Tempelhofer Feld: Berliners defend themselves against development plans!

Tempelhofer Feld: Berliners defend themselves against development plans!

Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin, once a busy airport, has been transformed since its closure in 2008 into an important inner-city open space available to Berliners for leisure and recreation. In a current architectural ideas competition for future use, four of six winning designs underlined the great importance of the field as an undeveloped area. Loud ND currently It is a popular place for roller skaters and inline skaters, and the authors of the winning designs emphasized that no changes to the Tempelhofer Feld protection law should be necessary.

This quarter, the Senate Department for Urban Development initiated a dialogue process in which 275 randomly selected Berliners discussed the future use of the field. In the previous workshops, the participants clearly opposed the development and possible privatization of Tempelhofer Feld, which has been protected by a popular law since 2014. In a statement dated July 13, signed by almost 40 of the approximately 80 people present, they expressed concerns that the dialogue process could be used to create a sham participation without taking their opposition to the development seriously.

Development plans and citizen engagement

The mood on site remains tense, especially after the government coalition of CDU and SPD is examining the possibility of cautious development on the periphery. Meanwhile, the majority of Tempelhofer Feld continues to be used as a recreational area, for sports and culture. Berlin.de reports that an international ideas competition is part of a broad dialogue process to involve the Berlin public in the planning.

Concerns about the development are not new. Given a changing city and challenges in the housing market, there are signs that some players are viewing the field primarily as a building site. Tilmann Heuser, managing director of BUND Berlin, considers this to be worrying because he sees the experiences from previous citizen participation processes as not being taken into account. Many Berliners would like the field to be preserved as a place for recreation and sport, as has been the case since the introduction of the ThF law, which was passed by referendum in 2014.

Anniversary of citizen participation

An important occasion is approaching: September 27, 2024 marks the tenth anniversary of the start of the largest participation process for the development of the Tempelhofer Feld. This event will be accompanied by a number of talks and digital lectures that are intended to focus on the sustainable development of the area. BUND Berlin informed that further information is available about the planned events at which citizens' engagement on the topic will be discussed.

How the next few months will develop remains to be seen. However, one thing is certain: the people of Berlin are more determined than ever to ensure the preservation of Tempelhofer Feld and to use it as a valuable space for leisure and cultural activities.