Offering “more”? How store owners and their businesses build neighborhood social life [original]

OFFERING “MORE ”?
HOW STORE OWN ERS AND THEIR BUSINESSE S BUILD
NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL LIFE

Vorgelegt von
MA Soz.-Wiss .

Anna Marie Steigemann

Geboren in M ün chen, Deut schland

von der Faku ltät VI – Plane n, Bauen, Umwelt
der Technisch en Univers ität Berlin
zur Erlangung des akade mischen Grades

Doktorin der Philosop hie in Soziolog ie
- Dr. phil -

Genehmigte Dissertation

Promotionsau sschuss :
Vorsitzende: Prof. Dr. Ange la Million
Gutachterin I: Prof. Dr. Syb ille Fran k
Gutachter II: Prof. Dr. Jo hn Mollen kopf
Gutachter III: Prof. Dr. Diet rich Hencke l
Tag der w issenschaft lichen Aussprach e: 10. August 201 6

Berlin 20 17

Author’s Declaration
I
Author’s Decla ration

I hereby dec lare that I am the sole autho r of this thes is and that this thesis and the work presented in it
are my own and have been generated by me as the result of my own orig inal research. In addit ion, I
hereby conf irm that the thesis at hand is my own written work and that I have us ed no other sources
and aids other than those indicated. The au thor herewith con firms that she possesses the copyr ight
rights to a ll parts of the sc ientific work , and that the p ublication w ill not vio late the right s of third
parties, in part icular any copyright and perso nal rights of third parties .
Where I have used thought s from ext ernal sources, directly or indirectly, pub lished or unpublished, this
is always cle arly attr ibuted. All passages, which are qu oted fro m publicat ions, the emp irica l fieldwork, or
paraphrased fro m these sou rces, are indicated as suc h, i.e. cited o r attributed. The quest ionnaire and
interview t ranscript ions are attached in the version t hat is not pub licly acces sible.
This thesis was not subm itted in the same or in a subst antially sim ilar version, not even part ially, to
another exa mination board and was not pub lished e lsewhere.

Berlin, 12/ 23/2016

Acknowledgements
II
Acknowledgemen ts
My thanks go to the Intern ational Gradua te Prog ram “The World in the City” at t he Center for
Metropolitan Studies at Tec hnical University Berlin as well as to my colleagues an d the affiliated
professors fo r providing su ch an inspiring and st im u lating wor king environ ment and im mense emot ional
and financia l support for the last four years .
Secondly, I thank my thr ee advisors, Syb ille Frank, John Mollenkopf, and Dietr ich Hencke l for their
manifold sup port, inspira tion, and patience. You bro ugh t me back on track whenever I was los ing my
way or thin king about g iving up and you have my de ep than ks for that.
Thirdly, many other scho lars have given me inspiration and suppo rt on my long way to this thesis’ f inal
submission: Hartmut Häuß ermann, John Mollenkopf, Christine Hannemann , and Su sanne Frank spark ed
my love for urban resear ch and introduced me to urba n studies and socio logy at Humbo ldt-Univers ity
and the CUNY Graduate Center. Frank E ckardt, Syb ille Frank, U we -Jens Walther, Martin Kron auer,
Bettina Ha mann, Ta lja Blokland, and Dorothee Br antz emp loyed me whil e supporting the further
development of th is thes is.
My incred ible fellows at the CMS, particu larly Emily B ereskin and Christ ian Haid, g ave this work its f inal
(interd isciplinary) direct ion. Than ks for widening my (r esearch) horizo n, insp iring me, help ing to reflect
on my thou ghts and exper iences, and br inging forth t his project . I learned so much fro m you, also
beyond our co mmon acade mic work .
Particular than ks are a lso owed to th e interv iew partners, who gave m e so much of their time and
insights and a llowed me to dip into their life- wor lds.
And last but no t least, I’d like to sincere ly thank my be loved fam ily and friends, w ho provided th eir
enormous e motional supp ort and generou s rear cove r througho ut the process.

