The eyes of our ancestors are upon us:

Fluidity – all categories are in flux and can shift. The tree can speak and man can transform into an animal. Permeability – there is no boundary between the world we live in and the world of spirits. A wall can speak to us. It can accept us or reject us.

quoted and taken from the documentary film “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” by Werner Herzog – about the Chauvet Cave with its 30,000-year-old murals in the Ardèche Valley in the south of France.

Seen and being seen is an evolutionary imprint. At LiMa, evolution and civilization are clearly interlinked in the concept of architectural design. Watching the world from a safe place: its all about seeing. Its all about light. It’s about seeing, it’s about light. And so this architecture by Herman Hertzberger in the LiMa Wohnhof has an aura that is unique in time and space.

there is a street in the glastower

The way from the city to my study is a gradation of passages, rooms and interspaces that I pass through, just as the rooms and interspaces in my own four walls are different gradations of the private and public, in which I then can live with my family or with friends or alone

LiMa – urban spaces –

and privacy

– the city in the city –

glastower – wintergarden – orangery –

– light –

Made visible through light – everyday happiness and transcendence.

the inconspicuous window with a narrow sash is the window to the world

Aldo van Eyck

windows that are pulled down low allow us to observe the weather. we are then connected to the phenomena of the laws of nature. But above all, we see people. We are always connected in a building of Herman Hertzberger .

permeability – light – air – sound – comes through – and i can see through – in the meantime i am protected  –

a glass tower as an escape route, which is an architectural movie theater. As you descend, you can view architecture from three centuries.

– I pass the gate and I’m at home –

You can see each other through the apartment door

Neighbors have brought something!

A very good morning LiMa!

Tower East

LiMA south

Structured like a medieval town – and accessible through 7 gates – cave and bird’s nest in one

In the glass stairwell – view to the city – view into the courtyard and beyond –

The city view like a painting – I’m dreaming

figs and mandarins grow on the roof

LiMa – Landscape in the smallest space – dimension

and again i am dreaming …

Stairwell illuminated from the East – the vertical passaget is not heated

Where does the green color of LiMa actually come from ?

“The green comes from us. We have always had this green. This color reminds us of the copper roofs of Hamburg. But this green also exists in Amsterdam, where the copper roofs oxidize differently due to the sea air.”

Inken Baller

Interconnected from North to South – and East to West

Concurrent and personal space at the same time

Stairs, landings, niches and passages – hide and seek – almost unlimited possibilities through openness – which means freedom of choice for the residents of LiMa – a democratic architecture – a work of art of civilization

tower west

Coral reef-like community

and everyone has their favorite spot somewhere

Discreet and individual, ingeniously adapted, with attention to the whole

LiMa south-east

The fluid passage between private and public: I go into the glass tower and climb up the vertical street. I always have the opportunity to see the city. Then I turn around and I’m home.

In the year 2025/26 we celebrate the 40th birthday of LiMa !

The sandpit with the mosaic

The mosaics on the outside and inside of the rounded sandpit edge and the mosaic walkway tiles were created as a joint effort by LiMa residents under the guidance of Akelei Hertzberger (Amsterdam). The floor mosaics in the sandpit were created by Akelei Hertzberger.

The courtyard fountain – The LiMa Monster –

The sculpture was planned by the architect as a water fountain and was designed and built by Frieda Ysebaert (Amsterdam) as a fountain and play figure for children.

The Elephant Head Fountain by the Italian architect and painter Giovanni da Udine (1487-1564)

The pergola

In its origins, the pergola is a space-creating colonnade that originally connected the house to the terrace. Its history goes back to antiquity. It was rediscovered in garden design during the Renaissance. In the LiMa courtyard garden it also serves as a climbing aid for plants and sun protection over the sandpit for the children.

LiMa – front garden – north – with the neighboring courtyard garden

With its adjacent bird hedges and trees of the neighboring farm, the northern front garden of LiMa is an oasis for wildlife.

For decades, habitats for starlings, sparrows and blackbirds, kestrels, rabbits and foxes have developed here.

LiMa – front garden – west – Markgrafenstrasse –

The mixture of trees, hedges and perennials were cultivated over decades by self-builders. Over the decades of adaptation, habitats for birds and insects had formed in the dense protection of the undergrowth.

