Public-Civic-Partnerships and Other MisunderstandingsRebecca Wall & Felix Marlow

Berlin’s urban landscape has been shaped by tensions between profit-driven real estate development and civic movements advocating for the common good. In 2015, two cooperative urban development projects, Haus der Statistik in Berlin-Mitte and Modellprojekt Rathausblock in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, were initiated. These public-civic partnerships reclaim public space for affordable housing, crafts, culture, and social uses, balancing public and civic interests. As new modes of city production, they foster collaboration between public and civic actors.

This raises crucial questions: By working together with civil society movements, to what extent can public administration be harnessed to contribute to the common good? How do the people involved navigate conflicts and uncertainties?

By using the term “public-civic partnership”, we point to a paradox setting: Different organizational, epistemic and value logics collide, and yet attempts are made to collaborate. Based on our recently published book Zaudern ums Gemeinwohl – Produktive Missverständnisse in der kooperativen Stadtentwicklung, our presentation will focus on “strategic misunderstandings”. We
elaborate on the assumption that cooperative urban development needs these misunderstandings, which enable heterogeneous actors to work together by bridging conflicts and uncertainties.

Responding:
joining the discussion as respondents will be Tabea Michaelis from Denkstatt sàrl and head of the new master for “collaborative spatial development” in Luzern.