Content
III
Content
Author’s Dec laration ................................................................................................................................ I
Acknowledge ments ................................................................................................................................ II
Content ................................................................................................................................................. III
List of Figures ................................................................................................ .......................................... V
1. Introduct ion ........................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1. Resear ch Gap: “The W orld in the City” and “Th e World in a Store” ............................................... 4
1.2. Conceptua l Framewor k, Research Design, and Procedure ............................................................ 9
2. The Meso- Level: Soc ial Life and Trade on a Metropo litan Shopping S treet ........................................ 12
2.1. The Stre et’s Phys ical History ....................................................................................................... 19
2.2. “Trade is Change” – Th e Street’s Reta il H istory an d its Current Chan ges ..................................... 23
2.3. “This is the free mar ket. We set only the po litical frame work .” The History of Local Urban
Renewal ............................................................................................................................................ 31
2.4. “Now w e go throug h a new change, now the emplo yed […] come back” - Th e Current
Gentrif ication of Karl-Marx-Straße .................................................................................................... 37
2.5. Summar y: “The ma in focus is o n the site’s d evelopment “ .......................................................... 42
3. Theories o f the Groun d: The Sens itizing Th eoretical Co ncepts ................................ ........................... 45
3.1. Sensit izing Concepts I: Third Place and Public Cha racter ............................................................. 48
3.2. Sensit izing Concepts II: Interaction in Se mi-Public/ Publi c Spaces ................................................ 58
3.3. Sensit izing Concepts III: Community Build ing / Senses of Belongin g ............................................. 68
3.4. Summar y and Use of S ensitizing Con cepts for th e Samp ling Process ........................................... 75
4. Realit ies on the Groun d: Samp li ng Process and Metho dology ........................................................... 76
4.1. Theoret ical Sampling .................................................................................................................. 76
4.2. Samp ling Process ........................................................................................................................ 78
4.3. The Core Sa mple ........................................................................................................................ 81
4.4. Methodo logy .............................................................................................................................. 86
4.4.1. Work ing on the Gro und: Grounded Theory Me thod and Small So cial Life Wo rlds ................ 87
4.4.2. Inqu iry Methods: Interviews, Participant Observations, S econdary Materia l ........................ 93
4.4.3. Des ign of Data Ana lysis ...................................................................................................... 102
5. Grounding the Socia l Life Worlds – The Materia l Space and So cial Conte xt of the Case Businesses .. 106
5.1. Organ ic Store ........................................................................................................................... 1 06

Content
IV
5.2. Ma in Café ................................................................................................................................ . 114
5.3. Pharmacy ................................................................................................ ................................ . 123
5.4. Flower Store ............................................................................................................................. 131
5.5. Butcher .................................................................................................................................... 141
5.6. Add itional Cases and C onclusion .............................................................................................. 1 4 8
6. Businesses as Spaces tha t Generate “More”: Th e So cio - Sp atial Features fo r “talking about
everything,” “coming do wn,” and “staying in touch” ........................................................................... 171
6.1. “The id ea was to creat e a meet ing poi nt ” - Neutra l Grounds or Inc lusive Pub licness ................. 173
6.2. “We are comm itted to all and we also want the sto re to be for a ll” -Business es as Levelers ...... 180
6.3. “They ar e pulling m y leg a lot” – The Conve rsation s .................................................................. 186
6.4. ”For quali ty we need t o go to ano ther neighbo rhood , this is really difficu lt here . “ – The
Businesses’ Accessibility an d Accommodation ................................................................ ................. 196
6.5. “We rea lly have lots of regulars.” – On the Role of Regula r Customers ..................................... 2 02
6.6. “Stab ility” and “Re liance” a llowing for “Mo re”: T he Businesses’ Ap peal and Profile .................. 212
6.7. Businesses as “Male Pl ayful P laces” - Bus inesses for “Se lf - Confident Wo men” ......................... 2 20
6.8. Home away f rom hom e ? A Synthesis o f the Offer ed “More” and the Busines ses’ Thi rd Place
Features ................................................................................................................................ .......... 226
7. Store Owners that Offer “More” - Pu blic Ch aracters on Chang ing Karl-Marx-Str aße ........................ 236
7.1. The Structur e of so-call ed Public Chara cter Pract ices ................................................................ 237
7.2. Caring ab out the Stree t in Times of Urban Renewal: “ It all looks sp ick and sp an in front of my
door” .............................................................................................................................................. 2 4 1
7.3. Connecting People - “T he idea was a p lace for enco unter, with a feel -good- cha racter” ............ 260
7.4. Store Owners as Trust ed Persons - “Certa inly, packages a lways get d elivered at the butcher’s ” 272
7.5. Conclus ion: Offer ing “More” as Lead ing to an “Ex cellent Socia l Status”? .................................. 283
8. Conclusion: “Lifting the curtain” on Karl -Marx-Straße ..................................................................... 289
9. Bibliog raphy .................................................................................................................................... 300