The exemplary greening in southern Friedrichstadt (urban ecology) created by the IBA Berlin 1987 in urban planning and at LiMa in particular the successful cultivation of the gardens by LiMa’s self-builders (participation) is being destroyed these days by the use of gardening companies by the owners.

In the age of climate change and the debates about sustainability strategies in our cities, we are calling for LiMa nature gardens to be species-, plant- and climate-friendly.

LiMa – front garden – west – rondel – Markgrafenstrasse

LiMa front garden – southwest – at the New Jerusalem church

planting of a wild herb bed with lemon balm, sage and peppermint, that reproduces itself.

LiMa front garden – southwest – Markgrafenstrasse  –

with the japanese cherry and boxwood

LiMa front garden – south – Lindenstrasse

avec lilas blanc et violet. There is a small gate to the New Jerusalem Church, which connects us with our neighbor.

LiMa front gardens – south-east – Lindenstrasse –

characterized by roses and barberry bushes –

on the wall of the house on the right the architectural angle, a remnant of the award of the first Berlin Architecture Prize in 1989.

LiMa front garden – east – Lindenstrasse

robinia and lime trees determine the climate here

LiMa courtyard – front garden – north-east

Roses, forythia, the pipe bush and lavender grow in the barren soil to the north. The backfilled soil in the northern area of the courtyard garden is exhausted after 40 years.

LiMa – courtyard – frontgarden – north –

lilac, palmlily, cypress trees and wine are predominant here

LiMa – courtyard – front garden north – the tower –

the cedar, the cork willow,  and the cherry laurel dominate the area to the west. The path to the tower north-west is flanked by white lilacs and jasmine.

All the plants show signs of disease, ageing and stress due to drought and lack of nutrients. We try our best to keep them alive.

LiMa courtyard – west – the hill

The hill is characterized by a gently rising meadow, which was created by backfilling. There is a cherry tree at its highest point.

The courtyard garden is largely created by filling in earth on the underground parking garage.

Thanks to its artful planning and knowledgeable cultivation, this garden still combines many forms in a very small space.Any leveling by trampling paths, clear-cutting and lack of or incorrect care blurs the radial structure and gradually causes the different forms to fade. The garden artwork and its biological diversity disappear.

LiMa – courtyard – south –

with cypress, honeysuckle, spirea and hazelnut.

In the south east part of the courtyard garden there is natural ground.In spring, pink columbines and blue wild hyacinths bloom in the meadow near the house wall, planted decades ago.

LiMa courtyard – south – east –

slightly shaded by light purple summer lilac – the gate to the southeast –

LiMa courtyard – east –

the play tower  – on the right –  was acquired in 1986

To this day, we work with the inventive self-builders who once cultivated the gardens of LiMa

Wild poppy, columbine and dyer’s chamomile, borage, marigold and yellow anemone. Plant seeds sent to us by the self-builders for the LiMa gardens.

The little wild strawberry also arrived in a special train. They all made their home in LiMa.

For K. the experience in the desert was overwhelming. We were just a bit crazy. I was Alexis Sorbas and he was the engineer who wanted to see everything rationally. He was like my brother. One night in the desert, he came to me, hugged me and told me that he loved me with all his heart.

We sat around the fire at night with the Tuaregs. You’re not allowed to fart with the Tuaregs. That’s really bad. So K. did fart. The Tuaregs laughed their heads off all night. That was certainly an experience for the Tuaregs, which they often talked about. K. understood nothing, of course. Everything touched him. It was like melting a block of ice.

I told the architect: I come from the desert. And then the architect said: “The light here must be like in the desert.” There is a message in the light. You are born in the light. Everyone sees the world differently. You came here as a larva and built yourself the LiMa cocoon and then we became butterflies. There is a saying in Algeria: The tasks on one person’s shoulders are heavy. It is easier on many shoulders. And that’s how it was at LiMa.

The self-build architects of LiMa – Reinhard Sappok and Jürgen Peters-Hünting

It’s been a long life together with Reinhard since we started our studies at the TU in 1974. As we did a lot together during our studies and I lived together with Jürgen Peters-Hünting in a shared flat, it was only natural that we wrote our thesis together. … I know that Jürgen and Reinhard were very involved in the self-build and were both among the first tenants.

