not In Our Name! the Resistance Of The ‘Creatives’ In Berlinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Struggling for the Right to the (Creative) City in Berlin and Hamburg: New Urban Social Movements, New ‘Spaces of Hope’?

Novy

Colomb

2012

Int J Urban Regional Res

237

151

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“…Many temporary uses have a ludic, leisure‐oriented focus: the first beach bar in Berlin, Strandbar Mitte , which opened in 2002, was soon followed by many others and in 2010 there were over 60 such urban beaches in Berlin. These beach bars or clubs were created by installing sand, deck chairs, outdoor furniture, and exotic decoration in disused sites usually located on the waterfront of Berlin's canals or main river (Stevens & Ambler, 2010) (Figure 2). By contrast, other temporary uses are the product of a search for spaces of cultural–artistic experimentation, as exemplified by the Skulturenpark collaborative art project set up by a collective of young artist–activists who have, since 2006, designed participatory art projects on an empty wasteland in the district of Mitte (see Till, 2011 for a detailed analysis).…”

Section: The “Voids Of Berlin”: Wastelands and “Urban Pioneers” In Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some sites are used all year round, others, such as the beach bars, only in summer. Finally, one additional characteristic of interim spaces in Berlin is the active participation of the visitors or consumers of the site in the production of a sense of place—the “continual, performative co‐production of place by managers and users” (Stevens & Ambler, 2010, p. 517).…”

Section: The “Voids Of Berlin”: Wastelands and “Urban Pioneers” In Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some authors have emphasized the challenges that they pose for “conventional” forms of urban planning (Oswalt, 2000; SenStadt, 2007) as well as the lessons they offer for new forms of flexible, “open source” urbanism (Misselwitz, Oswalt, & Overmeyer, 2007). Practices of temporary uses have been interpreted as “post‐Fordist place making” (Stevens & Ambler, 2010, p. 532), that is, a flexible mode of production of urban open spaces (or “loose spaces”) which differs from conventional state‐ or market‐led development processes (Franck & Stevens, 2007; Groth & Corjin, 2005; Stevens & Ambler, 2010). Such practices “might change how planners, designers and managers think about the production of urban open space” in an era when “major flows of urban development finance are lacking” (Stevens & Ambler, 2010, p. 516).…”

Section: The “Voids Of Berlin”: Wastelands and “Urban Pioneers” In Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pushing the Urban Frontier: Temporary Uses of Space, City Marketing, and the Creative City Discourse in 2000S Berlin

Colomb

2012

Journal of Urban Affairs

231

167

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In spite of the amount of urban development that followed the Fall of the Wall, Berlin's urban landscape has remained filled with a large amount of "voids" and disused sites, which have gradually been occupied by various individuals, groups, or entrepreneurs for "temporary" or "interim" uses (such as urban beach bars). This paper analyzes how, and why, such temporary uses of space have been harnessed in recent economic and urban development policies and in the official city marketing discourse in Berlin post-2000, in the context of the discursive and policy shift toward the promotion of Berlin as a "creative city." The gradual process of enlistment of new forms of cultural and social expression by policy-makers and real estate developers for urban development and place marketing purposes has put pressure on the very existence and experimental nature of "temporary uses" and "interim spaces." These have consequently been going through various trajectories of displacement, transformation, commodification, resistance, or disappearance, and in particular cases have become the focus of intense local conflicts.Temporary uses are generally not considered to be part of normal cycles of urban development. If a building or area becomes vacant, it is expected to be re-planned, built over and used as soon as possible. Temporary uses are often associated with crisis, a lack of vision and chaos. But, despite all preconceptions, examples like the vital scene of Berlin's nomadic clubs or temporary events proves that temporary uses can become an extremely successful, inclusive and innovative part of contemporary urban culture. (SUC, 2003, p. 4) After the Fall of the Wall and the reunification of the city in 1989, a period of intensive urban development began in Berlin. Throughout the 1990s large-scale construction sites punctuated the urban landscape of the inner city, in particular around Potsdamer Platz, near the new seat of the Federal Government near the river Spree and in the historical core of the Friedrichstadt. The transformation of the city was promoted to an internal and external audience of Berliners, visitors, and potential investors through high-profile city marketing events and image campaigns, which featured the iconic architecture of flagship urban redevelopment projects to symbolize

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“…Saylor (2016) describes how the CITY of NIGHT event helped to regenerate Silo City, a run-down industrial area of Buffalo, New York. In the case of Berlin Stevens and Ambler (2010) analyse the role of urban beaches in "post-Fordist" placemaking. The use of these beaches effectively becomes an event in itself:…”

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confidence: 99%

Guest editorial

Brito

Richards

2017

IJEFM

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Guest editorialEvents and placemaking Events and festivals have become increasingly important policy tools for cities and regions. They are able to produce a wide range of externalities, including economic impacts, image change, social capital and cultural regeneration. All of these event-related externalities have impacts and effects on the places in which they are staged. In many cases, these eventrelated impacts are analysed separately, but in fact the most powerful effects of events are more holistic, able to impact not just on individual economic sectors or social groups, but on places as a whole.Over time, the use of events by cities and regions has grown more sophisticated and complex. The range of policy goals for which events are utilised has expanded, and the range and type of events staged has increased as well. Increasingly, public administrations seek to co-ordinate the events in their jurisdiction to create synergies between events and to maximise the benefits generated. Event policies make frequent references to the development of programmes or "portfolios" of events (Antchak, 2016). The ability of events to effect a broad range of changes in different places has added to their attractiveness as a placemaking tool, and has led to more cities developing "events units" and other forms of event-based interventions (Whitford, 2009). Many cities are also actively engaged in bidding for events such as the European Capital of Culture or the Olympic Games. Some cities may also resort to copying events held elsewhere, or in the most extreme cases, simply "stealing" events from their neighbours (e.g. Van Aalst and van Melik, 2011).The emergence of coordinated approaches to the management of events by places has, over time, also produced changes in the relationship between events and their host locations. Historically, many events were used as a form of place marketing, essentially to attract attention to their location and to obtain wider recognition of their existence, and to establish specific brand associations (Hall, 1989). As marketing and branding of places became more necessary with increasing globalisation, the role of events was more firmly linked to city marketing and place branding strategies. For example Ashworth (2009, p. 9), in his review of tools for place branding, identified "event hallmarking" as a process "where places organise events, usually cultural or sporting, in order to obtain a wider recognition that they exist but also to establish specific brand associations". As the term "hallmarking" suggests, places tended to use major events in order to market and brand themselves. This had the advantage of attracting attention, but Ashworth (2009, p. 20) also argued that "hallmark events alone are unlikely to have much impact upon a place brand" and even identified "cases where events have resulted in increasing brand recognition but of an inadequate place product".This recognition of the limitations of place marketing and place branding approaches linked to events led in some cases to a bro...

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Europe's City Beaches as Post-Fordist Placemaking

Cited by 26 publications

References 12 publications

Struggling for the Right to the (Creative) City in Berlin and Hamburg: New Urban Social Movements, New ‘Spaces of Hope’?

Struggling for the Right to the (Creative) City in Berlin and Hamburg: New Urban Social Movements, New ‘Spaces of Hope’?

Pushing the Urban Frontier: Temporary Uses of Space, City Marketing, and the Creative City Discourse in 2000S Berlin

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