Berlin Techno Clubs Under Threat From Motorway Expansion
The band Kraftwerk may have loved the Autobahn, but it has become the bane of Berlin's techno scene, as the highway's widening threatens to close several clubs in the German capital.
The A100 widening project has also united club supporters and environmental campaigners who say it will contribute to the climate crisis.
The highway, which partially covers the center of Berlin, will be extended in the coming years from Treptuer Park northwards along the Spree to the nightlife area of Friedrichshain.
The expansion threatens five popular nightclubs in the area, according to the Berlin Club Commission, the city's nightclub chain and cultural organizers.
These include About Blank, an industrial-style techno club next to the Ostkreuz train station, and Renate, an LGBTQ community center in an unrenovated building.
"These are clubs that have been here for 20 or 30 years. This is what makes Berlin famous and what people love," club committee spokesman Lutz Leichsenring told AFP.
In early September, the club committee was involved in organizing a large demonstration aimed at generating resistance to this project.
A few thousand people waved banners, danced in shorts and leopard prints and chanted on makeshift stages along the planned route of the Techno A100.
- club culture -
"The clubs in this neighborhood... are really important for Berlin culture," said Adrian Schmidt, a 25-year-old student wearing a black T-shirt and a pearl necklace.
"These clubs create spaces where everyone can develop freely.
Carole Canale, 25, marketing director from Paris, had her first German club experience at About Blank and is a regular at five radar clubs.
"It's a place where people have a lot of memories... and it would be very sad if everything closed," he said.
After the fall of the wall, Berlin's clubbing scene flourished and many of the city's disused buildings and vacant industrial land came back into use.
But the city's nightclubs have struggled in recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, noise, rent increases, bureaucracy and rising costs.
Eli Steffen, 37, of the About Blank collective, described the A100 widening project as "that meaningless gray motorway".
Do you really think the protesters have any chance against the FDP-led Transport Ministry, which supports Germany's powerful car industry and businesses?
"No one can say right now," he said.
But "we are very determined to resist and believe that a transportation-friendly, climate-friendly, colorful and diverse city is still worth fighting for."
The German wing of the "Fridays for Future" movement also joined the wave of protests and expressed concern about the environment.
Clara Duvino, 21, a spokesperson for the group, said: "Construction of the A100 must be stopped not only for obvious social reasons, but also because motorways are a major factor in the climate crisis."
- "Add traffic flow".
But outside Berlin's central cultural bubble, not everyone is determined to stop traffic.
According to a recent poll by Die Welt newspaper, 62 percent of Germans are in favor of renewing and expanding the country's road network.
Only 33 percent believe that road expansion should be stopped in favor of climate protection.
Decisions on highway infrastructure are made by central government; This particular extension of the A100 was first decided in 2016 during the government of former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The current coalition led by Olaf Scholz has promised to re-evaluate some major infrastructure projects in terms of their environmental impact, but has pledged to continue with these projects.
At the government's latest press conference, Transport Ministry spokesperson Bastian Pauli said the highway widening was "necessary to cope with increased traffic flow in the future."
The project is also likely to face political opposition in Berlin, where a conservative mayor was elected earlier this year for the first time in 20 years.
Kai Wegner, 50, a former insurance salesman, said he strongly supports the extension.
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