The Ever-Changing Role of the East Side Gallery: The Relationship Between Memorialization and Urban Redevelopment

As 2018 marks 28 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, which is the same amount of time that it stood, Berlin is entering a new phase in the city’s history and identity that is captured by economic growth. As a result, there is a strong presence of the tourist economy seeking to experience the Berlin Wall and an abundance of urban redevelopment projects to attract further investment and capital to Germany’s capital city in today’s globalized world. This paper will take the case study of the East Side Gallery, a popular Berlin Wall attraction that has been under the threat of partial destruction by urban redevelopment projects, to discuss and analyze the Berlin Wall’s modern role in the urban realm, as well as the relationship between memorialization and urban redevelopment from the tourists’ perspective to further establish a relationship between memorialization and urban redevelopment that not only maintains the integrity of the memorialization of the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery, but allows urban redevelopment projects to flourish.