Magazine of the Selbstbaugenossenschaft Berlin e.G. May 1988; “der baustein” No. 1

Self-determination

However, the actual core of the cooperative organization is the possibility of self-determination over one’s own affairs. In principle, however, this self-determination has nothing to do with self-construction and self-administration, because self-construction and self-administration actually only mean that you do not have to pay cash for a certain service/construction work because you perform it yourself. Self-determination in the cooperative has much more to do with commitment, the ability to deal with conflicts and make decisions, a willingness to learn and take responsibility, in other words, a willingness to actively participate in democracy. Andreas Kindt

something for students and unemployed

We had good contact with the people in LiMa in general. The people were mostly college-educated people.This was an academic settlement. If you like, self-building was only something for students and the unemployed. That certainly had advantages in living together.

LiMa 1985 – construction schedule for the selfbuilders (finish-off work)

September: window sill installation
October:hanging shelfs
November: Kitchen installation
November: kitchen shelf installation

I remember when the five semitrailers arrived with the kitchens for all the apartments. They all had to be installed, and they weren’t Ikea kitchens. All the cabinets were already built.

LiMa 1985 – construction schedule for the selfbuilders(finish off Work):

painting staircases: if necessary, carry out the work in 1986 – painting balconies: zinc primer + 1st coat  – painting roof terraces: if necessary, carry out the work in 1986

I can well remember the LiMa general contractor going bankrupt. For example, a company came and took away railings in LiMa in a night and fog operation because they had not yet been paid for.

LiMa 1986 – cleaning rules – in rotation through all housing units –

garbage rooms: In rotation through all housing units, i.e.  The garbage room of Markgrafenstraße is kept clean by Aufg. 1,2,6,7, the garbage room Lindenstraße is kept clean by Aufg. 3,4. The distribution is then 26 to 23 apartments. Responsibilities: Fill trash that is lying around into the containers, sweep and wet out the room at least 1 to 2 times a week.

garden: Cleaning the toys and the garbage in the following segments; area with hill, areas around the terraces, area between the upstairs 3 and 4, Area with the monster; area between 5, area with the rondel between the house the house and Markgrafenstraße; Garden maintance will be discussed with garden group.

Broschure released by the Self-build cooperative; edited by Johannes Bense und Andreas Kindt:

In order to realize the idea of cooperative housing , a group of people interested in housing policy, architects and planners as well as possible future users formed and founded the Selbstbaugenossenschaft Berlin eG in January 1984.

Broschure Wohnhof Lindenstrasse / Markgrafenstrasse:

Depending on the extent of self-administration and management of the house after occupation, the gross payment amount may still be reduced. If the users take over the cleaning of the stairs, for example, approx. 15,24 DM can be saved per month. By sensible and economical use, considerable heating costs can be saved.

Dear comrades,
please report the completion of any work not yet done by 28.02.86 to the self-construction management or to your stairway spokesmen.

self-building is associated with financing

As contact architects, we had relatively little to do with the self-construction. We had meetings with the construction managers and made sure that everything went right. Reinhard and Jürgen did a good job. Self-building is associated with financing. If you dreamed of this or that, that went beyond the standard, you had to be reminded of reality. But it was easy that if you didn’t want the standard, you paid the extra price and then your wish was realized. I do not remember conflicts, but I remember that the construction times took longer, and so the construction phase lasted longer than planned. Inken Baller

they needed people who in reality were able to do this

In order to begin the LiMA project in self-construction, a Cooperative was established and I was the founding member. The first project, the so-called residence shelf, was actually the first project of the self-construction cooperative, where people not only benefited permanently from reduced rents through the “Muscle Mortgage”, but also were able to design/plan their own apartments. That was different with LiMa. As the apartment units were designed by Hertzberger, there was no need to get involved with plans and blueprints. In this sense, the LiMa project was more stringent. Thus, the project could start sooner.  People were sought for Lima who were capable to manage a self-construction site with everything necessary, from tools to apprentices.  Juergen Peters-Huenting, my partner and I, had an architects’ office on Grossbeerenstrasse by the Name of PHS Architects. They needed people who in reality were able to do this.  One had to be able to hammer a nail in the wall. Thus, we applied for the job as self-help architects. Reinhard Sappok

I hammered nails into all kinds of cellar partitions

We learned about the project after seeing a construction sign while looking for a new place to live.  We found self-construction interesting and liked the architecture.  It was not so angular. We participated in the intensive self-construction phase from spring to winter 1985 without initially knowing which apartment would be ours.  I hammered nails into all kinds of cellar partitions and installed window sills.

