„Multi-culti“ vs. ”another cell phone store“ – Changing ethnic, social, and commercial diversities in Berlin-Neukölln.

Abstract

<jats:p>Based on an extensive ethnography of the economic and social life in Berlin-Neukölln, the paper asks how a changing demographic and social structure affects the social life but also the urban renewal on two iconic but contested streets - “the Arab street” Sonnenallee and adjacent Karl-Marx-Straße. The effects of migration - and particularly of the more recent refugee migration - to Berlin are explored through the reshaping and diversification processes of the physical and social spaces of the two streets and their businesses.&#x0D; In detail, the paper illuminates the changing ordinary everyday interactions and social and spatial practices in and around local shops and gastronomic facilities and argues that it is the interactions in and around certain shops and businesses that contribute to the everyday practice of urban diversity. The paper further reveals that regardless of the place-and community-making of the local store owners and staff therein, the local urban renewal and regeneration actors have a very different understanding of these spaces and their operators and also aim for a different kind of new “diversity”. The paper thus concludes by also showing how these actors frame and depict the increasingly ethnically diverse businesses on the two streets in the course of urban renewal, including a critical discussion of their perceptions and concrete practices as in contrast to the ethnically diverse business peoples’ perceptions and placemaking practices that often also represent homemaking practices.</jats:p>

Psychological distress and anxiety in Arab refugees and migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

“…The Arab district-mainly called the "the Arab street" (Sonnenallee)-in Berlin shows the effects of migration, and particularly of the more recent refugee migration after the war in Syria. This area has been changed due to reshaping and diversification processes of the physical and social spaces of the street and is now mainly dominated by Syrians (Steigemann, 2020). Participants primarily explain that the reason for not abiding by the preventive measures in this street is religion.…”

“…Apart from its physical effects, the COVID-19 pandemic has had several kinds of psychological and social impacts ( Takieddine & Al Tabbah, 2020 ). A study in China that aimed to investigate if psychiatric patients experience more symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that the levels of anxiety, depression, and stress were higher in psychiatric patients than in healthy controls.…”

The Role of Natio‐Ethno‐Cultural Difference in Narratives of Neighbourhood Change – An Arrival Area in the East German Context

“…Inclusions and exclusions of migration in the process of neighbourhood change -Upgrading processes of disadvantaged inner-city areas with a high proportion of 'ethnic minorities' and infrastructures for immigrants have already been frequently documented and analysed in urban research (Zukin 2008;Murdie & Teixeira 2011;Tissot 2015). Particularly relevant is research that has focused on immigrants' agency by studying the role of ethnic enterprises in the process of economic, functional and symbolic upgrading (Aytar & Rath 2012;Steigemann 2020). In this context, a neoliberal lens has often been criticised, viewing the ethnic and cultural diversity of actors primarily in terms of their positive influence on innovation and economic growth, but largely ignores existing exclusion and disadvantages in everyday life (Zukin 2008;Leslie & Catungal 2012;Martin 2014;van Eck et al 2020).…”