Case Studies  The Berlin Case Study: The Socially Integrative City.Wrangelkiez, Boxhagener Platz, Ostkreuz

2.3. The Neighbourhood Management Approach:
An Integrated Operational Approach for Decentralised Procedures at a Local Level

Setting

The Neighbourhood Management Approach is part of the implementation of the programme 'The Socially Integrative City' by the federal states (“Länder”) and the national government of Germany. This programme was initiated by the end of 1999 in order to stabilise and further develop 'Areas with Special Development Needs'. These areas are characterised by a combination of several of the following factors:

• deficits in urban development, construction, and ecology
• deficits in infrastructure
• economic stagnation on a low level
• turmoil in (or sudden and severe reduction of) economic activities
• unbalanced demographic statistics
• high rate of unemployment
• high degree of dependency on social welfare
• immigrants form a large proportion of the population, especially among children and young people
• high degree of (out)migration, especially of families, employees, and the upper classes
• increasing social and cultural segregation and exclusion
• increasing delinquency in public areas (in the public space)

These statistically available figures are clearly above average in the areas in question. In addition, there are signs of neglect and increasing (readiness to) violence in public areas, in association with an increasing feeling of insecurity among the residents. The manifold problems accumulate in these areas and lead to further decline.

With its decisions on March 30, 1999 and October 09, 2001, the government of Berlin declared a total of 17 precisely defined areas as 'Areas with Special Development Needs – Neighbourhood Management'. Some of them differ greatly in size (number of residents) and specific problems (e. g. with immigrants). In these 17 neighbourhoods, about 228,000 people live altogether. The numbers of residents in each neighbourhood range between about 4,000 and 26,000 people. The pilot scheme was originally planned for a duration of three years and later extended by two more years (until spring 2004).

Neighbourhood Management Teams at Work

In these areas, Neighbourhood Management Teams have been established. Monthly or quarterly, they hold public meetings with everybody concerned, affected, interested, including institutions, experts, and the political parties represented in the District Councils. In addition, a number of public events on a variety of topics and projects take place. There are small workshops, mediation and planning projects, exhibitions, and media work. A steering committee approves the programme annually.

For the realisation of smaller projects – e. g. the support of street festivals, advertisement for certain projects, a neighbourhood newspaper, new playground equipment, planting – each team has an “action fund” of about 15,000 € p. a. available. Furthermore, as a pilot scheme, a neighbourhood fund provided each area with about 500,000 € p. a. A committee of citizens decided independently how to spend the money (see 2.5 for details).

These funds, and the activities made possible by them, have been an encouragement for many residents to become themselves active in and responsible for their neighbourhood.

In all procedures, the following working and decision-making structures have emerged (with slight variations):

During the first year, the work concentrated mainly on implementing these network structures, the motivation of protagonists in the area, the development and implementation of first (and fast to realise) projects, and working out and agreeing on a strategic programme for the area within the given timeframe.

2.2 URBAN II as Partnership at Programme Level with Structured Procedures     2.4 Example: Neighbourhood Management Boxhagener Platz