Creating the Urban Citizen in Hamburg and Marseille: A Trans-Urban History of Public Urban Green Spaces during the Postwar Period (1945-1973)

This PhD project explores the ways in which public urban green spaces (PUGS) shaped an urban citizenry. As mirrors of societal relations, PUGS reflect the relationship between government officials, city planners and urban citizens, labor and recreation. Set in the aftermath of WWII and continuing until the First Oil Shock in 1973 this study captures a time of urban restructuring and rebuilding in Western Europe. The focus lies on public parks around the port areas of Hamburg and Marseille. Both cities are marked by the specific labor/lifestyle related to port cities: People are in flux. Workers, traders, fishers, tourists, and migrants, to name but a few actors, dock and ship off at a fast pace. The public spaces the city makes available reveal the image it wants to convey and the people it aims to accommodate.
Relating this research to the call “Game changer? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions,” I critically examine past decision making that led to the distinct urban planning, and thus societal, challenges Hamburg and Marseille face today. The green spaces topic aligns with the proposed framework of “frugal urban development” as I investigate how space was sought in the densely built city centers for planting endeavors and when priorities shifted towards commercial projects in service of supporting the nation’s economy. I also study how and where planning failed in terms of livability and inclusivity for users. This PhD project situates itself in spatial and (trans-)urban history, drawing on theories from human geography and utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map green space development.

The AESOP PhD Workshop 2024 encourages participants to consider ways of “caring about humans and non-humans” in cities. I investigate the pivotal role PUGS played in shaping the urban scape, exploring who was invited to use the “public” spaces and who was deemed unsuited due to a lack of understanding of public green space use (Compte Rendu, n.d.). Grounded in the theories of Doreen Massey, Jane Jacobs, and Henri Lefebvre, fundamental questions such as “Who has the right to the city?” and themes such as gender dynamics in public spaces are explored together with consequences of large-scale planning schemes until today.
The lingering impact of choices made by a very homogenous group of urban planning committees (mostly well-educated, white men) for a very heterogenous community pertaining to port cities can be seen today in the socio-economic fabric of Hamburg and Marseille. While Marseille, faces challenges of impoverished neighborhoods and a lack of progress in green initiatives since the 1970s, Hamburg appears to thrive and stands as the greenest city in Germany. What are the roots of this divergence?

Participating in this PhD workshop would offer an invaluable opportunity to grasp the intricacies of urban planning and understand the long-term consequences of urban design decisions. Working predominantly with planning material form the past, I am curious to learn about urban planning in practice. I hope to share insights from my research on historical planning practices in port cities, while engaging in discussions at the workshop about what constitutes “space reversibility”, and learning from other students’ research and their perspectives on past and future urban planning, addressing new avenues of working with limited space in our rapidly urbanizing world.