Les commerçants face au changement urbain : stratégies de résistance à Wrangelkiez (Berlin)

In European cities, urban change increasingly affects retail shops. Using the case study of Wrangelkiez in Berlin, this paper analyzes the practices and strategies of retailers facing urban change. Originally a working-class neighbourhood, marked by immigration and counter-cultures, Wrangelkiez is now being gentrified and hosts a growing number of tourist activities. Based on a questionnaire survey and interviews, the paper shows that most retailers are aware of socio-economic transformations, and are hostile to them. The survey reveals that they react against urban change and its consequences with individual and loosely organized resistance practices, including subaltern or invisible forms of resistance. Finally, the paper sets up a typology of attitudes shedding light on the plurality of resistance strategies. It also shows that these strategies are less determined by socio-economic characteristics or business lines than by the context in which retailers evolve, by their personal and professional trajectories, and their anchored position in the neighbourhood.