Transformation Haus und Feld
Basic information
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Full project title
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Project Description
Transformation Haus und Feld is a campaign for a transformation center where the knowledge and skills that we need for the socio-ecological transformation are given a home.
In the heart of Berlin there is exactly the right place for the socio-ecological transformation: the Tempelhofer Feld and the airport building. This place is a common good, it belongs to all Berliners.
And it can provide a model for all European cities on how to create a home for the jobs of the future.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
We started Transformation Haus und Feld at the end of 2020, when due to Corona it became obvious to us that our society is on the verge of change. As a campaign, Transformation Haus und Feld demands the creation of Germany’s first transformative center - in the heart of Berlin. We join forces to claim the historic site of former Berlin Tempelhof Airport as a large campus where all practices needed for the socio-ecological transition can be taught. The center will be home to an active civil society. As the Tempelhofer Feld is already common land, we will be making sure from the start that all education and qualification is accessible to everybody. By helping the population to learn how to depend less on globalized production, the center will be contributing to sparing emissions and making neocolonial imports from the global south more and more redundant.
We have already formed an alliance of organizations already active on the site of the former Berlin Tempelhof Airport, such as Mehrwertvoll, THF Vision, 100%THF and others. We have also formed a strong and motivated network of scientific institutions like Technical University of Cottbus, activists like Architects for Future and other initiatives. Together they develop the concrete plans for the site, whereas we as a campaigning team will engage further in networking, publicity, funding and organisational work to make this happen. We continue networking and have already achieved that our project is included into the election program of DieLinke and other political parties. A team of reporters has been accompanying our first steps; we are doing onboarding sessions since the beginning of March.
With a Transformation Center for all, Berlin has the opportunity to set a model for cities everywhere on how to drive the change to a climate-friendly society.
Key objectives for sustainability
Transformation Haus und Feld is fueled by climate activists. The extinction of species, the climate crisis, global and local injustice and the indolence of governments motivate us to tackle the social and ecological transformation in a practical way NOW. Instead of just fighting against the harmful industries, we want to help build the alternatives for urban and rural areas from below.
The Transformation Center will be in constant evolution (as fits a participatory project) in order to help Berliners face the challenges of the socio-ecological transition - mostly through education, experimentation, piloting and community building. Right now, it is envisioned to become a:
- Workshop for the circular and solidarity economy in Berlin and Brandenburg
- Meeting point for the neighbourhoods and cosmopolitan civil society
- Place for self-organization of future-oriented initiatives
- Food center where gardening, cooking and regional food sovereignty are promoted
- Laboratory for climate-neutral mobility for everyone
- Experimentation center for scaling decentralized renewable energy
- Dissemination channel for regenerative building methods
- Community where democratic participation is lived continuously
- Space where art and culture thrive as the language of a society adapting to crisis
- Education center for the socio-ecological professions of the future
The role of the campaign is to deliver convincing concepts of these visions. Multiple co-creative specialist working groups are already working on this - and the intention is that this initial draft becomes the starting point of a participatory process where the public not only provides feedback, but actually is engaged to take part in the projects.
Inspired by examples such as Cooperation Jackson, Doughnut Economy Action Laboratory, Mondragon Cooperative - our goal is to demonstrate that a just transition that is community-led is one of the most promising tools for achieving the needed climate targets.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Berlin is known for its vibrant and unorthodox art and culture scene. The Tempelhofer Feld, an abandoned airport field is now a colorful public space where windsurfers, dancers, dog walkers, community gardeners and many other figures share a space.A transformation center for everyone does not arise on the drawing board or on the green field, it arises on what is already there: fallow land, empty and forgotten industrial halls and ruins of a dead and deadly fossil infrastructure.
From the start, Transformation Haus & Feld is an exercise of the imagination - it is not meant to tell Berliners what should be - but rather help them imagine what could be. Our cooperation is characterized by fun, cordiality, mutual learning, courage and the joy of experimentation.
As such, the campaign incorporates art and culture from the very beginning. The artworks developed present the airport building as a “future ship” of possibilities. The campaign is organising events and workshops to engage Berliners in developing realistic visions of the future. This engagement allows individuals not only to contribute to particular components of the Transformation Center but also define their role in the socio-ecological transition.
At the core, Transformation Haus & Feld is a project to strengthen and empower the community. Our events are meant to be fun, colorful and participative - as we deal with very serious challenges - and so we cooperate with artistic cooperatives such as Artistania (Carnival for the Future) and are actively organizing a Rave for the Future with the Kollektiv Spieltrieb e.V..
Key objectives for inclusion
The Transformation Haus & Feld campaign is started on the basis of an alliance of associations already present on the airport field, as well as the neighbourhood associations around it.
We deal with the past of the former Tempelhof Airport. Today's airport building was built in 1936 and is a sign of Germany's Nazi past. The history of the development of the site and the existence of the Columbiahaus concentration camp are to be conveyed through museum offers and educational opportunities in the building, the warning to be kept alive.
Field and building are and will remain a common property. They belong to everyone and should benefit everyone. We oppose that they are taken over by capital interests or even parts of them are sold. We are against commercial use and do not work with for-profit companies. Instead, we focus on the common good and donut economy. Nothing works anymore without being climate and socially just: A good life for everyone is only possible if everyone works according to their abilities and needs and earns a living within the framework of the planetary limits.
We organize ourselves holocratically. That means that we act hierarchically and without a central, grassroots plenary. Working groups work in parallel in their respective areas of responsibility and make autonomous decisions for this area. A delegate system helps us to ensure the flow of information. We use feedback loops to coordinate our approach. This type of self-organization is based on empowerment, trust and transparency.
We are in solidarity with the movements for climate justice, anti-racism, anti-fascism, feminism and others. Working with these initiatives is an important part of our work. We recognize our own entanglements in existing social power structures. Through reflection and joint learning, we want to actively develop solidarity practices and together build structures that are sensitive to discrimination and diversity.
Innovative character
Similar plans for the Tempelhofer Feld were pitched and denied before, because there was no public pressure. That’s why we forge a civic, social and scientific alliance to build an urban movement that will maximize the chances for the center’s realization. Furthermore, our timing is just right: awareness of the climate crisis has increased in the last few years. Also, 2021 is the year of federal and county elections, therefore there will be a vivid political debate about the perspectives of the whole country as well as its capital.
The vision for the Transformation Center is to be a convergence of innovations in permaculture, regenerative building, mobility, education, democratic organizations, etc. The idea of a socio-ecological transition center is already urgently needed - but doing it at the Tempelhofer Feld, a highly symbolic Berlin space, allows for much larger ambition and provides a model for cities all over Europe.
The scale of the ambition is an innovative component itself - there are few examples of participatory projects at this level - and it is a unique opportunity to match the unprecedented societal challenges with an inspiring campaign that can provide a flagship project for the needed socio-ecological transition.
Finally, the campaign is innovative as a demonstrator for transformation, answering the needed questions: How can Berlin become independent of fossil fuels and global supply chains? How can quality of life improve by using low energy technology? How can community-led conservation and renovation lead to more sustainable buildings and foster biodiversity? How does a regenerative culture based on inclusion, self-organization, common good and knowledge sharing look like?
