By Gunnar Schupelius
Residential construction on Tempelhofer Feld has been banned for nine years. It can’t possibly stay like this, says Gunnar Schupelius.
The Greens demand that Tempelhofer Feld remain taboo for residential construction. It must be “permanently protected as a natural open space,” said MP Julian Schwarze.
He claims that “the past nine years” have been “a great success”. He was alluding to the ninth anniversary: On May 25, 2014, a referendum was held to declare Tempelhofer Feld an open space that must not be changed and certainly not built on. The referendum became law. “No one could have imagined,” says Schwarze, “how much the field would attract the masses of visitors.”
However, these masses do not come at all times of the year, but at best when the weather is nice and they would certainly come if the former airfield were built on the edge with beautiful residential buildings.
The CDU and SPD had agreed on this in their coalition agreement. With an international competition, they wanted to head towards the goal of “careful peripheral development in limited parts of the area”. But for that they would have to change the Tempelhof law, i.e. modify the referendum of 2014. Apparently they don’t dare to do that and instead announce that they will again obtain a vote from the people. However, that is impossible, because a referendum cannot be initiated by the government, but only by collecting signatures from the people.
It looks as if the CDU and SPD want to leave it at lip service. They fear the counter-movement that could emanate again from the Greens and those around them. Because the Tempelhof activists, who brought about the referendum in 2014, claim that the open space is absolutely necessary for the city climate and for local recreation.
But that’s not true, because there are enough open spaces in the area for the urban climate: Hasenheide, Südgelände Nature Park, Gleisdreieck, Görlitzer Park, Treptower Park, Plänterwald, Königsheide, Britzer Garten. These areas result in a total area of incredible 426 hectares. Together with the Tempelhofer (300 hectares) it is 726 hectares. No other city in the world can afford so much open space.
Tempelhofer Feld is larger than the Principality of Monaco. 40,000 people live there on 200 hectares. If fully developed, living space for up to 100,000 people could be created on Tempelhofer Feld, in a central location with the best connections to the underground and S-Bahn and the A 100. Nothing is needed more urgently in Berlin than that.
And yet the Greens are celebrating their fallow land and the CDU and SPD are obviously too cowardly to bring about a new and meaningful decision for the future.
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