HAMBURG/BERLIN (dpa) – Policemen with machineguns at the ready, metal barriers sealing off roads – and the ever present fear of fresh attacks.
After the devastating acts of terrorism in the United States last year and the subsequent Western bombardment of Afghanistan the face of many modern cities is changing and with it the attitude of many citizens who live in them.Experts warn that the battle against the terrorists could lead to drastic infringements of the quality of life, urban lifestyle and architectural boldness in Germany and other European countries as well as in the U.S.At the same time they urge calm. “These events will only change the appearance of our cities in the long run,” said Hartmut Haeussermann, a sociologist at Berlin’s Humboldt University.“What used to be the most exciting thing about cities, namely seeing and experiencing something new has now become slightly sinister,” said the expert.Simple pleasures such as strolling across crowded squares and plazas or visiting famous buildings are not as innocent as they once were. “Public places won’t be so public anymore,” said Haeussermann.Asked if this was a precursor to a general flight from the city the expert had this to say: “If the big metropolises continue to engender fear, their attractiveness as places to be will diminish considerably.”The Berlin sociologist said it was too early to predict what might what happen but a “long period of peace” could help counter the trend.Since the start of Western punitive air attacks on Afghanistan over a week ago foreign embassies and consulates in Berlin and Germany’s other large cities have been sealed off with barbed wire and barriers. Armoured cars are parked in front of synagogues and armed police pace the streets.Police crew buses are a familiar sight and elegant streets in some of the smartest parts of town resemble a police barracks.The director of the Bauhaus architecture foundation in the eastern German city of Dessau, professor Omar Akbar, who came to Germany from Afghanistan as a boy, says the latest events in his home country have had a profound effect on him.They also remind him than many other countries have suffered much more at the hands of terrorists and the repercussions of them.If the high level of security at present becomes the norm Akbar fears a “destruction of the public sphere”. Controversial measures such as video surveillance may become generally acceptable. “Postdamer Platz in Berlin is already off limits to beggars because of the video cameras,” said Akbar. “Measures like these detract from the quality of life in cities.”Terror attacks can be launched from all quarters and some people are questioning the way modern buildings are constructed. What about skyscrapers in Frankfurt and Berlin? Famous U.S. entrepreneur Donald Trump believes the future of such buildings is secure, telling one interviewer recently: “The skyscraper will never die.”Akbar says “architecture should not submit to the new way of thinking,” and Haeussermann too has little time for throwing contemporary architectural ideas out of the window because the twin towers in New York were singled out for attack. “Power will always seek a symbol somewhere,” he said.Despite calls for a return to normality in the wake of the attacks, Berlin sociologist Uwe-Jens Walther believes they have triggered a new debate about the vulnerability of cities.“The European inner cities represent even more the quintessence of cultural heritage and diversity than American Central Business Districts,” said the professor at the Technical University in Bertin.“They are more compact, more urban and symbolically more vulnerable,” said Walther who sees Frankfurt, as Germany’s most high- rise city, being more in the possible firing line than say Munich or Berlin.City planners were talking about decentralization even before September 11 and Haeussermann recalled demands after World War Two – which led to the devastation of many German cities – for urban buildings to be more spaced out in order to reduce destruction in future bombing. Akbar wants to people to carry on, if not intensify the trend towards working and living in the city. “We must not abandon a centuries-old tradition,” he said “that could be exactly what the terrorists want us to do.”
