Hamburg: Paradoxes and Conflicting Representations of a Working-Class Metropolis

Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

Hamburg: Paradoxes and conflicting representations of a working-class metropolis

Samuel Depraz

Abstract Zusammenfassung Hamburg: Paradoxa und widersprüchliche Darstel- lungen einer Arbeitermetropole This contribution intends to study the metropolisation process in Hamburg, taking into account the strong polycentrism of the German economy where several metropolises are competing Dieser Beitrag zielt darauf ab, den im Hamburg voranschrei- for international leadership. The public and private actors of tenden Metropolisierungsprozess im Kontext einer stark poly- the second biggest agglomeration of the country are striving zentralisierten deutschen Wirtschaft zu untersuchen, in wel- for the rise of the upper economic functions of the city; they are chem mehrere Großstädte im Wettbewerb um internationale carrying out ambitious urban renewal projects. A focus will be Führungspositionen liegen. Sowohl die öffentlichen als auch die made on the consequences of those transformations on urban privaten Akteure des zweitgrößten deutschen Ballungsraumes forms, and the gentrification process that is occurring at the setzen sich für den Anstieg von höheren wirtschaftlichen Funk- same time in the city centre, led by the upper middle class and tionen in der Stadt stark ein und bringen dazu ehrgeizige Stadt superior services. However, the popular and industrious char- erneuerungsprogramme hervor. Hier sollen die Auswirkungen acter of the port town of Hamburg gives rise to original, violent dieser Transformationen auf städtebauliche Formen analysiert reactions. Several local alternative groups are strongly rejecting werden und der damit zusammenhängende Prozess der Gentri- the metropolisation process, which they consider to be ill‐suited fizierung, also der Rückeroberung der Stadtmitte durch wohlha- to the working‐class identity of Hamburg. bendere Bevölkerungsgruppen und gehobene Dienstleistungen. Hamburg; metropolisation; urban projects; gentrification; radical Dennoch verursacht die starke Prägung Hamburgs als Arbeiter- criticism und Hafenstadt besondere und zuweilen gewaltsame Formen der Ablehnung dieser Metropolisierung, da sie einigen alterna- tiven Gruppen vor Ort im Hinblick auf die Arbeiteridentität der Stadt als unangepasst erscheint. Hamburg; Metropolisierung; städtebauliche Projekte; Gentrifizie- rung; radikale Kritik

54 Samuel Depraz: Hamburg: Paradoxes and conflicting representations of aworking-class metropolis

Introduction Länder

image of the city, filtered through the in- the case in the surrounding , which The word metropolis, often loosely defined, ternational criteria of economic attractive- will face a 5 % decrease in the number of still remains a controversial concept in ge- ness and post-modern aesthetics. In this their inhabitants by 2030, according to the ography. The expression, at least, helps way, such a strategy faces deeply-rooted estimates of the Federal Statistical office. identify a big city with internationally sig- criticism on the part of a significant pro- On a broader scale, the territorial influence nificant functions of economic command portion of the urban population. However, of Hamburg spills over Schleswig-Holstein Metropol- and control. However, there is neither an the scope and scale of the contestation has and Lower Saxony, and allows the city to region Hamburg official population threshold, nor a fixed to be analysed: is it a simple nostalgic, over- polarise a metropolitan area ( list of functions that would help to dis- emphasised relic of the manufacturing pe- ) that extends towards criminate between cities to call them me- riod of the port town, while this popular the East and gathers more than 4 million metropolisation tropolises. In fact, the word mostly refers and industrial trait of the city is actually inhabitants: it is, indeed, the new program- to the process, a dynamic declining against the irresistible tertiary ming framework that has been retained for in which an agglomeration is progres- transformation of Hamburg? Is it, on the the application of some structural funds sively integrated into the global economy, contrary, a much deeper expression of a of the European Union (http://metropol- with growing concentration of exclusive collective identity that has been neglected region.hamburg.de/, 2015). services and key stakeholders and, at the by the leading players of the metropolisa- Hamburg benefits from world-level same time, substantial changes in the ur- tion process? A critical position – closer to transportation facilities, ensuring a global ban forms that facilitate the development the second hypothesis – will be chosen here connectivity that is needed to claim inter- a. of the new economic functions of the city in our third section, following French (Pin- national recognition. Its harbour, ranking 1999 (Ghorra-Gobin 2015; Di Méo 2010; Van- son 2009; Chalas 2000; Jouve Lefèvre among the 30 busiest spots in the world dermotten 2009; Mangin 2009). ) and international research (Smith for the total cargo volume, is now 3rd in Hamburg, a harbour-city with a strong 1996; Harvey 1989) about the metropoli- Europe and 17th in the world for container World Ports Ranking popular tradition, but also the second- tan transformation of cities, in order to bet- traffic, with around 9 Million TEUs (AAPA largest city in Germany, reaching 1.8 mil- ter highlight the internal contradiction of 2016, ). The port’s ac- lion inhabitants and polarising the upper the local society in Hamburg. tivities generate directly more than 3,600 An unbalanced metropolisation northern part of the country (Fischer full time jobs, but a total of more than process 2008), clearly demonstrates the conflict- 77,000 jobs are indirectly related to the lo- ing dimension of the new urban forms and gistics activity of the harbour. Hamburg’s the contrasting representations of the city One should first of all underline the clear hinterland has indeed expanded to the East against the background of the neo-liberal bivalence of Hamburg, a city that has un- since the fall of the Iron Curtain, and the paradigm of the metropolisation pro- doubtedly asserted itself as a major eco- metropolis has benefited from the redirec- cess. The speculative production of urban nomic centre in Germany, but has, at the tion of the land flows of goods from the spaces, intended to reinforce the economic same time, a popular legacy that is strong- Baltic area (Rostock, if not Gdańsk) thanks attractiveness of the Hanseatic agglomera- er than in other metropolises. In order to to improved servicing. With its five railway Deutsche Bahn tion, takes place in a social context that re- measure the economic magnitude and the axes, the harbour is the first customer of mains characterised by structural precari- social outcomes of the metropolisation the for freight transport, ousness and a strong tradition of political process that is at play in Hamburg, the and the waterway of the river Elbe reaches criticism. Uncommon – if not paroxysmal – most prominent and visible criteria will be the Midland Canal, connecting the Rhine reactions of resistance therefore occur. summarised here, following the theoretical region to Berlin and Poland. Finally, the frameworks of selected former research most significant motorway in Germany, the The idea of this contribution was born af- (Veltz 1996; Leroy 2000; Beaverstock A5/A7 – also called “HaFraBa” – links Ham- ter very stimulating inputs given in a semi- et al. 2000; Roncayolo 2001). burg to Frankfurt and Basel in the south. Undeniable functions of economic com- nar about the social acceptation of urban The airport, the fifth largest in Germany, is mand changes in Hamburg (refer to Barbier; probably the only weaker infrastructure, Vogelpohl; Wischmann 2015). Our aim is hosting no major airline company. therefore to synthesise all those materials From a strictly demographical point of On top of that, the city has significant by making, in a first section, an assessment view, the almost twice millionaire agglom- functions of political and economic com- of the metropolisation process in Hamburg eration of Hamburg is facing a natural mand at national and European levels: its from an economic and social point of view, decrease, as are most areas of Germany; status of “free and Hanseatic city” is an ad- before considering in a second section the however, its migratory balance is positive vantage in itself, since the metropolis can design and discourses of the bigger urban (+5,500 migrants a year), which allows enjoy political autonomy at the federal level development projects – which essentially the metropolis to foresee a stabilisation of with an administrative power equivalent to engage in a deep transformation of the its population in the long term. This is not 55 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

