Germany: Neighbourhood Centres – A Complex Issue

Germanyʹs complex history reflects also on the development of neighbourhood centres. This starts with the ambivalent and controversial significance of the word ʹneighbourʹ which itself had been misused during times of dictatorship. Confronted with different political systems and ideologies, urban planning has been challenged to offer attractive living conditions for people while achieving architectural objectives at the same time. The complex situation of neighbourhood centres is analysed in this article on the basis of one example from West and one from East Germany. Looking at Halle-Neustadt in the east and Frankfurt-Nordweststadt in the west, the obvious failure of both concepts is explained from the social and political changes over the last decades. Today, both centres are commercialized and have to face the German present where demographic changes, international migration and high mobility are dominating urban life.