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TEMPORARY ARTWASHING AT THE CONSTRUCTION SITE: Curating Gentrification through Real Estate Marketing in Berlin

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  • Claudia Seldin

Abstract

Since the 1980s and 1990s, art has played a pivotal role in urban planning, especially when instrumentalized within large‐scale urban renewal operations. This instrumentalization has been broadly linked to public policy schemes and public–private partnerships, often involving the implementation of spectacular cultural centers positioned as flagships for revamping entire urban brands. While large‐scale arts‐led urban planning still endures, today we observe a new phenomenon in the instrumentalization of art within city‐making: the sponsorship of temporary artworks at the construction sites of private real estate developments for speculative and (self)marketing purposes. This article questions how this new phenomenon differs from the 1980s–90s model and how it relates to controversial planning trends of temporary urbanism/tactical urbanism. The article uses the A‐Fence street‐art project by developer Covivio in Berlin to illustrate how temporary artwashing during construction can revitalize a small urban area cheaply and independently while programming land speculation and gentrification following private interests. It shows how developers, in response to the vilification of the real estate sector amid Berlin’s rampant housing shortage, strategically exploit artists’ labor to revamp their own image through digital marketing, and reveals contemporary interplays between private business marketing and city marketing.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia Seldin, 2026. "TEMPORARY ARTWASHING AT THE CONSTRUCTION SITE: Curating Gentrification through Real Estate Marketing in Berlin," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 152-169, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:50:y:2026:i:1:p:152-169
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.70021
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    1. Johannes Novy & Claire Colomb, 2013. "Struggling for the Right to the (Creative) City in Berlin and Hamburg: New Urban Social Movements, New ‘Spaces of Hope’?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 1816-1838, September.
    2. Guido Codecasa & Davide Ponzini, 2011. "Public-Private Partnership: A Delusion for Urban Regeneration? Evidence from Italy," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 647-667, April.
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