But we are not constrained to collaborate with this nervous system... that must be repeated thousand times, we just have to "dream" and act differently...
Thanks Brett, a good read & journey - appreciated. I think you start to get to the nub of it in the last paragraphs - it is us, people/community who inhabit spaces that are the real drivers (I reckon). The puzzle for me is whilst I can see/understand the old “Haus der Technik” community - it would never be one I’d be comfortable in (maybe just in early youth for a short burst). I think the “force” of commercialization you identify in such a visceral way is perhaps one that allows more people to viably be part of a certain space.
Of course I realise in any new guise, they likely are not inhabiting it just using and being part of it. Nevertheless I think the force of numbers (of people) able to use such a space has its own power. I almost map this onto the concept of Entropy (and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics).
The questions becomes how or why don’t I help create spaces that maybe have culturesand communities that I would like to be part of? Surely there are folk who might acquire spaces and offer them to groups to use & shape? Maybe freely with no strings though I can’t help sensing that freely would migrate to a form of mass appeal in a different form.
What might it have needed for some folk pre-commercialization to have acquired ownership/control rights and left it be? Interesting question.
That's the kind of experiment in culture/community building we're engaged in out here in Ireland! Six of us came together to buy some land out of the market (partly funded by the proceeds of my friend's book about living for a year without money!), and have created a place — The Happy Pig — where anyone can come and be without having to find money for the privilege of existing.
I first went to the city in 2009 to sell T-shirts on the street. I ended up in Tacheles and instantly fell in love, as if all the theory I've read before just clicked into place. I would come back from time to time, venturing deeper and deeper (once squatting the alter eisfabrik for a week that stood in front of Köpi).
Sad to see that the scene is on the back foot defence with the recent news of Cassiopeia getting evicted.
I'll be sure to drop you a line next time I'm over there!
Great piece. I wonder if it would help there to be a common term to distinguish between gentrification as you define it here, and an area improving without that happening (or happening less at least). As part of the way gentrification gets justified is through the implication that it is the only way a poor/rough area might get nicer to live in
But we are not constrained to collaborate with this nervous system... that must be repeated thousand times, we just have to "dream" and act differently...
Thanks Brett, a good read & journey - appreciated. I think you start to get to the nub of it in the last paragraphs - it is us, people/community who inhabit spaces that are the real drivers (I reckon). The puzzle for me is whilst I can see/understand the old “Haus der Technik” community - it would never be one I’d be comfortable in (maybe just in early youth for a short burst). I think the “force” of commercialization you identify in such a visceral way is perhaps one that allows more people to viably be part of a certain space.
Of course I realise in any new guise, they likely are not inhabiting it just using and being part of it. Nevertheless I think the force of numbers (of people) able to use such a space has its own power. I almost map this onto the concept of Entropy (and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics).
The questions becomes how or why don’t I help create spaces that maybe have culturesand communities that I would like to be part of? Surely there are folk who might acquire spaces and offer them to groups to use & shape? Maybe freely with no strings though I can’t help sensing that freely would migrate to a form of mass appeal in a different form.
What might it have needed for some folk pre-commercialization to have acquired ownership/control rights and left it be? Interesting question.
That's the kind of experiment in culture/community building we're engaged in out here in Ireland! Six of us came together to buy some land out of the market (partly funded by the proceeds of my friend's book about living for a year without money!), and have created a place — The Happy Pig — where anyone can come and be without having to find money for the privilege of existing.
It feels a fun ride!
https://mstdn.social/@DarkOptimism/109410285273214948
"Hollowing-out process" and the bonsai's metaphore are beautifull
I didn't realize you live in Berlin!
I first went to the city in 2009 to sell T-shirts on the street. I ended up in Tacheles and instantly fell in love, as if all the theory I've read before just clicked into place. I would come back from time to time, venturing deeper and deeper (once squatting the alter eisfabrik for a week that stood in front of Köpi).
Sad to see that the scene is on the back foot defence with the recent news of Cassiopeia getting evicted.
I'll be sure to drop you a line next time I'm over there!
Please do!
Thanks for sharing Gergo - I wish I'd got to experience Tacheles
Great piece. I wonder if it would help there to be a common term to distinguish between gentrification as you define it here, and an area improving without that happening (or happening less at least). As part of the way gentrification gets justified is through the implication that it is the only way a poor/rough area might get nicer to live in