Die Platte Industrialisierter Wohnungsbau in der DDR

Residents’ Responses to ‘Territorial Stigmatization’: Visual Research in Berlin

“…The urban design and architectural characteristics of these estates were not new: they were based on a series of developments, from the 1920s, starting with the experiments of Neues Bauen (the name given to the Modern architecture that emerged in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s) and continuing with the industrialization of building techniques in the 1950s that gave form to what became known as the ‘Platte’ (Rowell, : 83; see also Hannemann, ). Although similar techniques were developed in West Germany (and in other western and eastern European countries, such as France and the USSR) during the same period (see Dufaux et al ., ), the ‘Platte’ was a category specific to East Germany, used both in the vernacular and in technical terminology to describe the elementary components of all the large‐scale housing estates and, more generally, those estates as a whole (Hannemann, : 14). Honecker's building programme was justified as an expression of the (new) social structures produced by socialism (Rowell, : 95), so the ‘Platte’ was also a symbol of socialist urban policies—an ‘amalgam’ of ideology and building practices ( ibid .…”

“…Under this programme, three large-scale housing estates were planned in the north, east and south-east of the East German capital, of which the Marzahn estate is the oldest and largest. The urban design and architectural characteristics of these estates were not new: they were based on a series of developments, from the 1920s, starting with the experiments of Neues Bauen (the name given to the Modern architecture that emerged in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s) and continuing with the industrialization of building techniques in the 1950s that gave form to what became known as the 'Platte' (Rowell, 2006: 83; see also Hannemann, 2000). Although similar techniques were developed in West Germany (and in other western and eastern European countries, such as France and the USSR) during the same period (see Dufaux et al, 2003), the 'Platte' was a category specific to East Germany, used both in the vernacular and in technical terminology to describe the elementary components of all the large-scale housing estates and, more generally, those estates as a whole (Hannemann, 2000: 14).…”

Squatting and Urban Renewal: The Interaction of Squatter Movements and Strategies of Urban Restructuring in Berlin

“…After years of reconstruction in Berlin, a city scarred by the destruction of war, the housing problem was to be solved by erecting industrially manufactured apartment buildings that were for the most part developed in large estates at the outer city limits in the form of new towns or districts. As a result of this one-sided orientation, the inner-city areas, consisting of old housing that had been ideologically devalued as the legacy of capitalist urban development, were neglected in town planning and were showing signs of structural decay (Hoscislawski, 1991;Hannemann, 2000). The outcome of this real-socialist practice of disinvestment was not only poor refurbishment of apartments in the old housing areas but also a vacancy rate of up to 20% in particular districts.…”

Les grands ensembles de banlieue comme menaces urbaines ?

“…Le fonctionnalisme a produit des « zones d'habitat collectif » ; les urbanistes et aménageurs ont construit des « grands ensembles de périphérie » (Dufaux et Fourcaut, 2004 ;Hannemann, 2005) ; les institutions publiques ont créé des « zones urbaines sensibles » (Tissot, 2007) ; les anthropologues publient sur les multiples aspects de la culture des « banlieues » (Liell, 2003) ; les médias reviennent inlassablement sur l'insécurité dans les « ghettos » (Rigouste, 2004 ;Ronneberger et Tsianos, 2009). Ces mêmes espaces sont coproduits selon de multiples processus qui manipulent à la fois de la matière et des idées, des actions institutionnelles et des gestes quotidiens.…”