Beiersdof Helm AG, Unilever Germa- ny levels ( , ). Hence, German polycentrism in the organisation of upper economic functions is confirmed since the Hanseatic metropolis is actively taking part in the development of high-tech and creative industries in the country. The very last criteria for defining the metropolitan dimension of Hamburg is a pronounced cosmopolitanism, with the total population comprising 15 % of for- eigners (national average: 9.5 %), mainly from Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran and Poland. About 30% of the population is of foreign origin, if all post-1950 entries are taken into account (Statistik Nord 2015). Poverty and unemployment: the social weakness

The criteria proving a metropolisation process are therefore fulfilled, even though the demographic increase remains limited and the economic production still significantly relies on heavy industry and logistics, rath- Tab. 1: The five main domains of economic command of Hamburg er than on upper tertiary activities. How-

1 ever, the actual social composition of the city shows that 16 % of the population has that of a regular Land . Its productive activ- hub in Germany, just after Frankfurt and far no vocational training – which is 3 points ity is also based on three historical pillars above Munich or Berlin. The creation of the higher than the national average. The so- (Weinachter 2007). Aeronautics, with the first German stock exchange, in 1558, and cial profile of the metropolis is closer to the Airbus Germany site, is the first of them. the profitable period as a trading city dur- Ruhr or the Northern Rhine region than to With more than 12,500 employees, this ing the Hanseatic League remain therefore Munich or Frankfurt. Moreover, though unit has become the third site in the world prevalent. gross average incomes in Hamburg appear for the aviation industry, after Seattle and However, two other important do- to be the highest in the whole country, it is Toulouse. It is backed by several other mains must complete this picture (refer essentially because the limits of the admin- factories dedicated to automotive and ma- to Tab. 1). The creative activities related istrative region of Hamburg do not include chine construction. Logistics, secondly, is to information, media and digital imaging any rural areas, which are usually poorer. Hapag- narrowly related to the harbour with the have gained momentum. Hamburg is the In fact, social issues are also striking in Lloyd Axel Springer (Bild ) marine transportation company host city for national information groups Hamburg. Unemployment is not particular- Bauer Bravo Closer , ranking fifth in the world for con- such as magazine , ly low in that city, as it is comparable to the NDR tainer shipping, but also several important ( , ) the radio and broad- national average (7.6 %). Citizens who ben- Stern Gruner+Jahr Spiegel. companies for retailing and mass distribu- casting company and the weekly news efit from social transfers under the Hartz Signal-Iduna tion in Germany. Lastly, the banking and in- magazines ( ), or IV programme (SGB II) account for 10.5% Haspa surance sector, with the group As 70 % of the national newspapers circu- of the population, which is higher than the or the savings bank for instance, lation originates from Hamburg, the city 7.6 % national average. There is now more Länder promotes the city as the second financial was called “the capital of media” and of the poverty in Hamburg than in some former 1 Hamburg is therefore qualified a “city-state” in order to record industry, even outranking Berlin Eastern such as Brandenburg, Sax- express its dual status of municipality and federal state at the same time. The city has its own constitution, (Grésillon 2002). Most of them have now ony or Thuringia, whose industrial take-off its parliamentary assembly – the “Bürgerschaft”, its executive body – the “Senate” – and is headed by a expanded to digital forms. Secondly, high- is more pronounced. What is more, the city- “mayor governor”, whose rank is comparable to the tech industries related to fine chemistry state is experiencing high debt loads at the “minister presidents” of the other Federal states of Germany. This advantage is only shared by Bremen are also well represented, with some lead- moment – about 14,000 € per inhabitant and Berlin. ing groups at international and national

