When Small Businesses Become a Gentrification Battleground

Gentrification can create some pretty unlikely battlegrounds. In the past, Berlin’s conflicts featured some of the usual suspects: luxury housing, vacation apartments, rent control, and tourism. This month, it’s mostly about a puppet theater and a bakery.

In Germany’s capital, small businesses are becoming a focal point for frustration over rising rents and changing neighborhoods. As older central neighborhoods gentrify, local spaces that used to be landmarks are now being swept away by the various pressures that come with the transfer of city districts to newer, wealthier residents. In a phenomenon repeated across many cities, Berliners are asking themselves: At what point is your old neighborhood not your old neighborhood anymore?