Over the three decades the district of Prenzlauer Berg has been transformed from an enclave of political and social opposition squatting amid neglected urban ruins to a brightly restored, charming destination for urban professionals in the new Berlin. This dissertation examines this transformation through an historical ethnography that explores the evolution of a construction of Prenzlauer Berg in the imagination of the residents---a myth of independence, resistance, experimentation, and freedom that was embodied in materially in the ruins.;Tracing two decades of neighborhood activism in Prenzlauer Berg centering around an effort to preserve and restore an historic city bath, this research found that the symbols and messages of myth did not just change over time; they were "living"---residents continually produced, consumed, reproduced the Prenzlauer Berg myth through their everyday practice. The imagined Prenzlauer Berg was intrinsic part to the development process, exposing the link between the city as imagined, as built, and as a lived-in place.;This research adds to the understanding of postsocialist transition and of the dissident intellectual scene in the GDR by showing that, while commonly considered to have failed in terms of subverting or redefining the socialist regime, intellectuals nonetheless established an aesthetic and a broad discourse of independence and experimentation that delineated a space, both material and imaginary, that served as an alternative public sphere.;As gentrification pressures began to mount in the 1990s, the myth was exploited by city officials and commercial developers to attract young, creative professionals and recreate Berlin as a "normal" globally competitive city. Ironically, efforts by neighborhood activists, by producing a politics of space that obscured broader issues of class and identity, abetted this process. As the ruins were renovated, the evocative power of the myth grew. The urban myth and its ruinous aesthetic embodied the tension between the need for order and commercial potential and the desire for chaos and urban spectacle. This research has a broader implication serving as a model for understanding post-industrial cities like Berlin, which have struggled to remain competitive and attractive, as spaces for cultural experimentation and adventure for the middle class.
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