56 Samuel Depraz: Hamburg: Paradoxes and conflicting representations of aworking-class metropolis

2. in 2013 – wich is four times higher than order to determine the dominant para- were located nearest to the city centre, on in southern Germany digms in its past and current actions, then the other side of the river, in order to turn the operational programmes that have them into business and recreational are- Granted, the simultaneous presence of been recently launched. The aim of this as. This was also an opportunity to work powerful economic functions of com- section will be, in short, to present an in- in sensitive neighbourhoods by increas- mand and a high proportion of the popu- terpretation of the urban forms that have ing their density with better-off house- lation experiencing poverty and social been produced by the most recent urban holds, involving the private actors of the problems is not Hamburg-specific. Most projects in Hamburg. real estate sector. This “Jump over the global cities such as New York or London Elbe” is also a matter of image and bears also concentrate more and more wealth The second point will be particularly witness to the fact that a new metropoli- and poor people at the same time. In based on an analytical method developed tan dynamism is taking place in Hamburg, the case of Hamburg, the popular trait is by Wischmann (2015) in her study about with a spatial reconnection of the urban probably more salient since there are few the changes in the Sankt-Pauli district, fabric around the city-centre. The city has spots that visibly display a concentration in which she stated through a discourse therefore undergone a real metamorpho- of wealth – except on the Blankenese hill- analytical investigation, including narra- sis, in the original sense of the term, that sides, in the western part of the city – and tive interviews, the kind of reactions the is to say a deep change in its identity and because the popular base has been main- new urban forms elicited in local inhabit- material appearance. tained as a local culture, inherited from ants. Following Foucault’s principle under However this slogan is, in fact, the out- the turbulent working class of the har- which material forms – here, those of the come of a more lasting evolution that bour. Some elements of this culture have urban buildings – are part of a discourse, could be symbolically dated back to the Astra even been erected as symbols of the city: the author will consider them as objects 1980s, when Mayor Klaus von Dohnanyi Übersee the beer, a popular beverage that that “carry a meaning as they are interre- pronounced a famous speech about Club came back in favour for both local people lated to each other and refer to what will “Hamburg Ltd” in front of the and tourists, after a lasting period of de- be said about them, either by their posi- (1983), an association of entrepre- FC Sankt-Pauli cline, thanks to renewed marketing; the tion in space, their details or the way one neurs (Barbier 2015). Delivered just football club, deeply root- will interpret them” (Wischmann 2015, after the two oil crisis of the 1970s, this ed in the anti-fascist workers’ movement; pp. 62–63). speech stated that it was necessary for Reeperbahn and the red district in Sankt-Pauli, located public actors to commit to supporting south of the , a recreational This analytical model for visual discours- the economic activity and promoting the avenue built in a functional style in the es allows one to consider built-up areas most innovative sectors of the city. There- 1950s – the whole area being dedicated to with a renewed understanding, nourished fore, the touristic image of a “gate to the gambling, bars, night-clubs and brothels. by the inhabitants’ sayings and practices. world” – a romantic representation of the The whole city, actually, is characterized Indeed, visual discourses will help evi- port interface that had been attached to by a red tradition on the political level, dencing some collective conscience and the harbour since the post-war period – since it was continuously under the lead- the way in which urban forms express ter- was gradually abandoned between the ership of the social-democrat party from ritorial appropriation (Sack 1986). Con- 1980s and the turn of the century. Mean- Wachsende the end of the war to 2001 – except be- sidered against the background of their while, the city-state adopted a brand new Stadt tween 1953 and 1957. social meaning, urban features – whether identity as a “growing city” ( The discursive construction of the buildings, limits, fences or visual barri- ) based on entrepreneurship, inno- metropolis a. ers – will indeed catalyse legitimation vation but also culture, music and archi- processes, but also contestation. tecture (Amanda Grünen 2008). A gradually built-up strategy A selection of discursive constructs, pro- This change of rhetoric directly ex- duced by the leading authorities of the presses the evolution of the urban ad- city in order to promote a renewed image The metropolisation process in Ham- ministrators’ culture towards an entre- of Hamburg, will be analysed here in or- burg has been brought about, on the po- preneurial management style. Such a Sprung über die Elbe der to understand the tangible expression litical level, by the “Jump over the Elbe” sign constitutes, according to Harvey of the metropolisation process. We will ( ), a strategy that (1989), the first marker of urban gentri- successively consider the slogans of the was launched by the city in 2002 after fication. At first, the word gentrification metropolitan communication strategy, in the conservative party took over the lo- helped, in its narrower sense, to describe 2 Unless otherwise specified, all statistical data in this cal government. This slogan expressed the evolution of the housing market and contribution are taken from the website of the German Federal statistical office, www.destatis.de (retrieved the need for an urban renewal, especially the upgraded standards of urban forms, oct., 2015). in the oldest abandoned port spaces that producing a more segregationist way of