List of Figures
V
List of Figures
Figure 1: Mar ket day on Karl -Marx-Straße ................................................................ .............................. 3
Figure 2: Pub lic life on one o f Karl-Marx- Straße’s corn ers ....................................................................... 5
Figure 3: Map of three of Berlin’s ‘ main shopp ing streets’, incl. Kar l - Marx -Straße ................................ . 13
Figure 4: Re -opening of ne w square on 5/23/20 14 ................................................................................ 15
Figure 5: P ercentage of “foreigners” compare d to Germans living in Berlin ........................................... 17
Figure 6: P ercentage of “peop le with migrat ion backgro und” among a ll Berlin pop ulation accord ing to
the Berlin d istricts ................................................................................................................................ . 18
Figure 7: Ber liner Straße ( to day Karl-Marx-Straße) 1910 ....................................................................... 21
Figure 8: The chain stores’ ma in block on Kar l -M arx -Straß e .................................................................. 26
Figure 9: A local super market offers o nline shop ping and deliver y servic es ........................................... 27
Figure 10: Crowd ed s idewalk w ith construct ion site on Kar l- Mar x-Straße ............................................. 31
Figure 11: Active Centers ar eas of Kar l-Marx-Straß e and So nnenallee, d ivided by Donau straße ............. 34
Figure 12: R edevelopmen t area Karl-Marx -Straße/ Son nenallee ........................................................... 36
Figure 13: Map showing th e construct ion phases of Ka rl-Marx-Straße .................................................. 44
Figure 14: Chart on pub lic and parochia l realms, der ived from L yn Lofland’s or iginal ............................ 59
Figure 15 : Bus inesses’ ma in locations a long Kar l -Marx- Straße ............................................................... 83
Figure 16: Fro nt window of the organic stor e decorat ed w ith advertisements fo r t heir supplier far ms,
environmen tal events, and worksho ps ................................ ................................................................ 107
Figure 17: Organic store’s salesro om and counter, vie w from the seat ing area ................................... 108
Figure 18: Bu lletin bo ard and shelving with flyers fo r local bus inesses and events .............................. 1 09
Figure 19: Main café’s s elf -service st ation and dess ert offerings ......................................................... 117
Figure 20 : Main café’s coun ter d isplay ................................................................................................ 119
Figure 21: S idewalk in fron t of pharmac y ............................................................................................ 124
Figure 22: Pharmacy entra nce ............................................................................................................. 126
Figure 23: F lower store’ s winter windo w decorat ion ........................................................................... 132
Figure 24: Chr istmas decor ation in th e flower sto re ............................................................................ 134
Figure 25: F lower store’ s outdoo r decoration and goo ds ..................................................................... 136
Figure 26: Cou nter in the b utcher’s shop ............................................................................................ 143
Figure 27: But cher’s shop c ounter and a regu lar customer .................................................................. 148
Figure 28: Patio in front o f café I ......................................................................................................... 150
Figure 29: Cou nter in café II ................................................................................................................ 151
Figure 30: Lunch restauran t’s front window and sidew alk ................................................................... 153
Figure 31: Fru it and veg etable store bu ild ing prior to r enovations ...................................................... 155
Figure 32: Bu ilding und er construction ................................................................................................ 155
Figure 33: Upgraded bu ilding with new super market ................................................................ .......... 156
Figure 34: Fru it and veg etable store .................................................................................................... 158
Figure 35: Fru it and veg etable store .................................................................................................... 159
Figure 36: Th e bar owner ’s last b irthday party in the bar befo re the bus iness closed. ......................... 1 61
Figure 37: V iew of the ne w café from the back room .......................................................................... 163
Figure 38: Sho pping ma ll, as seen fro m the outs ide ............................................................................ 165

List of Figures
VI
Figure 39: Scr eenshot of ro ofto p bar’s homepage ............................................................................... 166
Figure 40: W indow of the h air sa lon ................................................................ .................................... 168
Figure 41: Ba ck wall in the new caf é, disp laying vegan cook books an d homey dec orations ................ 213
Figure 42 : But cher’s shop with its long -standing wall decoration ........................................................ 215
Figure 43: She lves in the f lower store ................................................................................................ . 217
Figure 44: Diverse custom ers chatt ing over a co ffee or tea in th e ma in café (aftern oon) ..................... 218
Figure 45: W aitress c leaning the tab le and making a joke to the custo mer in the ma in café ................ 222
Figure 46: Staff taking a break ............................................................................................................. 230
Figure 47: K arl-Marx- Straß e’s sidewa lk life ................................ .......................................................... 235
Figure 48: Wo men chatt ing in front of a drug store on Karl-Marx-Straße, where th ey ran into each other.
................................................................................................................................ ........................... 240
Figure 49: Ca kes, r ice pudding , and baklava d isplayed in the main caf é ............................................... 247
Figure 50: S ign with the (highly divers e) stores a long the str ip, hidden beh ind site fences during the
reconstruct ion .................................................................................................................................... 251
Figure 51: F lower store’ s decorat ion ................................................................................................... 258
Figure 52: New coffee spo t on a new ly remode led square .................................................................. 284
Figure 53: Inclusion of pass ersby a t the main café ............................................................................... 285
Figure 54: Narrow, interrupted s idewalks pr event crisscro ssing the str eet and access ing the bus inesses
................................................................................................................................ ........................... 295
Figure 55: Stores that had to close (permanent ly and temporar ily) due to the con struction site (M arch
2016) .................................................................................................................................................. 297

1. Introdu ction
1
1. Introduction
The idea beh ind this disser tation has a long history . It was inspired less b y my acad emic work than b y
my family life and side jo bs. It is the result of li ving in and mo ving between urban and rura l
neighborho ods as a ch ild, teenager, and student . G rowing up in the 1980s, my f amily lived i n inner -cit y
Munich; like most fa milies there, we lived i n a sma ll a partment. Gentrificat ion has a much longer history
in Munich than in Ber lin. Our neighbo rhood bega n experiencing gentr ification in the 1980 s, and it is now
one of the most expensive areas in Mun ich. The l ack o f space i s one reason wh y we, li k e man y peop le in
Munich, spent a lot of time in beer gardens . There my parents , m y young er sister, and I made many
friends. We wou ld m e et old friends and make new ones, drinking and eat ing along the comm on tab les
or playing at the bee r gardens’ playgrou nds in the aft ernoon s and eveni ngs . When my mother became
pregnant with m y second sister and we couldn’t f ind a larger apart ment tha t we could afford in the c ity,
my family moved to a sma ller town outside of Munich. There my par ents bo ught a house with a garden
in a neighborho od that consisted of s ingle-family hou ses on one s ide of the st reet and public housing
complexes on the other .
Despite the larger res idential space, my parents, sister , and I struggled to get to know our neighbor s and
make friends. Most peop le spent their le isure time with fr iends and relatives in their homes, enjoying
their private gardens and terraces. And there were no beer gardens. Hence, lacking the beer gardens
and cafés of Munich, it too k much longer to m a k e f riends. I n the absence of these public spaces, th e
nearby corner shop, a franchis e grocery store, gradu ally be came the place where we got to know the
neighborho od, neighbors, local codes, and of course, hear a l ot of go ssip. The n eighbo rs got to know us ,
also through the t wo chatty but car ing saleswo men: Even before we had spoken to anyone in the
neighborho od, we were known as the “new Munich family” - the “city peop le.” While we never mad e
any friends a t the loca l shop, it was the place where we came into contact with the other local peo ple.
As a stud ent i n Berlin i n the early 2000s, I worked for several y ear s as a waitress and bartender. My
longest j ob was i n a Kreu zberg bar that had a l ot of regulars, most of whom lived in the surrounding
neighborho ods. They trained me not o nly how to pour a perfect beer , but also taught me how to listen
and care for these regu lars e ven during busy times. I k new where and how to keep their keys, packag es,
notes, cigarettes , and othe r belongings, and reme mbered ea ch gues t’ s specia l wishes . In return, without
even leaving the bar, the patron s let m e know about most of the hidden, i nter esting, sp ecia l, and useful

