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The Cultural Production of Locality: Reclaiming the ‘European City’ in Post‐Wall Berlin

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  • VIRAG MOLNAR

Abstract

Berlin's post‐1989 rebuilding is used to explore the role of cultural professionals, exemplified by architects and urban planners, in the production of locality. Drawing on an analysis of architectural debates, competitions and building projects, the article traces how the model of the ‘European city’ became the dominant paradigm of urban reconstruction in the 1990s and what precisely was understood by the term ‘European city’. In so doing, the analysis demonstrates how the contentious notion of ‘tradition’ was mobilized as the main localizing strategy in response to intense internationalization. It shows how locality came to be constructed in contrast to other spatial‐cultural units (e.g. the ‘American city’) and to particular historical layers of the city (e.g. that of the socialist era). The intense controversies over Berlin's rebuilding lucidly illustrate how the ‘global’ and the ‘local’ are symbolically constructed by actors as relational categories, where the very categories are not fixed but multilayered, value‐laden, historicized, contested, repeatedly redefined and restructured. Résumé La reconstruction du Berlin de l’après‐1989 sert ici à explorer le rôle des milieux culturels, illustrés par les architectes et urbanistes, dans la production de localité. À partir d’une analyse des débats, concours en architecture et projets de construction, l’article établit comment le modèle de ‘ville européenne’ est devenu le paradigme dominant de la reconstruction urbaine dans les années 1990, et ce que l’expression ‘ville européenne’ représentait exactement. En parallèle, l’analyse montre comment la notion contestée de ‘tradition’ a été mobilisée en tant que stratégie principale de localisation en réaction à une intense internationalisation. L’article expose comment la localité a fini par être conçue par opposition à d’autres entités spatio‐culturelles (comme la ‘ville américaine’) et à certaines strates historiques de la ville (comme celle de l’ère socialiste). Les vives controverses à propos de la reconstruction de Berlin illustrent clairement comment les acteurs élaborent, sur le plan symbolique, le ‘global’ et le ‘local’ en tant que catégories relationnelles, ces catégories elles‐mêmes n’étant pas figées mais composées de plusieurs strates, chargées de valeurs, historicisées, contestées, sans cesse redéfinies et restructurées.

Suggested Citation

  • Virag Molnar, 2010. "The Cultural Production of Locality: Reclaiming the ‘European City’ in Post‐Wall Berlin," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 281-309, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:34:y:2010:i:2:p:281-309
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00894.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kevin R. Cox, 1995. "Globalisation, Competition and the Politics of Local Economic Development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 32(2), pages 213-224, March.
    2. Scott Campbell, 1999. "Capital reconstruction and capital accumulation in Berlin: a reply to Peter Marcuse," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 173-179, March.
    3. Peter Marcuse, 1998. "Reflections on Berlin: The Meaning of Construction and the Construction of Meaning," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 331-338, June.
    4. John Friedmann, 1986. "The World City Hypothesis," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 69-83, January.
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    2. Philip Lawton & Michael Punch, 2014. "Urban Governance and the ‘European City’: Ideals and Realities in Dublin, Ireland," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 864-885, May.

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