"New diversities" and "urban arrival infrastructures"? - The socio-spatial appropriation and footprints of refugees in Berlin-Neukölln - Habitat Unit
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“New diversities”
and “urban arrival
infrastructures”?
The socio-spatial appropriation
and footprints of refugees in
Berlin-Neukölln
Final
report
Content
Introduction 4
Methodology 7
I. Change on Sonnenallee 10
a. Urban Structure 10
b. Visitors/Customers 18
Habitat Unit c. Shop Owners 22
Chair of International Urbanism and Design
Dr. Anna Steigemann II. The Logic of Sonnenallee’s Socioeconomics 32
Prof. Dr. Philipp Misselwitz
III. Employment on Sonnenallee 44
Winter Semester 2017/18
Seminar MA Urb, MA Arch, MASRP: WP IV. Behind the Curtains 54
Students: Conclusion 71
Aline Fraikin, Anais Alfieri, Ana Martin Yuste,
Aram Lee, Benjamin Seidel, Carolina Monroy Santillán, References 74
Chloé Mas, Claudia Martinez, Duygu Kaban,
Esther Pearce, Gonçalo Pombo, Lea Holtmannspötter, Interview Guidelines 77
Lea Samson, Leonie Ziehmann, Lisa Templiner,
Maria Alice Floriano, Nadine Krell, Natalia Roman,
Pedro Fortunato, Robert Hummel, Robin Hueppe,
Sofia Fernandez Rosso, Sophie Marthe,
Tareq Almuhammad, Tom Mouritz, Venus Ayoub
Editing:
Dr. Anna Steigemann
Layout:
Pedro Fortunato
Fonts:
Minion Pro, Liberation Sans
Introduction
Benjamin Seidel, Esther Pearce, Ana Martin Yuste, Robin Hueppe
Places of arrival and their “arrival infrastruc-
tures” seem to play a crucial and supportive
and Wedding - since the start of contractual
working migration in the 1960s has served as
role when arriving newly to a place for finding an area for newcomers to settle. Recently, with
housing, a job, social networks, provision plac- the arrival of more refugees from Arabic speak-
es, access to practical information, every-day ing countries, the area has seen larger shifts in
knowledge or, more broadly, the local context. this respect. Moreover, inhabitants and shop
In a study on the ethnically diverse neighbor- owners on Sonnenallee, like in most of Berlin,
What are diversity and “new diversities” an Cities for the implementation of the term hood Antwerpen-Noord Schillebeeckx (2015) during the last few years had to deal with rap-
and why do they matter? “hyper-diversity” (Tasan-Kok et al. 2013). It is showed more specifically that local expertise idly rising rents, while the street has been the
In recent years, discourses and discussions hence important to ask for a complex and local- was “not only present in the organizations that city’s most covered one by the media and has
about globalization trends, migration flows and ly grounded understanding of diversity, which [were] specialized in offering welfare provision even made it into international press and travel
local integration have become more relevant has been one aim of the research project and to newcomers, [but that it was] also latent in guides (e.g. Glassberg or Larsson 2017). Hence,
and visible than they had ever been before. In TU Berlin Master class “‘New diversities’ and the local community” (ibid.: 19). Furthermore, it seemed fruitful to us to conduct research on
order to respond to this and, at the same time, ‘urban arrival infrastructures’? The socio-spatial “reciprocal dense informal social networks” “urban arrival infrastructures” and “new diver-
as an antipodal answer to previous modernist appropriation and footprints of refugees in Ber- (ibid.: 20) seemed to play an important role sities” in this specific area – a street strip where
urban planning paradigms of segregation of lin-Neukölln” during the winter semester 2017- for newcomers in the process of settling in and we assumed that multiple diversities and con-
homogenous areas and design by destruction 2018. So, by looking at Sonnenallee, one specif- that the “concentration of migrant newcomers tinuing arrival leave concrete spatial and social
in some progressive debates diversity has been ic interest of the project was to gather multiple in particular neighbourhoods allow[ed] for the observable footprints.
proposed and positioned as a new paradigm. perspectives on the different dimensions of specialisation of these neighbourhoods in arrival
However, to make use of this concept produc- diversity in the area. To ask for “new diversities” and transition” (ibid.: 22).
tively, certain questions have to be considered. in the context of this street in Neukölln, conse- Who are we?
In the first place, for example, Fainstein (2005) quently means to look at how different elements The Master course was directed by Dr. Anna
argues that there exists a multiplicity of its - like for example class, ethnic background and Why did we choose Sonnenallee? Steigemann at the Habitat Unit of the TU
meanings in and across different disciplines gender - are constituted and related to each oth- With the research undertaken during the Berlin. The group of researchers consisted of 32
and referring to different aspects such as build- er, if or how they have changed over time and semester we wanted to look at how inside of Master students, many of which have migration
ing types, uses, ethnic backgrounds, etc., all if and how these potential alterations are being Neukölln different groups of especially newly backgrounds themselves and are newcomers
of which need to be discussed and clarified. perceived and evaluated on site and from the arrived people make use of and change the dis- to Berlin, while having very diverse profes-
Secondly, the term diversity itself tends towards outside. trict. To get a more specified close-up we decid- sional backgrounds, such as in Architecture,
strengthening dichotomies and dualistic per- ed to narrow our analysis down to the northern Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, Urban
spectives ranging between either overly prob- parts of Sonnenallee that have been highly pres- Planning, Sociology, History, and Psychology.
lematizing or euphoric perceptions, as can be What are “urban arrival infrastructures”? ent in debates on immigration and arrival in
seen in the case of Sonnenallee, the area of our “Urban arrival infrastructures” or also “urban Berlin. The outside image of Sonnenallee from
fieldwork, as well. Third, diversity is also often transition zones” can be defined as areas that the media in most cases is a very conflictual What did we focus on and how did we
being used to label social mix strategies that are “[...] specialized in the arrival and transition one: The views often show high levels of stig- conduct the research?
can, in its consequences, lead to driving out of newcomers [...]”, provide “[...] localized re- matization but also an often “othering”-curios- In our research we wanted to get a more de-
certain sectors of inhabitants. Fainstein, thus sources that are nurtured in these areas and po- ity as shown by some newspaper headlines like: tailed and deep understanding of how Sonne-
asks how appropriate it is to use diversity as a tentially contribute to the integration of migrants “That’s how a day passes by on Planet Sonne- nallee “works”, how it has possibly changed over
planning principle. in society” (Schillebeeckx 2015: 2). nallee” already from 2010 (Keseling), “Son- time and how people that live, work or shop
nenallee: The Arabic Street” in August 2016 there make use of and appropriate the space.