57 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

Fig. 1: The Spiegel headquarters, built between 2007 and 2011 by the Henning Larsen Architecture Company (Denmark), are marking the Hafencity renewal area from the railways entering Hamburg at the east of the city-centre (Depraz 2014)

3 Forms and perceptions of major urban projects in Hamburg life within city-centres . It is now used to gy aimed at the privatization of consump- summarise, in a broader sense, a more tion and service provision. Gentrification a. comprehensive analysis of the city, includ- is a visible spatial component of this so- Spatial expressions of this discursive shift ing the mutation of economic activities, cial transformation” (Smith Williams are to be found in three major urban pro- Hafencity of collective representations and daily 2007, p. 3). jects in particular. The first of these, the practices towards a post-industrial city: (2007–2020) is also considered “Underlying all of these changes in the The city is then produced by and for up- the most ambitious. As in many other cit- urban landscape are specific economic, per-middle class newcomers (Ley 1980 ies – but on an uncommonly large sur- social and political forces that are respon- and 2003; Florida 2002), based on a face of 155 hectares – the city planned a sible for a major reshaping of advanced striving paradigm focusing on technol- thorough renovation of warehouses and capitalist societies: there is a restructured ogy, knowledge economy and creativity. wharfs in order to provide higher quality industrial base, a shift to service employ- Florida, especially, has tried to link urban housing for 12,000 inhabitants and 40,000 ment and a consequent transformation of renewal to those stakeholders and to iden- jobs for highly skilled workers, the recon- the working class, and indeed of the class tify their leading role on metropolitan dy- nection of this area to the neighbouring structure in general; and there are shifts namics. As a consequence, gentrification is city-centre being secured by a new metro at the heart in state intervention and political ideolo- not a casual feature that can be observed line. Public facilities were cautiously se- 3 The term gentrification introduced in the scientific in several cities: it is of the me- lected so that culture and creation appear debate as early as 1964 by the English sociologist Ruth Glass, was defined as such: “one by one, many tropolisation process and “a major compo- as driving forces in the project: the Elbe of the working-class quarters of London have been invaded by the middle classes—upper and lower. nent of the urban imaginary” (Ley 2003) Philharmonic concert hall, the Hafencity Once this process of ‘gentrification’ starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the original that is not criticised anymore, but rather University and a “Creative and Cultural working-class occupiers are displaced and the whole welcomed (Slater 2006). Discourses Centre” in Oberhafen will pave the way social character of the district is changed” (Glass 1964:xviii, as quoted in Smith 2002, p. 438). However, and categories of action thus ostensibly to several clusters of businesses dedi- the material and critical dimension of the process, Spiegel expelling the poorest when their leases are over in changed in Hamburg in the early 1990s; cated to creation and information, such favour of new, richer owners, has often been over- in fact, they provoked the conservative as around the headquarters, at looked by more recent researches, only focusing on urban renewal and the seemingly positive new urban political shift of 2001 and the launching the eastern point of the site (Fig. 1). Nu- life trends (Slater 2006). of the current major urban projects. merous formal innovations are also to be

58 Samuel Depraz: Hamburg: Paradoxes and conflicting representations of aworking-class metropolis

Fig. 2: The renewal of the southern part of the warehouses district (Speicherstadt), included in the HafenCity project combines symbolic remnants of the former logistics activity (crane, brick facades in the background) with new buildings in an international style, dedicated to business services (Depraz 2014)

observed in the local architecture, such as The Elbe Philharmony, for instance, of those places are actually twin cities of the Unilever and Marco Polo towers, in- plays the role of flagship building in the Hamburg that were selected during the 4. a. tentionally qualified as “impressive” and project, hoping to have a “ Guggenheim 1980s and 1990s: therefore, they meet “spectacular” on the project website effect ” (Plaza 1999; Vicario Martin- the overseas tradition of the city as they This reflects a clear, image-based pro- ez Monje 2003) such as in Bilbao, Spain. are also port cities of international signifi- motion strategy of the site : the search for Indeed, far beyond its local function, the cance. Nevertheless, some other names verticality, the widespread use of glass concert hall is directed to an international refer more openly to American symbols panels, of external steel structures, of audience and shall embody the expected of the neo-liberal society, such as the 5. audacious overhangs, the random layout new image of the city, even at the price of Lohsepark, advertised as “the Central patterns of facades meet the international uncontrolled public spending Park of the HafenCity”, or the franchised standards of post-modern functionalism. It is also interesting to question the to- world food restaurants on the water- This oxymoron allows us to define build- ponymy in the project area: a large share front, or the open-air courts for street ings that are designed with a very regular of names refer to international places basketball. Those signs evidence “the internal geometry, so that modular work and ports, producing a feeling of global aesthetic and cultural aspects of the pro- surfaces can be easily dedicated to busi- cultural mix. Worthy of note are Vasco de cess assert a white Anglo appropriation ness services, but with external novelties Gama and Dar es Salaam squares; Marco of urban space and urban history”, even supposed to address the general taste of Polo and Magellan terraces; Singapore, taking on a “colonial aspect (…) through senior executives. As such, a great simi- Hong-Kong, Kobe, Yokohama and Korean the universalising of certain forms of larity with other waterfront renewal pro- streets; Osaka and Shanghai alleys; Chi- (de)regulation”, “the privatisation of the jects in Europe or around the world can cago and Buenos Aires wharfs. Several housing market” and “an expansionist be observed here, following the reference 5 The Philharmonic building, designed by the internatio- neo-liberalism in public policy that often nal architect firm Herzog & de Meuron, represented a a. model of the London Docklands in the 10-year work while its budget rocketed from 77 to 780 accentuates social divisions” (Atkinson 1980s (Fig. 2) – however with more and million euros during the same time. The municipality Bridge 2005, p. 2–3). The validation of Hamburg had to resort to participative financing, more conspicuous architectural gestures. calling for private sponsorship and a popular subscrip- of this last point shall be made through a 4 http://www.hafencity.com/ (retrieved oct., 2015). tion to complete the project. comparative review of housing prices. On the private market, in the 40 to 80 square 59 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

