- Discussion about Tempelhofer Field will resume soon
The discussion about the future of Tempelhofer Field and a possible peripheral development with apartments is set to resume soon. Two events of the so-called Dialogue Workshop are planned for September 7/8 and 21/22, to which the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing invites. "The two meetings will then also provide input for the International Ideas Competition," said Urban Development Senator Christian Gaebler to the German Press Agency. The first phase of the competition begins in mid-November. "We expect great interest."
From the Dialogue Workshop to the Competition Jury
A total of ten participants from the Dialogue Workshops - five voting members each with one representative - will then be represented in the jury of the Ideas Competition. After its conclusion in the first half of 2025, a third Dialogue Workshop is planned for mid-July. It will also deal with the results of the Ideas Competition and provide comments on them.
"After that, there will be a final report that presents the various opinions and ideas from the Dialogue Workshops and the results of the Ideas Competition," said Gaebler. "At the latest then, a decision must be made about what happens next."
"Who would dare to commit to eight full weekends?"
"The time plan has been streamlined. Initially, a longer period was planned with a total of eight weekends for the Dialogue Workshops," explained the SPD politician. "But one must be realistic. Despite all enthusiasm for participation: Who would dare to commit to eight full weekends, leaving no time for other things?"
"It was very important to us that not half of the participants drop out or only half of the time is present," said the Senator. "Moreover, we must still have the opportunity in this legislative period to prepare a decision."
Gaebler again rejected criticism of the process. "The dialogue procedure is also a pilot project with model character: How can one bring about a respectful discussion in the city society again?" he said. "It is absurd when the Greens say that the dialogue procedure is a farce. Here it is about respectful dialogue and exchange - and if citizens discuss with each other, that is not a farce, but an essential part of our democracy."
After a successful referendum in 2014, building on the former airport grounds is legally prohibited. However, the black-red coalition is in favor of changing this at least at the edges of the area due to the housing shortage in Berlin - hence the dialogue procedure and the ideas competition. Before final political decisions are made, the mood in the city will be surveyed again.
Will there be another referendum?
It is still unclear how this will happen after the Ideas Competition: "It must still be clarified in the coalition how the further procedure will run afterwards. There are different approaches: for example, a public opinion poll or a new referendum," explained Gaebler. "Whether the Senate is allowed to initiate a public opinion poll - there are different opinions. In my view, it is like this: What is not forbidden is allowed; and there is no ban that a government may ask the people."
In Berlin, there is the popular legislation and the constitutional regulations for it. "And nowhere does it say that the Senate or the House of Representatives may not ask questions of the people. What kind of legitimacy that has is another question," Gaebler admitted.
"It's not the case that we're ignoring the 2014 referendum. If we were, we could have simply introduced a bill in parliament and be done with it," said the Senator for Urban Development. "The elected representatives could have debated and decided on it in two readings." This is a normal procedure. "But that's not what we did."
The Dialogue Workshop participants will contribute to the Ideas Competition jury, as ten representatives from the workshops will be part of the jury for the housing development project at Tempelhofer Field. Due to the housing shortage in Berlin, the black-red coalition aims to change the legal restrictions around Tempelhofer Field's edges to accommodate new housing projects.
