Postdigital Lunch 06: Participation and City: Navigating commitment and responsibility

Our sixth Postdigital Lunch took place on 3 June 2021. Our host was Prof. Vanessa Carlow (Institute for Sustainable Urbanism TU Braunschweig), who talked to Tim Edler (architect, artist, community organiser, co-founder of realities:united and one of the creative minds behind Flussbad Berlin e.V.), about the project ‘flussbad-berlin.de’.

Flussbad Berlin is a citizen-driven initiative to reclaim public spaces such as rivers and lakes. Discussing this specific project allows us to examine the challenges and appreciate the beauty of designing, planning and building liveable cities.

From its initial conception in 1998 the Flussbad Berlin initiative became a project bridging the gap between civil society, experts, administration and politics. They are united in their efforts to transform the 1.8 km long Spree Canal in the centre of Berlin into a publicly accessible, non-commercial place of recreation fed by naturally purified water. Interestingly, the multi-award-winning project has proved controversial and we want to understand why.

Together Tim Edler, one of the creative minds behind Flussbad Berlin, and Vanessa Miriam Carlow discuss the necessity and the responsibility for civil society to be engaged in urban development, the role of expert knowledge, and the digital prerequisite in formal planning to foster participation.

Find the full talk here: