BERLIN: THE DIVISION
'The idea of the town as a unit, as a social organism, has admittedly been recognised in Germany since 1919, but it has never so far been put into practice.' Even years after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the city remains to have that division in the east and west. Either physical or non-physical, the barrier between the west and the east has become an issue for the people of Berlin as the redevelopment plans of Berlin have focused on image rather then usage, creating a twenty-first century metropolis. “The attractiveness for tourists and official visitors rather than heterogeneous living space for Berlin’s inhabitants, erasure of memory rather than its imaginative preservation.” -Huyssen, A (2005) Future city.
Outdoor Exhibition spaces such as the Check point Charlie Black box museum allow residents and tourists to reminisce through the journey of the wall's history. Using negative and positive spaces to control pathways and particular routes. These routes help the viewer go through the history in the right timeline.
Using parts of the wall as physical detour of pathways and letting the imagination fill in the missing route boundaries. This in someway explains how the city today remains to have imaginary boundaries.
> What projects, if any, have you noticed in Berlin to help reconnect East and the West?
- "Not really, the West don't like to get involved with the East. But since the redevelopment of the Eastern centrum with modern Architecture, it has become a more popular area for visit. The East centrum is equally as 'ranked' as the West due to it's range of activities taking place."
> Would you ever consider living on the 'other side'?
- "I live with an average lifestyle on the West side and I would never move to the East purely because of the class difference. The East, specially the deep East is very old and mainly poorer area."
> Do you feel disconnected to the east or is it very normal in your community?
- "I don't feel disconnected, however if I did visit the deep East, I would feel unwelcomed or even uncomfortable being there. We even have an inside joke here on the West refering the East as very 'dodgy' just like how you would discriminate postcodes in London.
Meet Bahar Can,
A local resident in Berlin