Nevertheless, we face situations where differ- Considering Sonnenallee a potential site of (Küpper) ,or “Causing friendship with sweets” Also, we tried to explore what these different
ent kinds of diversity have to be considered as arrival, another aim of the project thus was to in 2017 (Abdi). With regard to diversity and its user groups in their varying roles for the street,
important elements as well in the analysis of as “urban arrival infrastructures”, their conditions, possible changes over time, Sonnenallee also is arrival, existing and emerging new diversities
in the planning for and within society. Some functioning, structures and what they might in- of particular interest as Neukölln - like Berlin’s perceive as challenges or potentials. The main
scholars even argue in the context of Europe- or exclude. other historic working class districts Kreuzberg question that guided the work during the whole
4 5
Introduction
process was how we could get a more differen-
tiated perspective on diversities, urban arrival
Methodology
Aline Fraikin, Anais Alfieri, Gonçalo Pombo, Natalia Roman, Robert Hummel, Sophie Marthe
and the concrete space of Sonnenallee. Hence,
our focus and research interest reached beyond
stressing ethnic backgrounds or origin. Draw-
ing from four core and further additional read-
ings the research was divided into four groups:
34 STUDENTS // 4 WEEKS // 45 INTERVIEWS
Group 1: Change on Sonnenallee
Core reading: Towards Hyper-Diversified Euro-
pean Cities: A Critical Literature Review
By Tuna Tasan-Kok, Ronald van Kempen, Mike
Raco and Gideon Bolt
Group 2: The Logic of Sonnenallee’s Socioec- Find
onomics Research Research Focus Questionnaire Inter-
Core reading: Cities and Diversity. Should We and Question Design pretation
Want It? Can We Plan For It?
By Susan S. Fainstein
Collec-
First tion of Analysis
Group 3: Employment on Sonnenallee
Core reading: Dealing with diversity in the city:
OCT2017 Exploration: DEC2017 FEB2018
Answers
Exploring the arrival and transition -walks
infrastructure in the migrant neighbourhood -observations
Antwerpen-Noord -photos
By Elise Schillebeeckx
Group 4: Behind the Curtains of Sonnenallee
Core reading: Locating migrant pathways of
economic emplacement:
Thinking beyond the ethnic lens
By Nina Click Schiller, Ayse Caglar Explorative Phase and Logistics To determine the focus of each group’s research
After a short review of the most relevant cur- project, we engaged in a week-long explorative
How we proceeded methodologically to answer rent urban studies literature on diversity and phase, during which we gathered first impres-
the in these topics involved questions is ex- the concept of arrival infrastructures (Fainstein sions by going for walks, running participatory
plained in the next chapter. 2005, Schiller and Çağlar 2013, Tasan-Kok et al. observations, and taking photos of Sonnenallee
2013, Schillebeeck 2015), we split into four sub- and its spaces, people, and practices. From the
groups to analyze the socio-economic structure very beginning, all information and experiences
of Sonnenallee from a variety of angles. All were documented and archived. In a second
groups tried to relate their research and work step, each group negotiated their research ob-
to the overall themes of diversities and arrival jectives while linking them back to the results
infrastructures, while each single group de- of the literature review.
veloped their own specific research focus and
conceptual approach.
6 7
Methodology
The groups organized themselves as follows: interview partners’ language skills.
Group 1: “Change on Sonnenallee” (6 students)
Data Collection and Sample
Group 2: “The Logic of Sonnenallee’s So- Given the fact that we were a rather large stu-
cio-Economics” (4 students) dent group and in order to avoid contacting the
same interviewee multiple times, we divided
Group 3: “Sonnenallee – An Arrival Infrastruc- Sonnenallee geographically into four segments:
ture in Terms of Employment?” (8 students) two on each side of Sonnenallee from Herman-
nplatz to Weichselstraße and two up to Wilden-
Group 4: “Behind the Curtains of Sonnenallee” bruchstraße (see the map on the following
(4 students) page). Each of the four student groups focused
on one of the allocated segments. We looked for
interviewees falling into one of the following
Design of the Questionnaires categories: store owners, employees of stores,
The design of the questionnaires as a golden NGO employees and customers. Additionally,
thread for the open and narrative in-depth we had meetings with local experts in Neukölln of organizing and labeling data in order to build servations. Specific text passages or statements
interviews was conducted in multiple steps. that either deal with migration and integra- up a basis for the analysis. The codes constitute were read in their contexts and then categorized
First, each of the four groups created different tion issues or with the planning and economic the main element of the method and enable to by means of the developed codes from the pre-
questionnaires depending on their respective development of the street. The main cooper- focus only on the data that is relevant for the vious steps. The fourth step was to control if the
research question. These questionnaires were ation partners were Christoph Braun from specific research. That places great importance groups’ ideas, concepts and themes were cod-
developed for different interview partners: the Sharehouse Refugio in Lenaustraße and on choosing the right codes for the coding pro- ed to fit the categories. With the codes (main
Shop owners, employees, customers, visitors Ina Rathfelder from the Stadtteilmanagement cess. In order to achieve a good coding process, threads) and their contents (statements, text
and residents. Secondly, all the questionnaires Sonnenallee – Unternehmen Neukölln and the researchers constantly have to ask them- passages, notes), the material was structured
were brought together and combined into a the Quartiersmanagement Ganghoferstraße selves what their inquiry is about. and schemes or patterns could easily be read.
final questionnaire for each interview group. team. Additional interview partners (residents, The way the groups used this method included Thereby the groups were able to straightfor-
With this, only the most relevant questions experts, etc.) were contacted directly by the four main steps. The first step was to develop a wardly answer their research questions.