I hadn’t experienced anything like this

At first didn’t realize what we were getting into. The project cost us lots of energy and nerves. We were young working families with small children. That was often a real strain on the nerves. At times we also felt that we should throw in the towel and find a small two-room apartment. Yet the perspective of finding community here was inviting. I hadn’t experienced anything like this. I was only familiar with buildings where seniors lived. And when a child was too loud, you got a dirty look. Here at LiMa, we were all on the same page.

the only people who came here were those who were genuinely interested

While we were still working on our apartment, everybody had a key and came in to look around and see how I did something and then ask lots of questions.  I also needed help while working and trying to finish the ceiling.  Initially the working conditions were always good.  Together, you are doing something for yourselves and everything is new. The only people who came here were those who were genuinely interested.

I learned a lot at the construction site

So the building site was very chaotic at the beginning. I stood there heavily pregnant on the scaffolding with a cable drum in tow and a heating pad on my stomach and painted the balcony grilles. The builders didn’t understand …

I was fitter than ever back then. I wanted to take part in the marathon and was in Aikido. We worked so hard on the building site with so much enthusiasm that I forgot I was pregnant. I learned a lot on the building site. I had no idea about wood, for example. … We came here at a time of great upheaval in our lives. IF YOUR FIND YOURSELF AT THE EDGE – JUMP! Chaos was probably up my ass because of the pregnancy hormones.

I still remember that winter of 1985 very well. I didn’t do the hanging of ceiling. I tended to do the light work. In the middle of winter, there was a heater behind me and you were freezing in front. It was so cold and then you cut yourself when laying tiles and that was annoying.

I had no experience with Self-build work. Reinhard came to check the work and then said: that’s not how it works!  So I threw the tiles at him. But then people from Tommy-Weisbecker-Haus in Berlin-Kreuzberg (Self-managed living and working collective since 1973) came, they had experience with self-builds, and they helped us.

left IBA -right Tommy-Weisbecker-house in 2024

the pressure was hard on relationships

If someone didn’t comply with the set work schedule, they would be warned   I was also warned and that happened at the start of the construction.  You had to have completed a certain job within a given time. The pressure was hard on relationships.

LiMa 1985 – in the background a 19^th century industrial building integrated into the office building of the Berlin Insurance Company. The building was demolished in June 2022 by the investor Norsk Deutschland. Norsk went bankrupt in January 2025.

we were comrades

The framework was incomplete and the site management sent me into the apartments.  We did a lot of work here.  That was not something inconsequential.  We installed the sliding doors.  Installing the steel tracks was difficult because of drilling into concrete.  Then you had to hang the doors.  There were lots of things you couldn’t do by yourself.  All of the shelves were delivered and installed on the same day.   You really didn’t notice that it was happening all at once.  You were hired to do your own apartment and you had to complete your hours. … Comrades, we were Comrades!

lacking our working hours, we created a garden group

The building of a garage floor was planned in the Self-construction program, but it could not be carried out by the self-builders. Lacking our working hours, we created a garden group.

working in self-construction, one had already gotten to know each other well

I thought it was a brilliant idea: a new construction project with 48 parties where people all knew each other, just from the construction phase! One person could lay tiles, the other could do woodwork. People got to know each other during construction. They met at the construction site. Everything was agreed upon there and then, as a rule, people always worked together. People helped each other … there was simply everything there is in terms of people. Working in self-construction, one had already gotten to know each other well. They knew each other’s quirks and qualities and were willing to accept them.

The open structures were the reason why we moved in

At that time, we brought the ideal with us. The open structures were the reason why we moved in. In the past, there weren’t even doors at the gates. They were only installed later because it was too drafty.  The concept and the ideal were connected at LiMa.

LiMa has 7 staircases like houses with vertical streets and thereby horizontally each apartment projecting into the other houses, which are chained together and then slightly offset. Orientation is always the street location also in our vernacular.