1. Introdu ction
2
places and people i n th e neighborh ood.
1

News abo ut upcoming construct ion sites, new build ings,
closing and op ening stores, chang ing opening hours of loca l businesses, ava ilable apartmen ts, and police
and public order patrols w as always available, not to mention the l at est gossip abo ut who was fi ght ing
with whom, which coup les sp lit up or got bac k togeth er, which neighbors were i n court and who got a
new dog. A lthough that w ork ended in 2010, former colleagu es and regulars still update me on the
latest news. And whenever I need help, I know where to get it. Exploring m y new city through its
commercia l places, I felt at home for the first time when the wa itress at my regular café set my Radle r
(shandy) on my table even before I ordered it.
These anecdo tes m ot ivate d me to study how local busines ses he lp to gen erate n eighborhoo d social life.
The l ess personal motivatio n for this thesis i s a stron g interest in inqu iries abou t everyday social life and
the o ften neg lected, ordin ary p laces wher e urban dwe llers come i n contact with each other . Fo ll o wing
Sharon Zukin’s (2012: 2) idea of urban cu ltural ecosys tems, I cons ider th i s local so cial life as b eing:
formed by ordinary city dwellers intera cting in vernacular spaces. Historically, the most importa nt of th es e
have b een m arkets of v arious kinds (Agnew , 1986; Lo w, 2000). Today , th ey are often pu blic spaces wher e
men and women engage in social practices o f prolon ged and habitu al consumption: the ‘‘th ird space” of
local p ubs, café s, and barber shops (Dun eier, 1992; Olden burg 1989), and the ca sual ‘‘ sidewalk ballet” of
local merchan ts, shoppers, an d passers-by (Ja cobs, 1961).
For Zukin, everyday street-life on ord inary shopping streets, their markets, cafés, and stores, is the
mainspr ing of a shared pu blic soc ial li f e, where stran gers i nte rmingle . W ith th is I assume t his l oca l le vel
of ev er yday social practices produces “more” than just exchanging money for goods or servi c es – it
fosters proc esses of soci a lization, negotiat ion, and eventual mutual understanding (cf. A min/ Graham
1997).
As im po rtant as th is relationship is, mi cro-leve l et hn ograp hic stud ies of ever yday urban social l ife ha ve
rarely generated theory abo ut how it works. No studies have de lved into these public spa ces as
important contac t sites, de fined by Zuk in (1995: 260 f.) as:
[P] rimary sites of pu blic cu lture; th ey are th e win dow in to a city’s soul . [ …] Public spaces ar e importa nt
because they are places wh ere stran gers mingle freely […] As both sit e an d sight, meeting place and social
staging grou nd, public spaces enable us to conceptualiz e an d represent the city – to mak e an ideology of its

Over the years, th ese included a copy shop th at is open late a nd a bench in a cemetery with free wir eless
internet. Through t hese networks, I also foun d a carpenter, a coat rack and o ther f urnitu re, a selection of
Franconia b rand craft beer for free, and a free bike as well a s a social organization t hat repaired the bike for fre e.

1. Introdu ction
3
receptivity to strangers, toler ance of dif fere n ce, an d opportunities to enter a fully socialized life, both civ ic
and commercial.
Building on thi s r eading, this research stud y co nsid ers the small re tail and g astronomic busine sses
located on shopping streets as critica l sites, wh ere b oth unacq uainted and acq uainted urban dweller s
interact with each other . As Zuk in says, “in contrast to either the intimate int eriors of shops and cafés or
the exter ior focal po ints of public squares, local shopping streets are se ldom recog nized as im portan t
public spaces i n their own right” (Zukin 2012: 2). My stud y thus also takes a relational approach by
paying attention to how a shopping street contr ibutes to neighbo rhood soci al life through the micro-
interactions in local bus inesses.

Figure 1: Market day on Karl-Marx-Straße
2

All photo graphs are my own, pho tographed between Octo ber 2012 and May 2016. Th e few photograp hs and
maps that are cou rtesy of other peop le or institutions are s o indicated. If not otherwise framed, th e pictures serve
(merely) as illustratin g examples to con vey a more visual i mpression of the stre et, the businesse s, and their social
life.

