Ludwigsfelde between industrial combine and business parks. Socio-spatial transformation of the economy of a town in the Berlin suburb (1980s-2000s)

The dissertation is part of the project “Socio-spatial transformations in Berlin-Brandenburg 1980-2000” of the research area “Contemporary History and Archive” and covers issues concerning economic spaces. Liselore Durousset is analysing the extent to which the change of system had an impact on the planning and practice of spatial economic development. To this end, she chose Ludwigsfelde as a case study.

Ludwigsfelde's industrial history began in 1936 with the construction of a Daimler-Benz aircraft engine factory, which was largely destroyed and dismantled after the Second World War. In 1952, the “VEB Industriewerke Ludwigsfelde” (IWL) was founded there, then reorganised as “VEB IFA-Automobilwerke Ludwigsfelde” and upgraded to the main plant of the newly founded combine “IFA-Kombinat Nutzkraftwagen” in 1978. The small industrial Ludwigsfelde also gradually developed until 1989 to an ever larger, monostructural industrial town typical of GDR regional planning. In the 1990s, both the town and the enterprises had to overcome the challenges of the newly introduced market economy. The industrial area was split up as a result of the privatisation of the IFA combine. Meanwhile, several large new commercial areas were created in a short space of time due to the proximity to the Berlin motorway ring road and the reunified capital, both perceived as locational advantages. At the beginning of the 2000s, the city was described as “the boomtown par excellence” in East Germany for its particularly rash spatial economic development. However, this study will show how these socio-spatial transformations of the economy have proceeded and how this can be interpreted in the long term.

The analysis is based on a comparison between the discourses of different individual and institutional groups of actors about these spaces and the actual spatial developments of the business landscape in the city. In addition to a historical source analysis and the use of oral history methods, the economic topography at the time will be reconstructed and visualised with the help of a GIS program, before being examined through a socio-spatial structural analysis. This comparison will highlight former interdependencies, the scope for action of the respective actors, and co-transformations between Berlin and its suburban Brandenburg region. The work aims to distinguish long-term processes from transformation-related ruptures and continuities, to understand the development of power relations and their impact in space, to historicise the industrial and commercial areas, and to reflect on the narratives from and about this period.