MICROARTICLE #Water
Lake me away!
By: BB2040 Editorial Team
MICROARTICLE Water
Wissensstadt Berlin 2021
Published on June 26, 2021
No matter how exhilarating Berlin's social and cultural life might be, from time to time, everyone needs to get away. It used to be enough to take a cooling dip on a summer’s day within the city limits, in the leafy suburbs of Grunewald or Zehlendorf — or in the river Spree itself, before it was deemed dangerously contaminated [1]. Today, Berliners must share these spaces alongside ca. 14 million annual tourists [2], squeezing leisure seekers onto trains and into on-demand sharing cars to reach their destinations, pushing the pleasure margin further out, into Brandenburg.
The flight to Brandenburg is nothing new. It merely intensified. Especially now, in the time of the pandemic, we feel stuck within our four walls and our social lives have been relegated to the outdoors. Numerous hot-spots emerged deep in the Brandenburg countryside that appear like urban exclaves and cater for the needs of Berliners [3]. They are promoted by glossy magazines, guidebooks [4] and digital influencers and have a ripple effect on their surroundings.
[1] International Water Association (2016). Berlin’s citizens reclaim their river after 100-year ban.
https://www.thesourcemagazine.org/berlins-citizens-reclaim-river-100-year-ban/ [Accessed 21.06.2021]
[2] Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Energie und Betriebe (n.d.) Tourismus in Zahlen. https://www.berlin.de/sen/wirtschaft/wirtschaft/branchen/tourismus/tourismus-in-zahlen/ [Accessed 21.06.2021]
[3] Berliner Zeitung (2018). Café zum Löwen: So erobern zwei Japanerinnen die Uckermark
https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metropole/cafe-zum-loewen-so-erobern-zwei-japanerinnen-die-uckermark-li.54629 [Accessed 21.06.2021]
[4] Take me to the Lakes
https://takemetothelakes.com/category/ausfluege/ausflug-berlin [Accessed 21.06.2021]
Lake me away © Jörg Gläscher
BB2040
[EN] Berlin Brandenburg 2040 was initiated by the Habitat Unit in cooperation with Projekte International and provides an open stage and platform for multiple contributions of departments and students of the Technical University Berlin and beyond. The project is funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation.
[DE] Berlin Brandenburg 2040 wurde initiiert von der Habitat Unit in Kooperation mit Projekte International und bietet eine offene Plattform für Beiträge von Fachgebieten und Studierenden der Technischen Universität Berlin und darüberhinaus. Das Projekt wird von der Robert Bosch Stiftung gefördert.