The Markgrafen was completed ahead of Lindenstrasse. We didn’t have any water on Lindenstrasse in January 1986. We moved into an almost completely empty building.  S., E. and Sch. had already moved into Markgrafenstrasse. They said if you don’t have any water over there, then just come over to our place.

Families B. and B. and we bought play equipment for the yard. There was a budget for it. Sappok was somehow involved and said something about it. It took us a long time to find the right thing. We bought the swing and the tower with slide.

 

LiMa 1986 – residents welcome the runners of the Berlin Marathon on Lindenstraße

There was a Julian who always played the trombone at the marathon. We weren’t all friends with each other, but we always had neighbors, and you could also be at home with them.

LiMa Wohnhof greets you!

I remember the Berlin marathon runners well. We greeted them enthusiastically, brought them water, ran a little with them and encouraged them. In Algeria, I had already learned to help people and nature. That has always stayed with me. I wanted to give this feeling the opportunity to unfold against the fear that crystallizes everything negative. I am creative. Alexandre Dumas wrote: there are always two solutions to problems and if they are not possible, then you need patience.

LiMa summer 1986 – The LiMa monster was designed and build by Frieda Ysebaert

My name is Frieda, I designed the sculpture. I tried to shape soft forms so that the children can climb safely on it. In these days no one called it a „monster“. I thought about an animal sculpture or something similar. We were three people from Amsterdam. … The idea for the courtyard was to have a fun activity with the residents as a change from the heavy and boring work they had to do in their home, and to get to know each other better. It had to come from the residents. Frieda Ysebaert

 

LiMa summer 1986 – Under the guidance of Akelei Hertzberger the mosaic at the sandbox is created

My father asked me to do the mosaic for LiMa. The idea with this work was to involve the future residents of the house. The people work with their creativity. They are responsible. They made the whole LiMa courtyard The parents came out most often on the weekend, when they were free to work on the mosaic. It was nice work for them. They had a good time. Age doesn’t matter. Everyone working on the mosaic is the same. Akelei Hertzberger

– LiMa Stories – So everyone immortalized themselves here with a small piece

There were 10 or more children working daily on the project. They like the technic to use a hammer for to build the right size of the pieces. Children learn from each other. I even worked with children with 4 years old in Italy and without language skills. The mosaic-technic is easy: You put the pieces side up like a puzzle. For instants you have 5 colours of blue like in a paintbox. You can work with a hammer to form pieces. Akelei Hertzberger

A selfbuilder tells us: “We made the mosaics on the sand box. Someone broke the stones and everyone made a small field. One started and then it was finished and then they said, you did that beautifully and then you wanted to do that too. So everyone immortalized themselves here with a small piece. That was a side job with clay and shards. That’s how it was with the monster.”

LiMa stories – summer 1986 –  the production of the mosaic took about three weeks

The playground mosaic was a communal project.  We were instructed by an artist. Most of the work was done by young mothers.  It was later necessary to create a day-care center that still exists today in the courtyard.  When I look back, I don’t remember this work as a burden. Everything we did increased the value. There were tasks to be done and we completed them.

I added a lightning bolt to remind of the squatter movement. This is a yellow flash. We had friends in the scene at the time.

a we-feeling

My apartment was totally flooded with light and then there was the big balcony. It was an open way of living, which was a new experience for me. It was a we-feeling. We did it! Each with his possibility. And at some point we had arrived. I wonder today where the 36 years went. The apartment is my retreat. My well-being is here.The apartment means a lot to me.

The cherry tree in our garden

Is the cherry tree still there? It came from my parents’ garden.

seeing

I thought it was fantastic that one could be alone just inside the balcony door, but standing out on the balcony, you could see all five neighbors.

we’re not on the side of capitalists

LiMa was covered by the press. The entire process was critically followed by the public.  Busloads of interested people came to inspect LiMa, yet LiMa didn’t have any successors.  Coming out like this, this can only be done with teamwork.  And one must have a vision. Being a cooperative, we were only offered property for social housing, nothing larger than a postage stamp.  However, we have repeatedly stated that we’re not on the side of capitalists and therefore you yourself have to be inspired.  And that’s what gives you energy.

LiMa childhood

Groups of architects would come into the courtyard, sit down, make sketches and look around. We just made fun of it.