were asked, stimulating the narration flow, and students, either by spontaneously walking into storyline by skimming through the transcrip-
the questionnaires could focus more on the stores and local institutions – sometimes two tions, linking them back to theory and subse-
main issue of the course: “New diversities and students together – or in some cases, by setting quently identifying main themes (codes) that
urban arrival infrastructures on Sonnenallee”. up an official interview appointment by phone. appear throughout the data. The second and
Further, through having equal questionnaires In other cases, the students were accompanied most challenging step was linking these main
for every group at the end everyone could by friends who could help with Arabic trans- threads back to the respective research question
benefit from all interviews conducted. Thus, the lation. In total, we spent four weeks collecting and research aims that the students had devel-
analysis was not limited to just the interviewees data and ran 45 interviews with members of oped at the beginning of the project. At this
of their respective group but could draw on a our focus groups. point, the success of the chosen research design
bigger sample of interview material. Addition- and interview questions was unveiled – the eas-
ally, through asking each interview partner the ier it was to build up the connection between
same questions, we achieved a better compar- Data evaluation and interpretation the produced material and the research issues,
ison of different shop owners and employees. In order to evaluate and interpret the empirical the better the interview questions worked. In
This allowed for and supported a much deeper data which was collected mostly through inter- the third step, the students did an in-depth
analysis of the whole street. The questionnaires views and field observations, the groups used analysis of their textual data in a systematic
were designed in English and translated into a simplified version of coding the interview way: interview transcriptions, notes, field ob-
German and partly Arabic, depending on the material and observation notes. Coding is a way
8 9
Change on
Sonnenallee
City Scape miniums lived in the block themselves. They
Around 1900, the adjacent street to Sonne- lived in the most beautiful, most generous
nallee, Karl-Marx-Straße, represented the main apartment in the first floor of the front build-
shopping center as well as an administrative ing. On the ground floor was commercial use.
center in Berlin on top of the western district’s And the further one went into the inner areas
Anais Alfieri, Chloé Mas, Gonçalo Pombo, Lisa Templiner, Sophie Marthe, Tareq Almuhammad
Schloßstraße and Wilmersdorferstraße. of the block, into the rear buildings the social
status of the inhabitants decreased.” (resident)
“There were also shops here. And if you ask
older people, those were partly even more
attractive.” (jeweller) PRESENT
urban structure Sonnenallee in the immediate vicinity of
Karl-Marx-Straße benefited from this im-
Location
Sonnenallee is centrally located within the
portant supply function and reputation and S-Bahnring of Berlin. Further, it is connected
PAST biggest department store of Karstadt und the shopping center. This had an impact of the use though the U-Bahnlinie U7 in the east-west-di-
opening of the U-Bahn station Hermannplatz. and appearance of Sonnenallee’s public space, rections and U8 in north-south-directions. In
Location Hermannplatz was not only a social center but for example, in regard to the construction of addition, Sonnenallee is connected by the bus
Sonnenallee as a street was built and extended also the traffic hub of southeast Berlin, where important and iconic public buildings as well line M41 to the main station as well as with the
within the old independent municipality of most important streets connecting Neukölln as in regard to how public space was used and line 171 to the airport Schönefeld.
Rixdorf in the 18th and 19th century. Until its to Berlin and the surrounding area started or appropriated by different users. Additionally,
incorporation 1920, Rixdorf (renamend Neu- ended. Sonnenallee was characterized by very magnifi-
kölln in 1912) was an peripheral district in the cent design of the front houses. Hermannplatz
southeast of Berlin. Due to The examined area of Sonnenallee offers very
the immense populations “So, my mom told me the other day, that there little public green and open space, except Her-
growth, Berlin gradually was a tram on the middle strip, which is today mannplatz at the northern end. However, its
enclosed Neukölln. Imme- a grass verge. And when she was a child, she quality is characterized by its use and function
diately after becoming part used to walk there together with her grand- as an important supply center and particularly
of the city of Berlin, Sonne- mother.” (resident) an important traffic hub, where two subway
nallee was then integrated lines intersect, and different arterial roads have
into the public transport and The distribution of the street was basically the their starting point, e.g. Hermannstraße, Karl-
road network of the city. As a same as it is today: sidewalks on both sides, Marx-Straße, and Hasenheide.
major thoroughfare, in 1894 wide lanes with greenery accompanying the
Sonnenallee started from street and a bigger median strip. This strip
Hermannplatz and reached located in the middle of the lanes was originally City Scape
up to Reuterstraße, while used for public transport – a tram. The street “There are partly high stately and very mag-
being extended to the Ring- was paved with cobblestone. In general, there nificent Gründerzeit buildings.” (resident)
bahn until 1905. was a lower traffic congestion on the streets.
The bordering five-floor Gründerzeit residen-
tial buildings characterize the spatial quality of
Hermannplatz The Berlin Block the examined area in Sonnenallee. The compact
Only since the mid 1920’s, “This is the typical building typology that form of the Berlin Block reaches a GFZ of 5.
Hermannplatz developed developed during the Wilhelminian era. In the The fragmented use and the vertical structure
into an important public time when Berlin has grown and boomed so of the often mixed-use residential and com-
square with the back then stark. At that time the idea was that condo- mercial buildings is particularly relevant for
10 11
Change: Urban Structure
inwards from Pannierstraße to Hermannplatz The new tram line which is planned from
a bus lane occupies one of the lanes. There are “Hermannplatz” to “Görlitzer Park” and until
no marked bicycle paths along the entire length the “Warschauer Straße” supports this argu-
of the investigated section of Sonnenallee. It is ment. Contrary to that the junction point from
parked on both sides of the road. It is parked on Sonnenallee to the highway A100 which will
both sides of the road. The middle strip extends lead to the new airport might cause even more
across Sonnenallee up to the S-Bahnring and is traffic than in the present. This could lead to
heavily used by the stationary traffic as well. an increased lack of quality on the street. It is
uncertain how the street will evolve. On the
“The Sonnenallee is somehow used, things are one hand it could become a street with a high-
just thrown away, if something is not good er walkability and space for bikes and public
anymore, sofa are lying around.” (jeweller) transport. On the other hand, it could get even
more uncontrolled traffic and a high congestion
Another often mentioned physical characteris- of motorized traffic. Thus, the future attractive-
tic of the street is the huge amount of garbage ness of the street will be determined by current
and dirt on the street. planning decisions.
