Make Potsdam great again

Abstract

The reconstruction of Potsdam´s city center is a prime example of urban development from above: Discourses of aesthetics and the restoration of past splendor are combined with strategies for the privatization and commodification of the city. This narrative of the beautiful and great again city is challenged by protests that have been campaigning for several years against the demolition of socialist architecture demanding an alternative diverse and democratic development of the city center for all. The article outlines the enforcement of the reconstruction of the city center as prussian Disneyland in which alternatives are marginalized, historical breaks are whitewashed and a neo-feudal urban order is re-established. Involved as actors of protest, the authors link different perspectives of critique showing the decision-making processes of local democracy and planning and the actors of the local reconstruction alliance in their respective historical context.