The LiMa monster

One counted and the others hid.  KLIPPO was the monster … You hit it on the nose.

LiMa looking south towards the Jerusalem church – the small owl

I loved the courtyard. The courtyard was simply very practical. There were cool cliques, cool children.  We played tag.  We would then go from the courtyard over to the point of the church and the parking lot in the south.  There was the small owl. The large owl was behind the brick courtyard beyond the white building on which a large owl was attached.  Behind that was an empty lot with lots of broken glass and boulders.  We never played there again.

LiMa looking north in 2017 – the white highrise with the name “Kreuzberghaus zum alten Fritz” – the large owl

As kids we’d sit in our rooms looking out to the courtyard and if we saw anyone outside, we all ran out or someone called to them. Hence, this was like a village, like a circle of wagons with a fireplace in the center, our own cosmos! The size of the courtyard was good.  If you would live together with just three families and there was a problem, then they would all be equally confronted with the same conflict.  If we would be 100 families, then we would be anonymous. With this size there was always somebody to play with.  If a family was on vacation, or somebody was sick, there was always a group.  You looked out to the courtyard and if there was somebody, then I went out.  When the church bell struck six, the children came home, watched Sesame Street, ate supper, and then went to bed.

Photographed from the 13th floor of the “Kreuzberghaus zum alten Fritz”:

the southern tip of Block 30 – after the New Jerusalem Church – the LiMa Wohnhof Berlin (owned by the municipal housing association WBM), flanked by the two residential buildings on the right at Markgrafenstraße 9, 9A, 10, and on the left at Lindenstraße 79,81 (owned by the municipal housing company Gewobag in Berlin-Kreuzberg).

POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION OF WESTBERLIN DURING THE COLD WAR

When the World was divided by Walls between East and West between 1982-86, a dreamy and other-worldly LiMa Residential Court was created not too far from Checkpoint Charlie, the American border crossing.

NEIGHBORHOOD

Lima residents partake of a private trade and share economy to this day. For example, I sometimes find free-range eggs or a pail of freshly picked apples outside my front door. If I have too many, I share them.  I think of others. 

An architecture of possibilities as well as the shaping through self-construction, the solidarity of this building has been maintained through all difficulties. Principles of the european enlightenment and political co-determination shaped LiMa’s self-image.

CLIMATE CHANGE

We will soon be so tightly in the grip of global warming that in the heart of the now city, each centimeter of green that’s being built over, will be protected like the apple of one’s eye.

The spaces we live in are organisms in progress. Organisms mesh, become entangled, or wedged in cooperative relationships.  When global temperatures rise complex systems change. Regions become deserts, glaciers melt, oceans rise, resulting in flooding and washing away settlements. Ecological systems, the diversity among all living organisms within and between the species, die.  The spaces we live in begin to shift and have to regenerate themselves. The habitat is moving.

adaptation and mitigation – strategies for global warming

The concept developed by the United Nations (UN) for dealing with global warming caused by exploitation, which has triggered weather chaos and global climate change, is referred to as adaptation and mitigation.

On the one hand, people have to adapt to the unstoppable changes, and on the other they have to individually insure, that cause and effect of global warming be reduced.

What can we do?

social and green cityhousing – sustainable urban communities in the city of tomorrow

In an age of climate change, increasing environmental degradation and the threat of a decline in long-established mixed social communities in cities, we are committed to ensuring that LiMa and the accompanying residential buildings are preserved and further developed as social and green townhouses in the center of the metropolis.

The buildings could be upgraded with climate-neutral and climate-friendly energy technology and sustainable participatory concepts could be promoted in an exemplary manner with families,  who have lived here for decades. In this way, we are creating a humane, climate-neutral and diverse future in our city.

MAINTAINING AND DEVELOPING

LiMa and its neighboring houses and gardens can be the City of Tomorrow !

social – green – vital – open – for all people –

SELF-HELP IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Programs can help people connect with nature and find ways to help themselves in the face of rising food prices. People can get creative in finding their own solutions that they can manage in their everyday lives.

Plant cultivation and wildlife have their own rules in each place and need to be researched. When creating gardens in front yards, courtyards, roofs, balconies, terraces and conservatories, people can be supported financially, technically and with know-how with the help of green cooperatives.