Fig. 3: The new skyline in Sankt-Pauli produced by the renewal of the site of the Bavaria brewery (Depraz 2014)

metres segment, a sharp speculative soar- the Senate, provided that public spaces buildings, squeezed within low, narrow ing in housing prices was observed in the would be maintained to let people circu- streets, contrast with the usual percep- area when the last building phase was late between the new buildings. The first tion of the area. Bavaria launched, at the beginning of 2015. Apart- implementation of the project was made The same ambiguous reinterpretation Bavaria ments for sale were rated at 8,920 €/m², on the wastelands of the brew- of the tradition of the district can be found 6 Reeperbahn compared to 3,555 €/m² on average for ery, the one that produced the Astra beer north of the site, at the top of the the whole agglomeration . Therefore, and that moved to Altona to enjoy wider : the “dancing towers ”, com- 20 % of the housing offer had to be se- space. pleted in 2012, are also very striking in cured with subsidized building schemes the area (Fig. 4). Admittedly, the buildings or social leases. There is more ambiguity in this second are taking over the existing recreational project regarding its relationship to the function of the avenue (hotel and restau- In a more complex way, the Sankt-Pauli local habits and territorial uses. Bartels, rant, radio station offices and nightclub), district also experienced a renewal pe- who was nicknamed “king of Sankt-Pauli”, but with upmarket positioning: the gour- riod, however more scattered and driven really was a popular local figure. Never- met offer of the restaurant, at street level, by private initiative – primarily Willi Bar- theless, his project fell within the com- echoes the trendy underground recon- tels (1914–2007), a Hamburg business- mon criticism of using industrial heritage struction of a popular nightclub that was man that has invested in this historical as an alibi (Edelblutte 2009) since one famous in the 1990s. area since the 2000s. Bartels decided to sole beer boat was kept on site as a token According to Wischmann (op. cit.), all erect some striking symbols of the eco- of the past. Otherwise, the whole project those new forms, their bulkiness, their Hafenkrone nomic development of Hamburg just be- meets postmodern architecture criteria: visual presence and the new symbolic hind the waterfront: the (the three towers are sheltering a luxury hotel, spatial partitions they convey, contribute “crown of the harbour”), a set of several cultural premises, offices and 120 apart- to creating a feeling of distance among the towers and buildings that now shapes a ments over 28,000 m². The new services in-place population: “when you look from distinctive skyline along the Elbe (Fig. 3). provided do not fit with the existing local here toward the Empire Riverside hotel, This private initiative was accepted by population anymore since they are aimed or in the direction of the brewery, you 6 Source: www.wohnungsboerse.de/ (retrieved May, at better-off customers, when the district can well see the clean break, the violent 2015). remains very working-class. Vertical change” (field interview, Wischmann, op.

60 Samuel Depraz: Hamburg: Paradoxes and conflicting representations of aworking-class metropolis

Fig. 4: A sharp contrast appears on the Reeperbahn, with its outdated street furniture and its ageing functional architecture on one side, and the “dancing towers” (2012) on the other side, an iconic building that reveals the ongoing re-conquest of the city by metropolitan upper functions (Depraz 2014)