“So, this is such an absurd duel that is some-
FUTURE how happening, because I think that will very
much determine the living quality on the
In order to analyze how the Sonnenallee might street.” (resident)
look in the future, we need to distinguish
between the interview results and real future Another repeatedly mentioned concern of our
developments. On the one hand, the wishes, interview partners regards are the users, the
hopes and visions of the interviewees and on insufficient greenery and lack of space to rest
the other hand, real concrete and implemented on the street, for which the interviewees hope
projects which will shape the street. for change:
“More playgrounds or how do you say that –
Interviews green spaces- more benches to sit and so on.”
In regard to the interview results, a distinction (Supermarket employee)
between different groups and their visions can
the commercial use of Sonnenallee. Defining walks on both sides. These are highly utilized be made. The interviewed group of young, so- The commercial structure and the resulting
the type of the Berlin Block, rear buildings and by neighboring commercial units, meaning for called international expats or “hipsters” expect livability on the streets is believed to remain the
partially commercial structures are located in example, furniture, shop display, advertisement, an ongoing gentrification on the street, which same in the future or to developed into a higher
the back yards. (Regarding the Berlin Block see etc. Further narrowing takes place through the will speed up and change vastly the current diversity and number of stores. This means that
below) occupation of the road-accompanying trees urban but also commercial and demographic the small, individual and diverse retail structure
whose tree-disks are bordered by concrete edg- structure of the street. They believe that more will remain as it is and bring even more visitors
“(…) in terms of urban design, the middle es and thus constitute a barrier. expensive stores for a different and wealthier to the street.
strip, all the trees and the sidewalks. That’s all clientele will displace smaller, cheap stores,
well-proportioned (…)” (resident) “Definitely too much traffic and really blatant their visitors as well as many residents. They Contrary to that, the Arabic native speaking
car traffic.” (resident) also wish for a cleaner street and more traffic do not share this view. They do not see an
The street space has a width of approximately regulations as well as for more walkability and a emerging gentrification, but rather predict an
34m from building to building. There are side- In both directions are three driving lanes. City bike lane. expansion of Arabic stores, more car traffic and
12 13
Change: Urban Structure
“uncoordinated visitors” on the streets. They development plans are the reac-
believe that the street will become even more tivation of the street as an active
Arabic then it is now: shopping and service street with
a high connectivity. Thereby they
“In 10 years Sonnenallee will be completely particularly aim for the attraction
Arabic.” (Employee Sports bar) and settlement of especially crea-
tive businesses. The programs try
In general, the Arabic speaking interviewees to avoid a commercial competition
seem to worry and reflect less about the ur- with neighboring Karl-Marx-
ban structure of the street. Concerning their Straße.
future on the street, they mostly referred to
the commercial structure, which they believe Other relevant topics for the
will remain quite the same. The predict a more effective use of the flexible Berlin
chaotic urban street life, which they also believe Block are creating for new forms of
will intensify due to an expected higher estab- housing and working in the neigh-
lishment of Arabic stores and customers: borhood and the regeneration of
urban green. Therefore, more green
“To be honest, the same. I don’t think it spaces will be developed, and the
would change.” (visitor) existing ones reactivated. The plan
“I don’t know why it would change. Maybe is to connect existing greenery
even more overcrowded!” (visitor) and create a green axis as well as
“With more stores.” (visitor) a connection to the nearby chan-
nel. It is also planned to improve
Both groups though wish for a better and safer the street network in general, with
street structure especially for pedestrians and more crossing opportunities and
cyclists. One can conclude that to keep the the creation of a bike lanes in sur-
street attractive and livable, the urban structure roundings streets.
has to be rethought. It should become less de-
signed for cars and more for people. As we have These targets partly overlap with
seen in the past the urban structure enables a the ones of “Aktives Zentrum”.
use for a high pedestrian fluctuation and thus This project mainly aims towards
could be transformed again. a new “active center” of Neukölln,
for a higher visitor attendance and
positive local image. The motto is
Urban development projects “Jung, bunt, erfolgreich - handeln, of the urban structure and public spaces will be
In the present, there are two urban redevel- begegnen, erleben” meaning “Young, colorful, improved. If there will be a bike lane directly
opment projects taking place on Sonnenallee. successful - act, encounter, experience”. This on Sonnenallee is uncertain. Nevertheless, the
Since 2009 a redevelopment project started is also meant to support the diversity of Neu- construction of the new tram line is planned to
around the area called “Aktives Zentrum Karl- köllns residents and commercial structure. start till 2026.
Marx-Straße / Sonnenallee”. Also, since 2011
the “Sanierungsgebiet Karl-Marx-Straße / Sonnenallee is suggested to become a meeting
Sonnenallee” affects the design and reconstruc- center for art, culture, trade and services and
tion of the street and its surrounding neighbor- for that the small and ethnic diverse store struc-
hoods. The main aims of the “Sanierungsgebiet” ture will be endorsed. Additionally, the quality
14 15
Change: Urban Structure
CHANGE
Sonnenallee has rarely changed in its spa-
tial-physical conditions. There were small
changes in the materiality, for example the road
surface (cobblestone-asphalt) or the decoration
of the façades. Those were richly and, in more
detail, ornamented in the past. However, there
was a considerable change in its use. Today,
people complain about a particularly high traf-
fic load, which occupies a large part of the open
space and harms the quality of stay. The ground
level of the Gründerzeit buildings is still used
for commercial purposes even though the range
of products, ownership structures and other
features and characteristics of the built environ-
ment but also the group of visitors and users
have changed. With this we conclude that the
urban structure of Sonnenallee is very flexible
and enables many different uses and the pos- Examples of past and present
changes in Sonnenallee
sibility to host and develop further diversities.
