Urbani izziv Volume 15, No. 2, December 2004
: 125–129
(Thematic articles)
doi: 10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2004-15-02-005
Author
Wilfried HACKENBROICH
Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Dessau, Germany
info@hackenbroich.com
Title
Transit space: The corridor Berlin–Moscow and German-Polish border to Poznan
Abstract
Transit space is about the infrastructure investigations concerning the spatial order of the “corridor” Berlin−Moscow and the most dynamic part of the “corridor” from the German-Polish Border to Poznan. It is based on the research conducted during the Bauhaus Kolleg V, “Transit Spaces: Transitional Cities in Eastern Europe” 2003/04 in the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. The corridor between Berlin and Moscow is one example for a new spatial order within the postsocialism of Eastern Europe, and the flow of capital and goods, migrant streams, the EU expansion, communication networks and the development of the infrastructure holding it together. Transit economies and multilayered new allocation policies result from the shifting of the EU to the East, and cause new spatial structures and differentiations. Beyond the national borders, new invisible but effective spatial barriers and frontiers have emerged. The case studies, along the two lane transit road from the German Polish border to Poznan reveal an intense sequence of service stations, 24 hour bars, night clubs, restaurants and hotels. Complex service stations were built and placed – like pearls on a chain – along new goods traffic axes at so far undeveloped territories. They are nodes in the network of a global flow of goods, information and products of daily use. This article investigates the conditions and prospects of this new area within the European development.
Key Words
border space service agglomeration, Eastern Europe, post socialism infrastructure development, transformation processes, transit corridor Berlin–Moscow, transitional cities