The former Tempelhof Airport of Berlin, now known officially as Tempelhofer Feld, is the world’s largest inner city open space, boasting hundreds of acres accessible to the public and is protected by law.1 No matter the season, Berlin’s citizens are out on the field. In this vast collision of past, present, and future, we encounter the unique and alternative spirit of Berlin and its residents. The Tempelhof Field is a space that’s always becoming and never being.
Since the airport’s closure in 2009 and its eventual reopening to the public in 2010, Tempelhof Field has become a unique site that facilitates community connection and collaboration in Berlin. Situated in the center of the city, the field is a lightning rod for larger discourses of urban change happening in the city. Its unique character enables users to continually construct their own meaning on the site.
In this section, original findings are interwoven with literature and additional source material to highlight three central frames for understanding the Tempelhof Field.
1.
The Tempelhof Field is a unique site that facilities community connection and collaboration between diverse groups
2.
Tempelhof Field is a stand in for larger discourses and narratives of urban change in Berlin.
3.
Tempelhof Field is a space where individuals construct their own meanings and identities while contributing to the broader identity of Berlin.
In Short
Through its unique characteristics, and the ensuing involvement of citizens on the space through diverse activities and civic initiatives, the Tempelhof Field plays a role in Berlin as a unique site of community connection and collaboration; acts as a stand in site for which larger discourses surrounding urban change in Berlin unfolding; and is a site where users construct their own meaning of the space and thus contribute to the identity construction of the city.
The field is important to the citizens of Berlin as a site of connection and collaboration by bringing together diverse groups in the exchange of ideas, values, and cultures. This contributes to the fostering of a diverse and tolerant citizenry, and to the creation of innovative and experimental sites of learning, creativity, community, and socialization.
Through its unique environmental and social character as well as accessibility, communing has become successful in many forms, rendering the site a productive and valuable space for social meeting and organization.
The field is a unique space that makes visible the many changes and discourses unfolding in the urban environment surrounding it. This is valuable not only from a perspective of understanding the city’s many social, political, and historical processes—but to the citizens themselves by giving them a place to engage with the many changes happening around them, and become involved in shaping the city.
The field’s status as a site where individuals can construct their own identity and form conceptions of the city as a whole is important as it allows people to project their values and ideas into tangible realities and build connections to their homes. For many, Berlin is not their place of origin, and the field offers a unique opportunity to connect with and create personal identities within Berlin.
It also contributes to the formation of the city’s identity as a whole, and it is important that citizens are able to engage in that creation process themselves, while contributing to the future of the city across social, political, and environmental vectors.
The Tempelhof Field is more than the sum of its parts. A site that is ever-changing, it is a valuable public space with numerous benefits to the city and citizenry that it supports. It is worthy of protection for its broad individual benefits and the impacts it has on each Berlin citizen and visitor.
- Stephan, Felix. “Tempelhofer Feld: Entfaltung Auf Dem Rollfeld.” Zeit Online, September 10, 2012. https://www.zeit.de/lebensart/2012-09/lust-auf-stadt-tempelhofer-feld. ↩︎