1. Introdu ction
4
1.1. Research Gap: “Th e World in the City”
3

and “The Wo rld in a Store”
This sect ion sets forth the soci o logical case for stud ying everyda y contact places like l oca l businesse s
and shopping streets . I t then presents the concrete research question, design, and procedure. Global
and l oca l economic deve lopment, increased mobility and individualizat ion, globalization, urbanization,
migration, and other dem ograp hic forces ha ve fund amentall y a ltere d the bas is for soc ial i nte raction in
urban areas. They have increased cultura l and ethnic divers ity in urban areas and heightened d isparities
in i ncome, education, and training (e.g. Häußer mann/ S iebel 1 987; Marcuse 1989; M o llenkopf/ Cas tells
1991; D angschat / Fasenfest 1995; Siebel 2012; Krätke 1997). As a result, the experience of ethnic or
lifestyle diversity ha s beco me an everyday phenomenon in the conte mporary city. As Stuart Hall (1993:
361) obser ves, “the co ming question o f the 21 st centur y” is thus “the capacity to live with d ifference.”
Becoming part of this d iverse urban atmosphere and understanding i ts symbolic power and collect ive
meaning, ma kes these urban sites “into a magnet attract ing further imm igration, further divers ity and
difference, for creat ive c lasses and creative milieu s – the stuff that makes for ‘ cosm opolitanism’ ”
(Mayer 2012: 3). The local chara cter, as well as the social life it produces, ha s become an asset for
promoting not on ly s ingle blocks or streets, but ent ire neighborhoo ds and cities in the competit ion for
investmen t, tourists, and so-called hu man capital:
Diversity has become the new orthodo xy of city planning. The term has several meanin gs: a varied ph ysical
design, mixes of uses, an expan ded public realm, and multiple so cial groupings exer c ising their “right to th e
city” (Fainstein 200 5: 3).
Within this new metropolitan landscape, the question of l oca l socia l life remains. In which concrete
spaces or con tact sites do people interact with s trang ers or part ial acquaintanc es ? What consequences
do these encounters and interactions have for social li f e i n urban neighborhoo ds? I f concrete actors
stimulate such social exchan ges, who are they and what are their pra ctices? These initial research

“The World in th e City: Metropolitan ism and Glob alization from the 19th C entury to t he Pre sent” was the
research theme for th e Internation al Graduate Program (20 12-20 15) at the Center for M etropolita n Studies at
Technical University B erlin, in the course of which this thesi s was developed. Se e more at I nstitut für
Kunstwissenschaft un d Historis che Urbanistik (201 6). http://www.kwhi stu.tu -
berlin.de/fachgebiet _neuere_geschichte/ menue/dfg_graduat e_research_program_20 12_2016/, accessed
04/05/2016.

1. Introdu ction
5
questions led me to focus my research on Karl-Marx -Straße, one of Berlin’s more socio-economica lly,
ethnically, an d arch itecturally “ ord inary ”
4

and diverse s hopping stree ts.

Figure 2: Public life on one of Karl-Marx-Straße ’s corners
Suzanne Hall (20 12) claims that students of ethn ic diversity, belong ing, and feeling of home in diverse
metropo les often over looks the importance of routine pract ices of forms of difference, as well as th e
sites and spaces in which we live, manage, and n egotiate these differences . The g uiding assumption of
this thes is, therefore, i s that the soc ial and physica l construct ion of these spaces shape s the type and
quality of soci a l i nt eract ions which occur within them. Ash Amin (200 2: 3) argu es that the negot iation of
difference take s place thro ug h every day exp eriences and encounters at the quite local leve l:

I understand ordinary places as pro viding the settings for p eople’s daily lives. Ordinar y places are physical
settings that d o not have importan t landmarks or major symbolic structu res; rather they are the places where
routine urb an life takes place. Here the ind ividual subjective social con struction of p lace is especially impo rtant.
Ordinary p laces are constantly under social construction b y people responding t o the opportu nities and
constraints of their p articular locality . Ordinary places are t hus those urban settings that facilitate rou tine
encounters and sha red experience s (Knox 2005: 3 f.).

