Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2020

Inventing Berlin

Architecture, Politics and Cultural Memory in the New/Old German Capital Post-1989

  • Provides the first comprehensive examination of spatial cultural memory in Berlin post-1989
  • Sheds new light on post-Wall German identity construction
  • Presents a new analytical framework for examining symbolic landscapes
  • Discusses lessons from Berlin that are transferable and relevant for other spatial contexts

Part of the book series: The Urban Book Series (UBS)

  • 4699 Accesses

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 159.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiii
  2. Introduction

    • Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse
    Pages 1-6
  3. Spatial Symbolism and Politics

    • Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse
    Pages 7-28
  4. Identity, Politics, and the Creation of Consensus

    • Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse
    Pages 71-85
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 183-197

About this book

This book comprehensively examines post-1989 changes to the symbolic landscape of Berlin – specifically, street names, architecture, urban planning and monuments – and links these changes to concepts of contested cultural memory and national identity in Berlin and Germany in the post-Wall period. The core of the book is made up of an analysis of built space changes in the eastern half of the city before and after the Berlin Wall, flanked by an introduction to the theoretical underpinnings of the topic and a wider interpretation of the events in Berlin in relation to other geographic and historical contexts. It furthermore offers an explanatory model for the phenomenon of the "symbolic foreigner" whereby former citizens of the GDR feel disenfranchised and excluded from today's German society. 

This book is a valuable resource for researchers, students, and also appeals to a wider, non-academic audience with an interest in both cultural memory and Berlin.

Reviews

“The book convincingly shows that it is worth to look at societal dynamics of transformation through the lens of architecture and planning. … As a whole, the book is a recommendable reading also for those who might have asked themselves first, why we still need another book on post-1989 Berlin.” (Hendrikje Alpermann, Eurasian Geography and Economics, September 13, 2020)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Berlin, Germany

    Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse

About the author

Dr. Mary H. Dellenbaugh-Losse is urban researcher, consultant, and author with a concentration on integrated post-industrial urban development, specifically: culture and creative industries, real estate market dynamics, intermediate and adaptive reuse of vacant buildings, bottom-up urban development, urban commons, and cultural heritage. She has a focus on applied research with public policy implications.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 159.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access