Neighbourhood assembly of 'Sorge ins Parkcenter' - a lively process of organising

On 29 January, theSorge initiative invited people to an open neighbourhood meetingat the Parkcenter. The initiative is striving to transform a largely empty shopping centre in south-east Berlin into a centre of care and is inspired by projects of caring cities in Spain and Latin America. In order not to overload this article, those interested should read the brochure published by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which provides more information about the initiative's political approach and its plans for the ParkCenter:

From the announcement:

Do you often feel overwhelmed and alone with many things in your everyday life? The supermarket around the corner has gone, the cinema is closing, youth clubs are under pressure - and at the same time there are empty rooms in the ParkCenter.
Many things that used to be taken for granted are no longer.More often, errands, meetings and support have to be organised individually. Many people have little time for this and tend to withdraw. Some also feel lonely.
With this neighbourhood meeting, we want to create a space to talk about how everyday life can work well here - without everything being left up to individuals.
It's about very specific questions:

• Which places and services are important to many people in the neighbourhood and should be retained? (e.g. supermarket, cinema, youth clubs)

• How can everyday interaction be better organised, for example through neighbourhood help or shared use of spaces?

• And how can vacant spaces in the Park Centre be put to good use, as individual initiatives are already doing?

We are inviting neighbours, initiatives, social institutions and all interested parties to an open neighbourhood meeting. Together we want to talk about what concerns us in everyday life and what next steps are realistic and feasible.
You can listen or join in the conversation.
You can come alone or with others.
There is no obligation.

This invitation was certainly taken up by 60 people from the shopping centre's catchment area. There would have been many more if the icy surfaces on the access paths had not prevented older and unsteady walkers in particular from taking part. Right at the beginning, participants reported that older neighbours were excluded. This points directly to two important aspects of care in the neighbourhood. The first: the caring city or the caring neighbourhood is not just about care, childcare or doctors' surgeries. Whether all the important places are easily accessible without a car, whether streets and parks are anxiety-free or feel-good spaces, whether I can find a place to sit down even without money for coffee and also whether the city manages to ensure that paths are cleared or well gritted in winter - all of this has to do with care. The second aspect is that when people are or become restricted in their participation, a caring community can reduce these disadvantages: Here, neighbours* took an interest in each other and brought in the issues of those who could not be there. In this way, small acts of everyday solidarity counteract exclusion. This is no substitute for an institutional framework that allows everyone to participate. However, it shows that solidarity with one another is itself a hugely important element of the caring city.

This was exactly what the organisers of the neighbourhood assembly had in mind, which made the three hours extremely entertaining. The concept was to alternate between small groups and plenary sessions to identify areas where action was needed and then to take action together. The organisers of Sorge ins Parkcenter, supported by KIEZconnect e.V., organised the neighbourhood assembly in several stages:

After an introduction to the programme, those present sorted themselves in the large room according to their residential areas from west to east. This was by no means an arbitrary procedure, but prepared the ground for the next round: People living in the same area got together in small groups of three or four and discussed why they are here and what they would like to see in their neighbourhood, what they feel is missing there. There was a wide range of answers; the moderators had also invited people to share everything at the beginning: "Every contribution is important." The range of responses was huge; for example, the following were frequently mentioned The desire for a more active neighbourhood and a sense of belonging - shorter distances to public transport - securing outpatient medical care - ATMs within walking distance - protecting pedestrians and cyclists from increasing car traffic - meeting places that are free for parents and children - illuminated paths in the park, dealing with the displacement of dealers from Kreuzberg to Treptow - shopping facilities for daily needs - a youth centre - protection against gentrification and displacement of tenants - a meeting place for carers.... This list is completely incomplete, there are many problems.

However, it also became clear how many initiatives already exist side by side: One group is campaigning for a community cinema, another is fighting against increasing car traffic. One woman offers cookery courses for young people in her flat and would like to be able to do this in a more public space. The ParkCenter already has an advice centre for interim use. Here, small groups wanted the use of vacant spaces in the centre to be expanded, for them to be able to co-decide on allocation and use according to the needs of local residents, and for use to be guaranteed on a permanent basis, not just as interim use until a more solvent company can be found.

This second round also reflected the path that the Sorge ins Parkcenter initiative has taken: it began with discussions with residents in the ParkCenter catchment area in order to find out what they needed and to have a basis for intervening in local politics for a care centre in the ParkCenter. Since then, the initiative has increasingly created spaces for exchange, with a mobile kiosk, a "Kümmer-Mobil" in Treptower Park and a monthly KÜche Für Alle. The process - according to the perception of the author following the exciting developments from a distance - is aimed at supporting the self-organisation of those living in the neighbourhood, based on the experience that improvements cannot simply be suggested to government agencies, they have to be implemented, unless they are very small-scale. This is especially true when it comes to de-privatisation and joint management of facilities. A park centre with care services and non-commercial meeting places was also mentioned by many as important. However, what happens in the block of flats and in the block of houses is just as important. The smaller the area, the more important the self-organisation of solidarity and care for one another becomes.

The third round was precisely about this organisation: the moderation team clustered the responses from the small groups; four rounds were formed according to the clusters, which asked themselves the question: How do we get what is important to us - how do we enforce it or how do we do it? The topics were:

1) Communities: This is where interested parties come together to organise cooking, skill-sharing and general meeting opportunities. 2) Local meeting places: This group also continues to work and joins forces with existing neighbourhood initiatives, such as for a local cinema or the "food for all" meeting point, and talks to facilities to determine what services are most acutely lacking for young people, for example. 3) Park centre: This group talked about opportunities arising from the fact that the need for further office space is rather low after all and that the Senate now also recognises that a lack of needs-based provision reduces the attractiveness of a district ("soft location factor"). Sorge ins Parkcenter received suggestions from the panel. 4) Traffic: The problems mentioned regarding the extension of the city motorway, poor public transport connections and a lack of lighting were discussed further.

The positive thing is that all groups continue to work, there are designated people in charge, and with the monthly KÜFA, Sorge ins Parkcenter has already created a space where the groups can meet and where they can invite people. Because not everyone is reached by chat groups.

For the author, it was a very nice experience to see how the invitation at the beginning was met with "confidence in the joint process" and how self-organisation became visible in the making. The next neighbourhood meeting is scheduled for the end of May.

A contribution by Matthias Neumann (Care Revolution Berlin)