. Earth Science News .
TRADE WARS
Berlin allotment holders dig in against property developers
By Isabelle LE PAGE
Berlin (AFP) June 28, 2019

Birds tweet and shears snip as one of Berlin's many urban gardeners tends her city centre allotment, but behind the tranquil scene a battle is raging over the real estate.

"Schrebergaerten", or allotments, offer city dwellers a chance to grow plants and vegetables in small, private gardens and provide a green-leafed retreat from the hustle and bustle of inner-city life.

Berlin has 71,000 allotment plots spread over 890 settlements, often alongside busy railway lines or motorways. They make up three percent of the city's surface area, according to local government figures.

Three-quarters of them are owned by the city and rented out for a modest fee.

"Two years ago, we celebrated our centenary," recalls Suzanne Johnson, 60, of the Eschenallee allotments in the Tempelhof district where she has been lovingly cultivating her plot for 10 years.

She picks some radishes, proudly shows off her tomato plants and points to a small pond in the corner, where she marvels that every year dragonflies are born.

However, the atmosphere has become more that of a battleground than urban paradise.

- 'A privilege, not a right' -

Signs hanging around the allotments declare that plot owners are "Against Demolition!".

The site -- one of 15 in Berlin earmarked for demolition from next year, according to a draft by city planners -- will be torn down to make way for a school.

"I think we should be able to find another solution," says Johnson, referring to patches of wasteland dotted around the city, because allotments are "also a part of Berlin".

The "Schrebergaerten" have been around for 150 years. During the industrial revolution, workers were given a plot to help fight malnutrition.

Later, in wartime, they helped feed the local population and, after 1945 when much of Berlin was in ruins, the allotment sheds were used for emergency housing, which is banned today.

Then, during the Cold War when West Berlin was an enclave inside the communist East German state, allotments were "extremely coveted", Johnson said.

"At that time, there was no chance of getting away to the surrounding countryside," she said.

- Under pressure -

But the Berlin Wall is long gone now and the allotments' existence is under attack as the capital city struggles to meet demand for housing.

Some 50,000 people are moving into the city each year, increasing the need for homes and sparking steep rent hikes, to the point that Berlin's senate voted this month to freeze rents for the next five years.

Housing experts say the city needs 200,000 new homes by 2030, putting allotments, often rented by the elderly and families, firmly in the sights of real-estate developers.

A year ago 54 percent of Berlin residents indicated they backed the complete or partial destruction of allotments, according to a survey by the Respondi institute.

Among 18 to 29 year-olds, the figure shot up to 71 percent.

Being able to afford housing "is a right", but gardening is "a privilege", argues real-estate investor Arne Piepgras, who is pushing city authorities to "put an end to the madness" of allotments.

- 'When a garden dies...' -

Piepgras describes the rent rise in Berlin as "unbearable".

If all of Berlin's allotments were torn up, he says that 400,000 social housing units with vegetable gardens on the ground floor -- as was common in 1920s Berlin -- could be built, solving its housing problems.

However, Juergen Kropp, a professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told AFP that razing all allotments would presume they "are worthless" while, with global warming, the opposite was true.

Kropp insists that allotments, thanks to the plants they grow, help control temperatures during heat waves, drain rainwater after storms and are a rich source of the fauna and flora that a healthy urban environment needs.

"Of course we need these oases, especially if we continue to build with concrete," he argues.

At her allotment, Johnson admits she pays little for her beloved plot, 300 euros ($336) per year after buying the lease for 2,000 euros.

"But we don't spend our time tanning ourselves on sun loungers -- our work benefits everyone," she says.

School classes regularly visit, and in autumn, bags of free apples are hung at the entrance for passersby to take home.

In her eyes, "gardens are social infrastructure" worthy of preservation and, while a building can be rebuilt, "when a garden dies, it dies for good".


Related Links
Global Trade News


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


TRADE WARS
Virtual Facebook currency faces real-world resistance
London (AFP) June 21, 2019
If Facebook's new cryptocurrency should resonate anywhere it should be India, where the social media giant has more than 300 million followers. Many Indians are shut out of banking and face punitive fees for simple transactions, like transferring money to their loved ones. But in India as elsewhere, the US company's ambitions to remake global finance through its "Libra" currency will have to overcome regulatory mistrust, plus the existence of popular homegrown rivals in the market for digital p ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

TRADE WARS
Seven people, including Chinese, charged over Cambodia building collapse

Crumbling roads, grids cost poor nations billions due to storms: World Bank

Google pledges $1 bn for housing crisis in Bay Area

Pence: U.S. Navy hospital ship to help displaced Venezuelans

TRADE WARS
Mimicking the ultrastructure of wood with 3D-printing

Laser trick produces high-energy terahertz pulses

A new manufacturing process for aluminum alloys

Benefits of 3-D Woven Composite Fabrics

TRADE WARS
Protecting U.S. coastal communities from sea level rise will cost $400 billion

The Water Future of Earth's 'Third Pole'

Scientists map huge undersea fresh-water aquifer off US Northeast

Marshall Islanders 'sitting ducks' as sea level rises: president

TRADE WARS
Greenland ice loss projections are clouded by clouds

Hungry polar bear found wandering in Russia industrial city

Himalayan glaciers melting twice as fast: study

Warming waters threaten large invertebrates in the Arctic

TRADE WARS
Qu Dongyu becomes first Chinese to head UN food agency FAO

Tough sell: Baijiu, China's potent tipple, looks abroad

Demand for agricultural products pushing primates to brink of extinction

Heavy toll for French farms and vineyards after brutal hailstorm

TRADE WARS
Earthquake location influenced by stress buildup of previous ruptures

Deep-sea fish in shallow waters of Japan not an earthquake predictor

Earthquake swarms feed molten rock to newly forming volcanoes

China earthquake kills 13, injures 199

TRADE WARS
Jihadist-hit Burkina adopts tough law on covering military ops

Cameroon to prosecute 7 soldiers over 'atrocity' video

Suspected mastermind of Ethiopia attacks shot dead

Rival groups and strategies overshadow jihadist conflict in Nigeria

TRADE WARS
Indian family branches out with novel tree house

DNA analysis offers insight into Japan's ancient population boom, bust

9,000 years ago, a community with modern urban problems

Human brain uniquely tuned for musical pitch









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.