May 12        

Berlin's Marzch VS. Regina's Harbour Landing

            Berlin Marzchn was built by the East Berlin Government to deal with the housing crisis (Rubin, 2011, p.29).  The large prefabricated buildings were highly sought after and, “built for socialism’s model citizens”, which included young families with children (Rubin, 2011, p.32). These apartments gave them much needed space for their families; space that most existing apartments at the time did not provide. Suburbs in North America, like Regina’s Harbour landing, are also in some ways an ideal place to live (depending on your preference) and popular among young families. But, these types suburbs are associated with urban sprawl and provide way more space (arguably an unnecessary amount) for families than the types of living units in Marzchn.  Neighbourhoods are comprised of many large unattached single-family houses resulting in low population density in these areas. On the other hand, Berlin Marzchn is a community built out of buildings that may comprise of 120 living units (Rubin, 2011, p. 30) making it a very densely populated area.

            Of course, one aspect that draws people to the suburb of Harbour landing is choice over what your home includes. When people purchase new homes in these communities they can decide which features they want; for example, if they feel they need a three-car garage they can get a house with a three-car garage. The tenants of the buildings of Marzchn obviously had no such choice as the neighbourhoods were completely planned out and people felt lucky just to get assigned an apartment. However, today we saw neighbourhoods were planned out in such a way that all necessary amenities were conveniently located and much is within walking distance.

         An interesting outcome of difference in population density in these two types of suburbs is the difference in viability in public transportation. It is nearly impossible to create an efficient public transit system in spread out North American Suburbs, you are pretty much forced to own a car. Even the closest stores are not really within walking distance to most homes and box store developments that you find in these areas are not very pedestrian friendly. However, the dense nature of communities in Berlin allows public transportation to be more efficient.

Both types of neighbourhoods include parks. Harbour Landing has an extensive walking path and pictured above is a park in Berlin Marzchn.

Sources:
Rubin, E. (2011). Concreate Utopia: Everyday life and socialism in Berlin-Marzchn. Bulletin of the German historical institute supplement, East German material culture and the power of memory, 29-45.