Especially the wide streets, the middle strip and
the ground floor use of the Berlin Block sup-
port the adaptation to different purposes and
enable a very lively and dynamic social street
life.
16 17
Change: Visitors/Customers
visitors/customers
How did the use of Sonnenallee change? prices. These three points were the most often
The customer composition changed over time mentioned positive attributes of Sonnenallee.
in Sonnenallee in terms of diversity. Even For instance, “It’s a good place, because you find
though today’s customer and visitor structure different people. A lot of people. There’s a good
seem less diverse than before 2015, our analysis mix here.” (visitor)
revealed that these structures develop towards
hyper-diversity recently. This new hyperdiversi- As we mentioned before, the customer-visitor
ty has an impact on the uses on the street. What structure developed from an already diverse the main use of the street - the huge variety of nenallee’s restaurants are special but similar
these use changes look like is at the core of the composition towards more hyperdiversity in shops. restaurants can also be found in the adjacent
following analysis: the last years. One outcome of the interviews district, but “I can also find these restaurants in
In order to understand how Sonnenallee is used was that this is one of the main reasons why “Because they offer food and products you Kreuzberg, but is is more expensive.” (visitor)
by the visitors and customers during our field people are attracted by Sonnenallee and fur- can’t find anywhere else.” (visitor)
work phase, we interviewed and observed them thermore, also they come to the street because “Diversity” is viewed a new paradigm for a
– also to find out what they do and don’t like of the similarly increased and diversified offers This is closely linked to the special food offers globally connected and just city. As Fainstein
about and on Sonnenallee. and opportunities on the street compared to on Sonnenallee. Visitors come for eating out puts it, diversity “constitutes an antithesis to
the less diverse past. In this regard, we interpret ro Sonnenallee on a daily, weekly or monthly previous orientations toward urban design, in
that Sonnenallee became well known also as basis, they also mention that buying food also which segregation of homogeneous districts was
What do you like about Sonnenallee ? an urban arrival infrastructure since the new drives their motivation to visit Sonnenallee. the governing orthodoxy” (Fainstein 2005). But
We often got very similar answers from our Syrian migration from 2015 onwards. Put together, around 75% of the visitors come diversity is also as an attractor and promote an
interviewees when asked about the things they to Sonnenallee to use the shops related to food. area’s “ethnic appeal” and might stimulate and
like about Sonnenallee. Hence, for a broader “I like the sense of security it gives refugees Sonnenallee developed into an highly diverse involve gentrification processes. Our analysis
discussion, we tried to capture their frequence once they arrive here, to many the “Arabic “open-air market”, offering from around the revealed that the process of gentrification af-
and organized the findings into diagrams with street” is the first stop and once you are here world and particularly Arabic speaking coun- fects drastically Sonnenallee, and these chal-
percentages of answers. These are based on all and see something familiar and people that tries, often offering also further services and lenging effects will increase in the future:
36 interviews. A further analysing step was speak your language and can help you settle uses that are rather new for a Berlin or Son-
their distribution into different categories. in, suddenly the city is less strange to you and nenallee context. While many refugees come “I believe it will change a lot. It is gonna have
you aren’t as worried.” (visitor) to Sonnenallee to feel the taste and the atmos- more coffes. Pannienstrasse not so gentrified,
Further openly formulated and free main topics phere from home, other visitors are students but will be like Kreuzberg, full of English peo-
that were discussed more often were the mix Another outcome from the question about what and tourists looking for affordable and new ple and Australians.” (visitor)
of people, the variety of shops and the low visitors and customers like on Sonnenallee was cuisines. As on interviewee mentions, Son-
18 19Change: Visitors/Customers
food stands, bike riders, et cetera. For instance, Conclusion
people just stop in the middle of the street next As a conclusion of our analysis findings, we
to the sidewalks while driving to chat with argue that the structure of customers and vis-
Consequently, gentrification crawling down dislike on Sonnenallee? The free main topics passers-by. However, this is how they cause itors in Sonnenallee has changed from diver-
from the already gentrified northern neighbor- that were discussed more often were the traffic many of the common traffic congestions. Con- sity to hyperdiversity in the last years. This is
hoods already has an impact on the uses and situation, the tidiness and the criminality. sequently, many interviewees report – which largely connected to the use of and uses on the
the mix of uses on Sonnenallee. Today, most matches our own observations on the street street level. Sonnenallee is not only diverse in
newcomers and particularly refugees (as both “It’s the only place in Berlin, where I walk next – that users of Sonnenallee are annoyed by the regard to the ethnic backgrounds of visitors
the dominant user groups of the street) can’t af- to my bike.” (visitor) traffic chaos, crowededness and too fast driving and customers, but also in regard to how the
ford to pay a rent on Sonnenallee – despite the “It’s so dirty here, it might be the dirtiest place of many car drivers, which also threatens many different uses are distributed and organized and
district’s past and history as a poor and mul- in Neukölln.” (visitor) passers-by and bike drivers. This situation negotiated on the ground - people come to the
ti-ethnic working class district. Our observa- “When I moved here I used to take walks with further affects the visitors, and is also named as street for likewise diverse reasons, e.g. refugees
tions revealed that most people on Sonnenallee my wife on the Allee, now she feels uncomfort- a severe problem for some of them and a reason looking for a feeling and sense of home, stu-
are visitors, who don’t live there, but in more able and is afraid.” (visitor) why they don’t want to visit the street anymore. dents looking for “hip coffee shops” or tourists
affordable and peripheral Berlin districts. But looking for the “place to be” and authenticity
also more affluent tourists and Berlin residents We found that visitors have seen a degradation The visitors and customers didn’t really talk (as staged diversity). And these different scales
use the street in their search for Arabic food. of the situation of the street in terms of traf- about the future of Sonnenallee during our in- and levels of diversities might further change
fic situation, tidiness, and criminality, mostly terviews, hence, we interpreted their complaints in the future to different diversity and different
because of the fact that the street is becoming as a wish for a better organization on the street uses – depending on further migration flows,
What do you dislike on Sonnenalle? more and more crowded. From our observa- level for the future. gentrification processes, spatial changes in
The second question to find out how the uses tions we concluded that the street level is in- terms of the local urban development programs
have changed on Sonnenallee was: what do you deed very lively and crowded with people, cars, and negotiations and conflicts between the
different user groups.
