Designing the past in East Berlin before and after the German reunification

This paper analyzes the evolution of this new historic city in the context of two particular locations, the neo-historical development Nikolaiviertel and the tenement district Prenzlauer Berg. It argues that the construction of the historic city was, on the one hand, an intellectual endeavor within a cultural context that cut across political and ideological boundaries and, on the other hand, the strategy of a regime that found itself under increasing economic and political pressure. It further argues that in designing the historic city East German architects, planners, and politicians adapted an international cultural development within the narrow framework of the socialist state and anticipated many aspects of urban planning that emerged after German reunification. Promoting an unspecific notion of “the past,” they initiated a renaissance of once neglected neighborhoods, which after reunification became prime locations for upmarket housing and retail. Construction policy before and after reunification therefore has to be seen as a continuous development, despite the fact that after the end of the socialist regime planners and architects from the former East were largely excluded from the decision-making process. Despite the different political and economic system in the GDR, East Berlin design politics during the 1980s paralleled approaches in the West, where real and imagined urban history was increasingly commodified and marketed to local elites and tourists.