"The Majority of Berliners Still Want a Free Tempelhofer Feld"
This week, a private initiative announced plans for 2,000 apartment buildings on Tempelhofer Feld – a move that would shrink Berlin's beloved green space by a third.
The vast open space of Tempelhofer Feld is a developer's dream. Despite the city delivering a very clear "no" in the 2014 referendum on building there, schemes for development keep coming.
This week saw another one. A private initiative called "Zuhause am Tempelhofer Feld" unveiled plans for 21,400 new apartments on the edges of Berlin's beloved former airfield, backed by star architect Hans Kollhoff. The proposal promises completion "in six years" and floats up to 50% ownership units — and has arrived alongside an IHK poll claiming nearly 60% of Berliners support peripheral development on the edges of the Feld. The timing of the poll appears to be no coincidence.
One thing is certain: the future of the Feld will be among the issues contested in Berlin's elections this September. Parliament may even force a vote on amending the Tempelhofer Feld law before the end of the month.
With that in mind, we put some questions to Anita from 100% Tempelhofer Feld, the initiative that helped win the public referendum and has been fighting to protect Berlin's largest public space ever since, about what this latest proposal means for their movement.
This proposal is being presented as a solution to Berlin's housing crisis. What does it actually reveal?