a cit.). The notion of “gentrification front” to be strongly taken into account since were taken into account. But social (Smith 1996; Atkinson . Bridge 2005; those neighbourhoods (Wilhelmsburg, selectivity happened all the same, in a Clerval 2010) makes perfect sense Veddel) were still populated and had more indirect way, because of the type when, in the same street, the bay win- been targeted for a long time by urban of issues that were submitted to discus- dow of a gastronomic restaurant on one policies. The IBA was thus designed as sion and the – very postmodern – cat- side coexists with, on the other side, the an experiment based on a collection of egories of thought that were promoted squat houses of the red district with their about 70 separate local projects, rather by the moderators (Barbier 2015). greasy spoons, their stalls for low-quality than a global programmatic framework. The environmental issues, for instance, importation products and their prosti- In doing so, the urban fabric had to be permeated the whole discussion as a tutes (Wischmann, op. cit.). worked through a detailed processing, non-negotiable categorical imperative, relying from the very outset on a con- along with the aesthetics of greening In addition to those strong territorial sultation with residents and several par- and the life ethics they usually convey. markers, a third project can be studied ticipative workshops, so that collective One can therefore point out the biased Internationale Bauaustellung in the southern part of the agglomera- needs and wishes could emerge at the bases of this participative procedure: Hamburg IBA Ham- tion: the micro-local scale. the managers – albeit unconsciously – burg GmbH (2006–2013), now However, in that case as well, some pitch pre-set ideas in the foreground, or (2014). Covering about limits are to be reported. Obviously, the will formulate them according to their 5,200 hectares, this huge – but lighter – project largely steers clear of criticism vision, so that the collective discussion form of intervention is consistent with regarding the built forms, which do not will be channelled in advance. Since the the tradition of reflective thinking of the betray any gross strategy of power, that idea of environmental sustainability is “international architecture exhibitions” is to say any visual discourse of domi- very difficult to dispute, this dimension (IBA) in Germany. Similarly to the Hafen- nation and rupture. The consultation often silences any possible social protest IBA Hamburg city, the project aimed at reconnecting and participation process did occur and rather than fostering it (Béal 2011). As the degraded areas of the southern riv- seemed to be successful; the proceed- such, the project filters erbanks of the Elbe to the city centre; ings of the meetings were published on- social issues and forces social accept- but, in this case, the social issues had line and showed the population’s needs ance through a metropolitan reading 61 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

Map 1: Major urban changes and their contestation in Hamburg – Author’s conception, 2016; background map: © Kober-Kümmer- ly+Frey 2003, Köln

grid built upon selective aesthetics and social practices to the past, since they In Sankt-Pauli, along the river on the a strong environmental bias in the de- have defined the most central districts of Hafen Street, an old block of rental ter- sign of the future city (Barbier, op. cit.). Hamburg for a long time – those which raced houses, owned by the municipality The contestation culture of Ham- combine relative social precariousness of Hamburg, was scheduled to be demol- burg with offensive political activism 7against ished at the beginning of the 1980s. But capitalism and globalisation: Sankt-Pauli, the run-down buildings were staunchly Criticism of urban transformation and Sternschanze, and Altona mainly . Some defended by their inhabitants, who opposition to renewal projects have not emblematic places illustrate the perennial started a squat, which was followed by directly been brought about by the most character of this contestation culture. expulsions and walling up, but then a recent planning programmes in Ham- 7 The HafenCity project was established in a mostly new occupation. After long-lasting legal unoccupied area of the harbour, and thus aroused less burg, nor do they originate from the cur- opposition – with the notable exception of criticism proceedings, some prison terms but also rent alternative movements against me- against the weak local anchorage of the street names. hunger strikes and barricades, the inhab- tropolisation. We have to trace back those itants finally received temporary rental 62 Samuel Depraz: Hamburg: Paradoxes and conflicting representations of aworking-class metropolis

Fig. 6: The crossing of the Schulterblatt Street and the Julius Street in Hamburg. The squatted Rote Flora theatre, on the right, stands in sharp contrast with an architect house on the left. This street corner was at the heart of the Dec. 2013 demonstration in Hamburg. (Depraz 2014)

agreements, before getting regularised district that used to be densely packed during the 1990s. In between, they sought with workshops built in a typical indus- to prove the viability of their housing by trial style of the turn of the XXth century. upgrading the infrastructures to current The Gängeviertel had a long-lasting repu- standards thanks to a self-management tation as a closed, unsafe district, charac- association. Nowadays, the occupants still terised by a working-class culture and the cultivate an alternative way of life demon- communist movement, at least until the strated through mural paintings, ephem- Second World War. This neighbourhood eral artistic productions and a free radio was then gradually renewed during the station. However, the atmosphere is still 1960s, breaking with the popular her- marked by conflicts: administrative con- itage and the craft tradition. Only a few trol remains frequent and causes some vi- workshops were still operating at the olent answers; bills are not regularly paid break of the XXIst century. When the last and the police often raid the apartments businesses closed, a Dutch investor po- on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. sitioned himself to buy the whole blocks The Hafen Street houses thus remain the of the district and turn them into quality symbol of an alternative activism and of housing, after erasing the remaining craft an urban space freed from any social al- facilities from courtyards. But a popular Fig. 5: Graphic designs expressing an indi- ienation – or a no-rights zone, depending initiative, driven by an artistic collective, rect social protest on the feet of buildings on one’s view. seized the site in 2009, edited a manifesto in Sternschanze (Rosenhofstraße) (Depraz for maintaining the site open for creative 2014) To the north-west of the city centre, the activities and managed to set up a squat Gängeviertel is a traditional craftsmen’s of about 200 artists there. An important 63 Europa Regional 25, 2017 (2018) I 3-4

