• Medientyp: E-Artikel
  • Titel: “For a Decent Quality of Life” : Environmental Groups in East and West Berlin : Environmental Groups in East and West Berlin
  • Beteiligte: Kirchhof, Astrid Mignon
  • Erschienen: SAGE Publications, 2015
  • Erschienen in: Journal of Urban History, 41 (2015) 4, Seite 625-646
  • Sprache: Englisch
  • DOI: 10.1177/0096144215579353
  • ISSN: 0096-1442; 1552-6771
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  • Beschreibung: Since the 1970s urban spaces have increasingly been the focal point of conflict for politically active groups. Berlin, because of its occupied status, was in some aspects distinct from any other East or West German city, which is evident in the continuous negotiations between the municipal administrations and politics of both city halves to cope with the historical situation of the city. Though historical scholarship points to the transfers that occurred between East and West Berlin, this article claims that the Wall was not as permeable as the research suggests. Indeed contacts were scarce between East and West Berlin activist groups. The reason for only sporadic contact was not the Wall as such, but much more that the political groups on each side of the Wall had their own agendas. Given that East Berlin environmental groups have been the focus of a number of historical studies, this article will place the West Berlin protagonists and their actions at the center of the paper and analyze three ways of cooperation between two communal administrations and different environmental groups in East and West Berlin. It explores the circumstances under which reciprocal transfers between the different groups in East and West Berlin were possible and investigates how the environmental situation on one side of the city could influence the official politics on the other side through the geographic proximity and the common history of both city halves. It also explores the political groups and their environmental goals during the 1980s and locates these within the context of urban Berlin.