Risen from ruins: the cultural politics of rebuilding East Berlin

This text examines city building in East Berlin from the end of World War II on May 8, 1945, until the construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 - a period of great interest in reshaping the city to express new political ideals.

It examines how key decision-makers were influenced by their worldview and political ideology; beliefs about the relationship between urban form and society including formal theories; political strategizing at municipal, national, and international levels; and assessments concerning the deployment of limited resources.

The work emphasizes how extant discourses acted as 'pathways of memory,' shaping the way key actors attributed meaning to different elements of the urban landscape.