Game of Urban Regeneration – Culture & Community in London 2012 and Berlin′s Mediaspree

Who wins and who loses in urban regeneration? What are the mechanisms at play?Francesca Weber-Newth looks at two neighbourhoods that are adjacent to large-scale regeneration schemes: the 2012 Olympic park in London and the Mediaspree waterside development in Berlin. By analysing how urban regeneration is experienced on the ground, her study counters the notion that Olympic-led regeneration is any different from other forms of neoliberal urban development. Adopting Pierre Bourdieu's view of the social world as made up of competitive ›games‹, an analysis of the two neighbourhoods reveals how the concepts of ›culture‹ and ›community‹ are strategically employed in the ›game‹ of urban regeneration – to the benefit of some and the detriment of others.