20 21Change: Shop Owners
Polish descent. In addition, Berlin received a Most interviewed people but also the media
comparatively high amount of asylum seekers coverage perceive Sonnenallee as “the Arabic
mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan in the street” but with now increased social and eco-
past few years (6). nomic exchange.
The question thus arises, how did the business- “Now it is better. Five years ago it was diffi-
es and the local social life change in terms of cult. Now there are more Arabic people. They
ethnic background of the business owners and want to get married. People say this street is
staff and what kind of commercial changes hap- the Arabic street.” (shop owner of a women’s
pened on the street? Sonnenallee is commonly clothing store).
shop owners
known as and referred to as “the Arabic street”
since the late 1980s. But what is “Arabic”? And This clothing store is very special in the sense
are Arabic businesses not more diverse them- that it has a specific kind of (targeted) customer
selves as the broad term “Arabic” allows for? base. The kind of offered fashion is known and
Introduction beginning, but also in a very condensed way in familiar to women from Arabic countries. As
“There is a special street in Berlin where the sun the last few years. For instance, by the end of We ask these questions also in regard to the the owner puts it,
shines even in winter,” as one store owner told the 19th century, many immigrants from the street’s past and present economic activities. As
us. Its warmth is felt not only in its name – sun- nearby rural areas came to the Berlin neighbor- our interviews revealed, many people describe “I think 90% Arabic, 5% Turkish and 5% Ger-
ny alley -, but also through the mixture of for- hood in order to work in the local industries, a period around ten years ago as being very bad man [customers]. You can buy Arabic stuff
eign languages, singular products, and diverse characterizing it as a predominantly industrial for business. everywhere here. A lot of people from Arabic
people that welcome you when strolling down working-class area (1). Following this tenden- countries are here. They speak Arabic but they
its sidewalks, watching the stores’ front win- cy, new immigrants from East Europe settled “The period between 2002 and 2008 was very have very different dialects. My wife is from
dows and displays and visiting its equally di- during the 1920s, attracted by the opening of good… then the period between 2008 and Palestine, but it’s ok, I can understand.”
verse shops. Like the sun being the center of the new factories (2). In the 1950s and 1960s, many 2012 was very bad for business…. These last
solar system, Sonnenallee represents the heart immigrants from the Soviet sectors and Ger- years have been more similar to the first peri- However, some longer standing businesses
of the life of many different people, particularly man enclaves in eastern Europe arrived to the od.” (business owner – repair shop). on Sonnenallee did not target specific ethnic
the ones that recently arrived to the city. Con- area, as well as the many “guest workers” that groups. For example, a Palestinian shop owner
sidering the influence of the street’s diversity came mainly from Turkey, south and south-east But in the recent years, with more people said that he needed to flee his country in 2002.
in the liveliness of the street, it is important to of Europe. Later refugees and asylum seekers coming from Arabic countries (mainly Syr- The business that he opened in Sonnenallee
understand the ethnic backgrounds of the shop from mostly north of Africa (3) and more refu- ia), the street conveys the impression to many “doesn’t look so Arabic” in his eyes, because he
owners and to gain some information on the gees came mainly from Iran, Lebanon, Palestine users but also pto eople from outside of the targets rather diverse and not-ethnically specif-
number, type, and ownership of the businesses regions, Ghana, India, and Sri Lanka came to neighborhood that it hosts a cluster of predom- ic customers with his repair shop.
opened in the last decades. How did the shop Berlin and Sonnenallee (4). inantly “Arabic businesses,” as our interviews
management and the business spaces as well as confirmed. This new cluster led to an economic However, today, there are highly diverse busi-
its staff affect and change the street in the last Today, most residents constitute a mixture of and social revival of the street. As mentioned nesses on the street, most of which have not
years? What kind of diversities result from the a still predominantly working class population by a long-term businessman, “before, there only specific target groups but also focus on a
type of ownership and the social and ethnic from Germany, Poland and Arabic Countries, were not so many people, now a lot of people are specific ethnic customer group, such as Arabic
background of the owners for Sonnenallee? with increasingly more (gentrifying) middle- here from Syria and Lebanon” (shop owner of a Muslim women as in the case above. As the
and upper-class newcomers from other parts of restaurant). The new arrival of businesses and owner puts it, almost all the clients are Arabic
Berlin, Germany, northern and western Europe customers mainly from Syria also led to an in- woman who want to get married, for which
#1 - Sonnenalle is the most well-known place of and the US. According to the Statistics’ Depart- creased liveliness and vitality of the street, with they need special clothes. Also, Sonnenallee’s
arrival for many newcomers in Berlin. But the ment Berlin-Brandenburg (5), today’s inhabit- more people, more businesses resulting in more hairdressers mostly serve Arabic men, offering
street experienced different phases of migration ants are most often from Turkish descent, or of traffic, sales and passersby – “now there’s more special cutting, hair dressing and barber ser-
and different kinds of migrants since its very former Yugoslavian, Lebanese, Romanian, and life in the street” (shop owner of a bakery). vices, often known from their home countries.