1. Introdu ction
6
My em phasis, in contra st, falls on everyday lived exp eriences and local negotiations of difference, on micro -
cultures of place th rough which abstract rights an d obligations, together with local structures and resources
meaningfully interact with distin ctive indi vidual and inter-personal exp eriences (Amin 20 02: 11).
This thesis therefore focuses on urban “ m icro - publics” (Amin 2002: 2) and the micro -geog raphies of
interaction and encounter: the semi-public spaces of l oca l businesses , which are some important
ordinary spa ces that d iverse urban dwe llers frequ ent almost ev ery day.
This study also focuses on local bus inesses be cause they reflect the way s i n which l arg er soc io -spatia l
changes are reorgan izing the ways that comm ercial activities influence neighbo rhood resi dent ial and
social patterns . This has wide implicat ions for the ne ighb orly co-existence . Wh ile all kinds of leisure and
work a ctivit ies take p lace o utside the ho me, e veryday sho pping r ema ins a pivota l activ ity that routin ely
brings peop le togeth er.
5

Scho lars thus ne ed to pay mu ch more attention to how consumption act ivities
influence the social contact and connections between and among various g roups of res idents and h o w
these pract ices affect urba n com munal life gen erally.
Network research has shown that even though individua ls’ soc ial networks reach well beyond distr ict,
town, and country bo rders, metropolitan residents stil l spend a significant part o f their work and leisure
time participat ing in neigh borhoo d social ne tworks. Neighb orhood s thus continue to play an importan t
role for the creat ion of local bonds - even if these bon ds are secon dary to primary relationships with
family m embers and fr ien ds (e .g. We llman 1 9 79; Wellman/ Le ighton 1 979; Fischer 1982; Sa mpson
2012).
Not only can neighbor ly so cial relat ions i n tegrate peop le i nto an environm ent, they can also supp ly
emotiona l suppo rt and practical assistance, thereby hel p ing people cope with dail y life and enablin g
even vulnerab le peo ple from exper iencing i so lation and exclusion (Wellman 1979; Kasarda/ Janowitz
1974; Herlyn et al. 1991 ; Oelsch lägel 1996; Sam pson 2012).
6

Particularly i n more disadvantaged urban
areas, residents often rely strongly on their neighborhood environment, as their social netwo rks are less
likely to r each b eyond neighborhoo d boundaries. However, the degree to which res idents maintain
contacts w ith their neigh bors depend s, among other th ings, on their so cio- econo mic and soc io-
demographic char acterist ics and on personal tra its. The elderly, youn g families, and the disabled all tend

Even if so -called e-com merce is increasingly ch anging local commercial structure s, consumption, and shoppin g
practices and vice v ersa (see Chap ter 2).
6

Of course, local social capital an d community buildin g might also have negative outco mes such as stron g social
control, exclusion o f others, en forcement of constraining n orms and values (Porte s 2000: 15; cf. Wa cquant 1998)

1. Introdu ction
7
to deve lop and main tain an above-average number of contacts in the l oca l environment (e.g. Fischer
1982; Sampson 2012; Logan/ Spitze 1994; Wellman et al. 1 988) . For all groups, having a large number of
diverse local social contacts, even if superfic ial, contributes to a pleasant and safe neighborh ood
atmosphere (J a cobs 1961) and fosters collective trust (Blokland 2 003 ). In other words, more social
networking may yield a certain degree of social cohesion
7

(Durkheim 1893), which may in turn support
"collective efficacy" (Sa mpson et al. 1997) and socia l in clusion.
Network an alys is has t ended to focus almost exclusive ly on narrow and w ell -integrated primar y
relationships ( such as thos e between fa mily and cl os er fr iend s) a mong nei ghbo rs and do not necessar ily
take a wider neighborh ood perspective with l ess tight secondary ties into account. As a d iscipline, urban
studies widely neglected how the compara tively loose, everyday interactions in public space s contribute
to communal social life in urban neighbo rhoods.
8

This study fills that gap by exploring micro-interact ions
between strang ers and d istant acqua intances at a local lev el.
Urban sociology and planning have also ignored the role of local small and medium -s ized business e s
(SMEs ).
9

Few scho lars have con sidered the wide range of functions th e em p loyees of such

The question of whether social coh esion is created through the practice of shoppin g is still to b e examined. Social
cohesion is a ve ry ambi valent an d normative term and , as such, h as many meanings. Originally , the sociological
term goes back to Émile Durkheim who de scribed social co hesion as a sort of mutu al solidarity o f shared values
and n orms (1893). Durkheim argues that social cohesion pl ay s a major role in social b ondin g and in the creation of
a well-functioning soci ety, in which solidarity is displayed b etween individuals and b y the collective con sciousness
(Durkheim 1893).
8

