Paper short abstract:

Berlin has been reinventing itself for more than a decade. Numerous schemes have been thought up to bring Berlin’s future into being. Focusing on Alexanderplatz, a controversial square in East Berlin, I explore how incomplete and postponed landscapes and empty spaces speak of futures yet to come.

Paper long abstract:

Berlin is a city that has been busy re-inventing itself for more than a decade. It seems to be at once a place that has fulfilled its purpose and a place of new beginnings. Pipes, cables, roads, and train lines have been reconnected; plans and schemes have been thought up to bring Berlin's future into being. What is to be materialised in the city's landscape is a vision of unity and prosperity. I focus on the planning for Alexanderplatz, a controversial square in East Berlin. In the 1960s, Alexanderplatz was rebuilt as the apogee of 'really existing socialism', foreshadowing a future socialist society. Today, this future does not match planners' vision for a central square in the German capital; and a new one is to be built in its stead. The paper considers various media, including plans, models, and participatory procedures, but questions how successful these are in inculcating in people a specific perception of the future Berlin. I highlight the significance of incomplete and postponed landscapes, and discuss the ways in which people invoke Berlin's unfinished constructions and empty spaces to speak of futures yet to come.