Once an unattractive place, formerly on the East-West border and at the periphery of public discourse, it has recently become an area of new interest for different social groups. Over the years it has welcomed a mainly Turkish community, but now young people from all over Europe are attracted to Neukölln by its affordable rents, and new bars, art galleries and trendy shops are appearing. However, rents are increasing dramatically, and Neukölln is showing signs of gentrification, which raises debates about the future of the district and its low-income inhabitants.
Le Garage Moderne is an old factory building of the 19th century situated in the heart of the Bacalan neighbourhood, former industrial and port area of Bordeaux now under drastic regeneration process into residence and cultural production. GM started as a citizen initiative, where people could repair their cars but consequently developed into a vibrant social center providing support for disadvantaged people, space for cultural production and community organising.
Suffering from its marginalized position during the years of the German division, the neighborhood was recognized and labelled as a deprived area in 2005 due to its low standards of economic development, its poor social integration and quality of life. These characteristics made the territory of Südliche Friedrichstadt a periphery in the centre of Berlin, as the area is located in the proximity of some of the city’s main attractive spots, such as the lively Mitte and the creative Friedrichschain-Kreutzberg. In a twenty-year time-span, a set of policies of local urban renewal has been gradually implemented to re-centralize the neighborhood, starting from the very re-centralization of the role of its residents in directly participating in small decision-making processes. This served to acknowledge, create and institutionalize their identity as a geo-social collectivity. Commercial, leasure and creative initiatives have begun to flourish in the area, projecting it as an emblem of juxtapositions and contradictory tendencies characterizing modern urban contexts, whereby transitions to new lifestyles are mediated by old identites and latent risks of gentrification, displacement and social conflicts.