The problem of climate change must be negotiated and solved individually at each location. If we are successful, we will gain access to the new reality. We then change with the changes.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

COSMOS

The existing north-south and east-west in LiMa Wohnhof exposures with corresponding weather and light exposure can accommodate a large biodiversity in the ensemble.

DEVELOPMENT OF MICROCLIMATES IN THE CITY

To support biodiversity and the microclimate that mitigates extreme heat, the roofs and facades of buildings can be greened and additionally cultivated through vertical and horizontal planting. We dont need expensive maintaining. We learn to observe which plants adapt. Each house wall has its own microclimate.

We are working on a sustainable approach to life, an integral way of thinking that comes from the nature of the physical world system itself. The fundamental law of nature that scientists have discovered, consists not only of what the theory expresses, but of an incredibly long series of coincidences and accidents that are part of nature’s being.

THE NATURAL BALANCE

Social and green city dwellings may serve as schools for observing nature in the city.  They are simultaneously living and learning sites. In teaching kitchens, nursery’s and research groups on biodiversity people especially children can experiment with planting, composting, cooking, presenting storage and conserving. We can create together workshops, that will help us overcome crises together. We adapt, we learn and we are able to act in a rapidly changing world. We gain resilience.

strengthen public spaces and common spaces of shared democratic citizenship

We can produce for our own consumption fruits, vegetables, herbs, honey, fruit spreads and meals from the green city residences but can also be sold on street kitchens and peoples’ – markets in front of the buildings. This is especially good for children, adolescents and women, as well as the elderly and sick who are repeatedly excluded and disadvantaged.

The green and social model of the town residential complexes offers people a chance to be individual and creative where they live, and to become active and to connect to one another.  People from many countries who come here to live, can engage their traditional knowledge in cooperative communities and thus establish themselves with imaginatively and with confidence.

OPEN MINDEDNESS – NO DEMOLITION –

Our life in the city is increasingly affected by property/land speculation, climate hostile construction/building, suppressing/displacing of social housing space, increasing through traffic and the accompanying noise and fine dust as well as the effects of climate change.  We don’t want demolition in our neighborhood.

We should not be evasive. We can raise our voices and fight together for a better world and thus preserve a cosmopolitanism just when things are getting tight around us.

PARTIZIPATION IN A GLOBAL WORLD

In the style of the climate declarations and UN-sustainability declarations on inclusive and resilient cities, the creation of a Citizens Council for Biotopic Concepts and Climate Justice in Cities,  offers one possibility for citizens to articulate their interests in public.

In this way, it is possible to connect with experts and stakeholders at city, European and global level in a constant exchange, to finance and further develop projects and in this way promote a democracy of active participation of citizens worldwide.

GEOLOGY OF A CITY

left the Lindenstrasse, one of the oldest streets in Berlin, heads southwest descending in to a depression where water and air collects.

THE VALLEY

These humid lowlands stretches northwest to Lutzow Square.

THE SOUTHERN FRIEDRICHSTADT was developed as an extension of the Prussian residential city of Berlin at the beginning of the 18th century in a swamp.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF A CLIMATE BALANCE

If we look and listen more closely, we can still perceive the wet lowlands and swamps of this glacial valley with its early mists and flocks of crows.

Today the southern Friedrichstadt Markgrafenstraße in the center of the city develops during the summer a pocket of heat here with temperatures up to 50 degrees centigrade.

In order to lessen this over-heating, a reconstruction, redevelopment or references of these humid lowlands into micro biotopes would present an interesting climate balance project. With the ecological urban gardens created by the IBA 1987 in the southern Friedrichstadt, we can create transclimatic spheres.

 THE CITY BIOTOPE  SOUTHERN FRIEDRICHSTADT

With the support of interdisciplinary scientists, we could test on site and practice if and how a partial reconstruction of the city’s natural landscape, destroyed by paving and crowding of the area, increases its ability to adapt

In such a developing City biotope Southern Friedrichstadt nestled between a reduced-speed traffic network in the geographical center of a mega metropolis, the citizens could once again look forward to a summer in Berlin and the city can breath.

LiMa and its surroundings could become tomorrow’s inspiration and attraction for others.

We can do something!

Climate Initiative