22 23Change: Shop Owners
Among them, some offer a separate area also mix of Shisha smoke in the air, the aroma of the where bars, restaurants and clubs have dis- and our interview partners from Syria mention, one
for women, a service provided for this specific Syrian sweets, spiced Arabic coffee and the fried replaced the long-standing small businesses of the biggest challenges is the initial funding
target group. Contrastingly, some other busi- falafel. The sidewalks are covered with fresh and workshops, increases the pressure on Son- for opening a business, and thus most of the
nesses offer a different range of goods that may products, foreign spices, fruits, and vegetables nenallee. interviewees started their businesses with only
be useful for and demanded by a more varied as well as decorative objects and clothes known their own money or help from friends and
and wider group of people. When entering the from Arabic countries. However, there is a “I imagine a lot of gentrification happening family savings, while the new rather upscale
local restaurants, the people inside are usual- diverse range of and different scaling of these even more in the future, the renting prices businesses run by so-called gentrifiers often
ly very diverse, including residents from and mentioned diversities. Sonnenallee thus repre- are kicking out families. The rents are almost received structural support and support by state
beyond the neighborhood and with very differ- sents a lively and hyperdiverse micro-cosmos, double the price compared to families who live and commercial agencies.
ent ethnic origins. The supermarkets offer daily where different interests and aspirations collide, here for a long time” (interviewed resident).
supply goods for an affordable price, attracting during the day and night. Their previous business experiences represent
longer-term residents and newcomers alike and Rising residential and commercial rents in- the kind of knowledge and training represent
those who look for fresh groceries and prod- crease the competition between the businesses for most interviewed business owners the key
ucts. This is in line the most often mentioned #2 - As many other streets of Berlin and Eu- on Sonnenallee for customers and sales, par- strategies to open a business, and for doing so,
main motivation for the interviewed customers ropean cities, gentrification affects the street, ticularly among the restaurants that sell similar they looked for a place that is already an estab-
on the street – they come for shopping or con- its residents, users and above all, its business goods. lished arrival or transition zone for previous
suming food and beverages on the street, either owners, while competition among the (growing newcomers and migrants. Therefore and be-
in their search for “ethnic cuisines”, longing for number of) businesses increases as well. Inter- “I believe it will change a lot. It is gonna have cause of expected future migration, they claim,
“authenticity”, or to provide themselves with view partners mention, that the street is getting more coffees. Pannienstrasse not so gentrified, that they will hopefully expand their stores in
goods and services and a dining-out experience more competitive with the growth of similar but will be like Kreuzberg, full of English peo- the future: “we are opening a new branch soon
known from their home places or just for their businesses - “it’s too competitive here,” as our ple and Australians” (interviewed resident). outside Berlin” (store owner of a Syrian bakery).
everyday supply. interviewed store owners mentioned. The street is thus an arrival infrastructure but
Sonnenallee may seem less diverse in terms of For newcomers, who plan to open a store on #3 - What we considered conceptually as ur-
the business types, but on a second sight, the the street, it is also getting harder and more ban arrival infrastructure, was often framed as
diversity within the dominant cluster is high. expensive to find a shop space: “it took us six the “birth place” for new business activities by
A closer look into the type of business, the staff months to find this shop” (owner of Syrian many interview partners. After their first store
and customers and owners that make the place, bakery). Also, prices of shop spaces have been on Sonnenallee, interviewed owners opened
reveal a special hyperdiversity- in regard to the increasing, leading to sub-renting businesses: new branches in other parts of the city, and
business space’s people, practices, place-mak- “I pay four times the cost of the original rent, even across Germany.
ing, ideas and visions for Sonnenallee. This because I am sub-renting” (owner of an Arabic
results in but is also shown by the concrete supermarket). This may affect negatively par- The conflict in Syria continues to be by far
changes of the space, from the construction of ticularly those people with rather scarce re- the biggest driver of migration, thus contrib-
different benches around the trees on the side- sources who work for the opening of their own uting to the most recent influx of migrants in
walk to the varied styles of interior decoration in the future. Germany. The image below, shows that among
and shop windows with Arabic typing advertis- the European Union members, Germany has
es. The lack of affordable space, the high compe- been the country receiving most newcomers
tition and the ongoing gentrification process searching for asylum. These new migrants
The generalization of Sonnenallee as “the Ar- threatens already the northern part of Sonne- look for a new and safe life, while bringing
abic street” is rather a marketing strategy both nallee, where new and comparatively expensive certain traditions and ways of living, specific
by state and civil society actors, with the aim of cafés have opened on the sunny side of the stocks of knowledge and practices, but also
attracting a specific and wealthier clientele that strip, attracting more investments and different specific goods with them. they also bring their
is looking for the “exotic and new” in Berlin. customers to the street. Adjacent Weserstraße, savings with the aim to invest in Germany
When walking down the street, it smells like a as already the night life hot-spot of Neukölln, and to start their own businesses there. But as
24 25Change: Shop Owners
Syria and Lebanon, and other lands because for example: a clocks maker, a shoe maker and
of the war, they are coming here and it’s better Jewellery store.
for business. more people” (employee in a
restaurant). “Früher gab es ein Stückchen weiter auch ein
Schlüsseldienstgeschäft. Hier bis vor kurzem
gab es noch einen Schuster. Der ist auch weg.
Ethnic Background Also auch so handwerkliche Dienstleister
LEBANESE
Discussing the change in Sonnenallee over the verschwinden auch immer mehr” (German
past years drew our attention to the ever-chang- shop owner).
TURKISH
IRAQI
SYRIAN
JORDANIAN
PALESTINIAN
KURDISH
GERMAN
ing ethnic background of the people making
OUT OF 20 INTERVIEWS FROM ALL GROUPS
use of and making the street. Therefore, we Today, Arabic restaurants and shisha cafes are
also a booster for (not only migrant owned) and features have wide consequences not only wanted to focus on the diversity of the busi- the most common business type on Sonne-
businesses. With the money earned on Son- for the reputation of the street, but also for the ness owners in what is perceived as an “Arabic nallee in addition to the huge variety of other
nenallee, many store owners plan for further livelihood of the businesses, their staff and their street”. Our first focus on the “Arabic aspects” businesses on the street, such as barbershops,
business expansions or have already opened users. of Sonnenallee was rather superficial and not travel agencies, mobile phone shops, etc.