communication campaign took place, as use of the theatre. In the meantime, the blurred on Google StreetView pictures, well as the opening of the site to the gen- owner abandoned his project and resold for instance (Fig. 6). eral public with temporary exhibitions the building to the municipality in 2014, Some regulatory measures have also and free events. The Senate of Hamburg after a demonstration for the defence of been taken by local authorities, especial- finally cancelled the sale; the site was re- the self-managed cultural centre in De- ly since the socio-democrats came back Steg habilitated in 2013 and a cooperative is cember, 2013 – claiming the “right to the in power in 2011. The public develop- now responsible for operating the site. city” or “the city belongs to everyone” – ment corporation of Hamburg, the , caused 620 people to be injured in a clash strengthened its efforts to renovate so- The permanence of the contestation is with riot police. cial housing, while securing the rents and also expressed in the strategy of territo- maintaining existing tenants. Planning rial marking in the Sankt-Pauli and Stern- Such a conflicting atmosphere provoked documents have been amended as well, so schanze districts. Street art in Hamburg is a spatial response from the local authori- that real estate investors looking for spec- pervasive, and graffiti are promoted as a ties, which decreed a safety zone between ulative positioning can be persuaded not form of cultural expression, being at the Sankt-Pauli and Sternschanze at the be- to enter those districts: the “regulation same time a marginal artistic expression, ginning of 2014. In that “danger area”, for social conservation”, for instance, re- a social critique but also a means to tame, frequent identity checks were deployed to mains quite unusual in Germany (Vogel- if not to appropriate, current urban trans- better monitor local militant groups. This pohl 2015), but it has been implemented formations by transgressing post-modern increased severity against urban contes- in Hamburg since it imposes special ad- metropolitan aesthetics (Reinecke 2012). tation echoes the “zero tolerance” policy ministrative authorizations for any sub- Some names of street artists have even against the marginalized population and stantial changes in the urban forms. The become famous in the regional press, the activists in many gentrified metropo- targeted changes are especially those that when some graffiti have real artistic val- lises worldwide, on the model of the stop- could lead to immediate increased rental ue and explicit political content. Graphic and-frisk policy in New York. This may values or to the reduction of the rental designs, superposed on one another with precisely be the sign of the takeover of the market in favour of a private market con- incredible density, systematically cover heart of the city by “revanchist” elites, ac- sisting mainly or fully of owner-occupiers. every wall and door of the buildings up cording to Smith (1996). The aim consists therefore in keeping the to a height of about two metres (Fig. 5). Indeed, the gentrification in Stern- “social structure” of the district as long as Rote Flora The intensity of this territorial marking schanze is real. Against the wishes of its possible. However, the measure remains is clearly organised according to a south- occupants, the embodies a re- non-coercive and unsystematic, since the north gradient, decreasing along an ur- newed image of a cultural avant-garde fate of each parcel can be negotiated on a ban transect running from Sankt-Pauli to and serves, as such, as a bridgehead for case-by-case basis between the buyer and Eimsbüttel, via Sternschanze and Caro- real estate speculation, since the inves- the local authorities. The general idea is linenviertel (refer to Map 1). tors anticipate the improvement of the mainly to “bluff” (Vogelpohl idem), play- local urban representations. The gentri- ing on the idea that there is a constraint Rote Flora A last symbol of contestation can be fication process is already visible in the and a will to preserve the existing image found in the theatre, a hot spot new commercial signage, that fits with a of those neighbourhoods, while display- of activism located in the Sternschanze “rising class (…) with a secure economic ing a local policy that is more attentive to district, to the north of Sankt-Pauli. This base”, bearing “the standards of good taste social issues. building has been continuously squatted and a consumer-oriented lifestyle” (Ley Five central districts were concerned since 1989, when an investment project 1980, pp. 242–243) or, in other words, in 2016, including Sankt-Pauli and Stern- bought the premises, aiming at turning with a “dominant class made up of trend- schanze. Through the implementation of them into a private concert hall, with the setters and opinion-makers” (Hamnett this planning tool, the municipal author- sole facade remaining. It then became a 1997, p. 7). It is confirmed in the evolu- ity wishes to prove that the most contro- symbol of local resistance against the tion of the built environment, where some versial issues of the gentrification pro- gentrification of the area. It is used today fortunate pioneers invest in the district cess have been taken into account – even as a cultural centre, with a self-managed and upgrade houses one by one, renovat- though this regulatory measure is mostly artistic programming, and serves as a ing facades, raising rooftops and opening a scare tactic against speculation and is meeting hall for political struggles at the terraces – but protecting themselves from not very effective in the long term when same time. The Senate of Hamburg tried an over-exposition to public visibility at facing strong real estate pressure (Vogel- first to mediate with the collective, and the same time with sliding panels or tint- pohl 2012). established short-term rental contracts ed / deflecting windows. Many of those for the artists while securing the public renovated buildings will be intentionally

