Rights to the Neoliberal City: The Case of Urban Land Squatting in ‘Creative’ Berlin
AbstractThis paper asserts that activists can carve out a political space between cooptation and autonomy in neoliberalizing cities but that strategic options vary according to the micro-political spaces activists operate in. This assertion is examined through an in-depth ethnographic study of two trailer encampments in Berlin. These trailer encampments occupy previously abandoned wastelands in Berlin and have strong ties to the squatter movement. The dominant discourse of the ‘creative city’ has served as both constraint and opportunity. Activist-residents in both camps are conscious that their abilities to maintain their communities require them to present themselves in a way that coincides with the dominant ‘creativity’ discourse of the city. Both have fashioned their own discursive frames and introduced events that demonstrate how they contribute to making Berlin dynamic and creative. However, the encampment in the conservative district faces more severe constraints than the one in the left-wing distr...