additional branches in other Berlin neighbor- actually describing the reality of the ethnic
hoods but also other German cities. As stated background on the street because as we found
by a shop owner, “I opened another store on History out later, critically reflecting on our first focus, Competition
Kantstraße three years ago.” While the commercial changes on Sonnenallee we ended up with many open and challenging The interview partners repeatedly referred to
happened rather gradually until 2012, what questions such as, how can we specify what Ar- the competition between similar businesses on
Hence, Sonnenalle is a place where many followed were rather drastic and clear changes abic is and means and who is actually included the street. Some of the business owners talked
people share some kind of similarities or look afterwards. As for the more recent history, from in and excluded from this box, what about oth- about it as a very present and pressing issue on
for these (often imagined) similarities, often the 1970s until the 2000s, there were not so er users of the streets and their backgrounds? the street, but others only implicitly referred to
framed as “culture” or “same language”, same many businesses on the street due to the lack the competition by saying that at the end each
“mentality” in our interviews. of purchase power, a shrinking population and To a European visitor for example, Sonnenallee restaurant has its own customers:
bad reputation of the area that was mostly oc- might seem overwhelmingly Arabic in that all
However, for a business to thrive it is important cupied by people with a migrant background. A the restaurants and the shops might seem sim- “At the beginning it was very competitive
that the clients frequent and support the busi- few more businesses opened in the early 2000s ilar because of their similar offers, design and because everyone is opening the same sort of
ness. Many shop owners said that the first years and gradually more and more stores opened, signs. But for visitors from the middle east, for business. but after a while everyone has their
of business were difficult - it may take time for a but wider changes on Sonnenallee happened instance, the street is filled with Arabic people, own customers” (employee in a shawarma
business to acquire reputation and gain fre- in the years after 2012 - when refugees came but from very different countries and regions restaurant).
quent clients (image above). In addition, most to Berlin in higher numbers from Syria and with very different heritages and histories and
owners struggle with the German trading and the neighbouring regions. Since then, more cultures, so they might easily grasp the street’s “There’s a lot of competition here but that is
business bureaucracy and regulations and also businesses opened and the street witnessed a hyper-diversity. The shops on the street in- normal and I try to live with that” (Turkish
suffer from discrimination by other business change not only in regard to its reputation and clude owners and staff and customers from, for shop owner).
people, chambers and authorities. reception, but also in regard to the number of instance, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Tur-
visitors and opening businesses. Soon, it was fa- key, Germany and other countries of the global This competition is due to the increasing
Put together, Sonnenallee today hosts the mous for being “friendly to foreigners”, offering North and Europe. number of stores that provide the same ser-
biggest cluster of businesses operated by people food and products from Arabic countries for vices and their close proximity to each other.
from Arabic countries in Germany, for which often comparatively cheap prices: The long-standing businesses that have estab-
the street enjoys already a well-known but con- Types of shops lished themselves as the only provider of these
flicted image and reputation inside and outside “Yes it has changed. Before three years ago, on As the interview partners mention, in the past, services now have to deal and live up with the
of Neukölln, Berlin, Germany and beyond. The Sonnenallee, I think we didn’t have many peo- there were more German owned family busi- competition with the newcomers and their
manifold and often stereotyping publications ple. Now because we have many people from nesses which were focused mainly around crafts professional experiences that affect the negoti-
26 27Change: Shop Owners
ation and management of the competing prices the other to continue existing and hopefully information about the restaurant and its situ-
for goods and services on the street in a new thriving on Sonnenallee. ation. Being a former resident of Sonnenallee
and more dynamic but also more challenging and currently still living close by, I knew him
way. In the course of few years, the new busi- Looking at Sonnenallee in detail, it is important personally because I am a frequent visitor of the
ness people established themselves on the street to acknowledge due to its complexity, diversity, street and the restaurant.
and achieved to open successful businesses that and first and foremost, its complex fabric and
are able to compete with the older businesses nature as a “home” for diverse people, some of He invited me for shisha and tea in a nearby
in quality and price. This sometimes resulted in which might be newcomers, other rather longer café where we did the interview. While con-
resentment towards the newcomers: standing migrants. As a place that allows people ducting the interview, friends of the inter-
to develop a home or at least a sense of home viewee dropped by. I can best describe them
“I hate Arabic people, it’s like another world the street and its businesses allow them to settle as the kind of younger people from Syria who
there... they are offensive to us Turkish people” much easier and feel more at home more than look very similar to Berlin hipsters and started
(a Turkish shop owner). in any of the other Berlin neighbourhoods - talking about the party they had in the same
even if most customers and users tend to live café we were sitting at and made plans to meet
“I don’t feel comfortable, I’ve been here since in other places across Berlin. However, Sonne- at one of the girl’s apartment some other day.
1995 and back then there were only two nallee achieves to build a bridge between them Later another friend of the interviewee joined
Arabic shops, the others were German. It was and their places of origin. us and started talking about how much money
more secure back then” (Palestinian shop the business owners on Sonnenallee are making
owner) Future of businesses on Sonnenallee and about how they like to spend their money
To a lot of owners, doing business on Son- here and there to show how much they have
nenallee is successful and they expect more and to establish financial dominance (when you
Why Sonnenallee? businesses to open on the street and that it will spend a lot of money, that means you have a
Many of the newcomers chose Sonnenallee as be even busier and livelier than it is right now. lot of money) . Then he told me about the time
their place of business because of the proxim- When asked about the future of their business- when they first opened their store and some-
ity to their targeted customers and the already es, some of them mentioned concrete plans to one broke their window one day before they
established cluster of “Arabic” businesses on the branch out and open new shops not only on opened. When we were done with the interview
street: Sonnenallee but also in other regions of Berlin he invited me to meet with him and his friends
and Germany due to the success of their cur- and go out sometime.
“(I chose Sonnenallee) because it’s the best rent businesses:
market for Arabic products and food and it
will attract people who buy those products” “We are opening a new branch soon in Iser-
(Syrian restaurant employee). lohn and another branch of different type of
Syrian food in Neukölln” (Syrian restaurant
To new business people it made sense to open employee).
businesses similar to the ones that they had
back home or know from their places of or- Interview anecdote (Tareq Almuhammad)
igin, which, for them seems less risky and In order to reveal the nature of our interviews,
allows them to increase their level of comfort, I’d like to go into my experiences during one
especially being in a different country that has particularly revealing and intense interview
different regulations, a different language and that allowed for additional insights into the
different cultural habits. The opening of these different and diverse layers of Sonnenallee. The
shops and the arrival of the newcomers created interview was with one of the employees in a
thus a new environment for both the business restaurant on Sonnenallee, who is the nephew
owners and the customers in which each helped of the owner, which enabled him to have a lot of
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