64 Samuel Depraz: Hamburg: Paradoxes and conflicting representations of aworking-class metropolis

Conclusion

Reflecting the substantive debate on gen- contemporaine des espaces géogra- On November 29, 2015, a referendum on trification, the case of Hamburg discloses phiques. In: L’Information géographique the possible application of Hamburg for which force is driving the production of 74, 3, p. 23–38. the 82024 summer Olympic Games high- urban spaces: it is not the user, but the in- Edelblutte, S. (2009): Paysages et ter- lighted again the internal tensions of the vestor that fosters metropolisation, that ritoires de l’industrie en Europe. Héri- city : the vote turned out to be negative, is to say offer rather than demand. As for tages et renouveaux. Paris. thus confirming the resistance force of a Smith (1979), gentrification is mostly Fischer, N. (2008): Vom Hamburger Um- majority of the population to the lure of “a back to the city movement by capital, land zur Metropolregion − Stormarns globalisation. Naturally, this refusal was not people”. Competing discourses and Zeitgeschichte seit 1980. Hamburg. mainly explained by the fear of budget- representations in Hamburg confirm Florida, R. (2002): The Rise of the Crea- a ary overspending and doping scandals in anyway the statement that metropolises tive Class: And How It’s Transforming professional sport. Nevertheless, it should are “contested cities” (Gintrac . Giroud Work, Leisure, Community and Every- be reviewed in the light of the contesta- 2014) and that there are broader social day Life. New-York. tion culture and the social awareness to- expectations for a more equally shared Ghorra-Gobin, C. (2015): La métropoli- wards urban renovation programmes in production of urban spaces. sation en question. Paris. References Hamburg. Gintrac, C. and M. Giroud (2014): Villes Local authorities, in a certain way, have contestées. Pour une géographie cri- used the metropolisation process as a Amenda, L., and S. Grünen (2008): Tor tique de l’urbain. 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crise du citadin. Paris. Paris. Depraz, S., U. Cornec and U. Grabski- Sack, R. D. (1986): Human Territoriality. Vicario, L. and P.M. Martinez Monje Kieron (eds.): Acceptation sociale et Its Theory and History. Cambridge. (2003): Another’Guggenheim effect’? développement des territoires. Lyon, Slater, T. (2006): The eviction of criti- The generation of a potentially gentrifi- p. 59–72. cal perspectives from gentrification able neighbourhood in Bilbao. In: Urban research. In: International Journal of studies 40, 12, p. 2383–2400. Urban and Regional Research 30, 4, Vogelpohl, A. (2015): La redécouverte p. 737–757. du règlement de conservation sociale Dr. Samuel Depraz Smith, N. and P. Williams (eds.) (2007): à Hambourg : vers des transformations Assistant professor of geography Gentrification of the city. Londres. urbaines plus modérées et plus accep- and planning

Smith, N. (2002): New Globalism, New tables ? In: Depraz, S., U. Cornec and U. University of Lyon (Jean Moulin)

Urbanism: Gentrification as Global Grabski-Kieron (eds.): Acceptation so- Research unit “Environnement, Urban Strategy. In: Antipode 34, 3, ciale et développement des territoires. Ville, Société - CRGA” CS 78242 p. 427–450. Lyon, p. 73–88. 1C avenue des Frères Lumière Smith, N. (1996): The New Urban Fron- Vogelpohl, A. (2012): Urbanes Alltagsle- tier: Gentrification and the Revanchist ben. Zum Paradox von Differenzierung F-69372 Lyon Cedex 08 City. New York. und Homogenisierung in Stadtquartie- France Smith, N. (1979): Towards a theory ren. Wiesbaden. [email protected] of gentrification: A back to the city

66 Samuel Depraz: Hamburg: Paradoxes and conflicting representations of aworking-class metropolis

Peзюме Résumé Hamburg: paradoxes et représentations contradic- Гамбург. Противоречия и противостояния в toires d’une métropole populaire Самюэль Депра рабочем мегаполисе

Cet article examine les conditions de l’émergence d’une dimen- Цель данной работы заключается в рассмотрении прогрес- sion métropolitaine à Hambourg, dans le contexte allemand сирующего процесса метрополизации Гамбурга в контек- d’un polycentrisme économique très marqué où plusieurs сте четко выраженного полицентрического экономическо- métropoles sont en compétition pour accéder à un statut de го пространства Германии, в котором несколько крупных commandement international. Les acteurs publics et privés городов борются за лидирующие позиции на международ- de la seconde agglomération d’Allemagne portent un discours ном уровне. Как государственные, так и частные струк- militant en faveur de l’essor des fonctions économiques supé- туры в этой второй по величине городской агломерации rieures de la ville ainsi que des projets de rénovation urbaine Германии активно работают над расширением экономиче- ambitieux ских функций города и реализуют для этого амбициозные On analyse ainsi les effets de ces transformations sur les formes программы обновления городского пространства. В работе urbaines, ainsi que le processus corrélatif de gentrification qui рассматривается влияние этой трансформации на формы voit la reconquête des centres par les classes aisées et les acti- градостроительства, а также связанный с этим процесс vités de services supérieurs. Cependant le caractère populaire джентрификации, то есть приток более состоятельных et industrieux de la ville portuaire suscite des réactions ori- групп населения и фешенебельных заведений в централь- ginales de rejet violent d’une métropolisation mal adaptée à ные районы города. Тем не менее давно закрепившийся une identité populaire encore défendue par plusieurs segments за Гамбургом статус портового рабочего города влечет за alternatifs de la société urbaine. Hambourg; métropolisation; projets urbains; gentrification; cri- собой неприятие этого процесса метрополизации, прояв- tique radicale ляющееся в особых и порой насильственных формах, так как некоторым альтернативным группам населения он кажется неуместным для города, осознающего себя как город рабочих. Гамбург; метрополизация; градостроительные проекты; джентрификация; радикальная критика