However, the ethno graphic methodological app roach as well a s con sidering the re stricted available resource s
being a single res earcher, it was not p oss ible to stati stically detect wid er social effects amo ng shoppers or
neighborhoo d residents as resulting from th eir spontaneous ran dom interaction in a nd around shop ping p laces.
Due to the fact th at these “weak interaction s” are relatively modest and infrequent an d therefore hard t o detect,
the thesis gained ‘ only’ an ethnograp hic understanding of th e range of responses by mea ns of participan t
observation and sub sequent int erviews with only few random customer s (neighborhood resident s). Nevertheless
they will be chos en to provide a range of possible consequen ces, if they are in line with t he observed social
practices.
9

Small an d medium-sized esta blishments are d ef ined ac cording to their number of employ ees and amount o f
revenue. In th is sense, the e xamined bu sinesses on Karl -M arx- Straße are “smal l” or “micro” enterp rises. According
to the German F ederal Agency for Statistics, so -called micro enterprises have up to 9 employees and revenue of up
to two million euros, small enterp rises have up to 49 employees and revenue of up to ten million euros, and
medium-sized enterp rises have up to 249 employees and r evenue up to fifty million euros. (German Federal
Agency for Stati stics (n.d.). Kleine & mittlere Unternehm en (KMU), Mittelstand,
https://www.d es tati s.de/DE/ZahlenFakten/G esamtwirtsch aftUmwelt/UnternehmenHan dwerk/KleineMitt lereUnte
rnehmenMittelstand /KleineMittlereUnternehm enMittelstand .html , accessed 04/06/2 016). For this resear ch
project, small enterprises are furth er classified into food in dustry ( Gastgewe rbe ), retail (in cl. reparation), and
services (cf. IHK B erlin 2012). Since it is difficult to find a u niform term identifying nei ghborhood stor es that in clude
all three types, I use and interch ange the terms “stores”, “ shops”, “commercial e stablishments”, “bu sinesses” as
synonyms referring to a ll three types of estab lis h ments. These term s do not speak to t he type of ownership of the

1. Introdu ction
8
establishments serve in their respective neighbo rhood s, such as providing local services and
employment , and more in directly, socia l well-being ( cf. Everts 2008) . Among th e few empir ical studies
that do consider such factors, most have examin ed neighborhoo d businesses i n the context of new
consumpt ion patterns, wh ere shopping becomes “an urban or m etropo litan ex p erie nce" thro ugh which
urban populat ion groups distingu ish themselves from one another (e.g. Zukin 2012, 2 01 1, 2009, 2008,
2004, 1998; Bridge/ Dowling 2001). This thesis goes beyond the material qualities and appeal of the
selected bus inesses .
And lastly, most neighbo rhood studi es focus on resident ial choices - especia lly i n the context of
neighborho od change and gentrification - or resident interact ions with l oca l civic institut ions and
organizat ions. Few have focused on the primary source of neighborho od i nteract ion - everyday
shopping on the local commercia l streets, as I argue - and even less researc h has been done on the
everyday practices of shopping,
10

the micro-geograph ies of different kinds of businesses, the micro-
interactions which occur within them, o r their potential consequenc es (cf. H a ll 2 012). This thesis beg ins
to fill that gap by exploring the patterns of how peo ple who live or work in the neighbo rhood
(intentionall y or not) run into each other in local bu sinesses and ho w the respective m erchants ’ socia l
practices shape those interactions (deliberate or not) . I n other words, the study ana lyzes the
consequences of social interaction during consumptio n.
11

Shopping is not just an interact ion between
sales c lerks and consumers, it generates so cial ex ternalities tha t have impor tant consequ ences for
neighborho od life.
In short, th is thesis addre sses three main questions: First, how, in what ways, and why do workers i n
local busin esses foster social interact ions and ties among nei ghb orhoo d residents? Second, how do the
different mater ial qualities of businesses support the develop ment of certa in forms of interaction? In
other words, what m ater ial qualities of a business might allow it to generate greater v ersus l es s pos itive
social externalit ies in terms of senses of belonging, home, or attachm ent eventually emerg ing among

respective establishm ents. However, the main focus is on small an d primarily individually - owned retail an d
gastronomic establi shments.
10

From a sociolog ical perspective, shoppin g or consumer be havior as such consist s of three sets of practic es:
shopping, b uying, and consuming (cf. Taub er 1972: 46, F eat herstone 1991). By contra st, in German, the p ractice of
einkaufen encompasses all three practic es, whereas shopping refers more to a leisur ely and lifestyle related
practice and a n event- oriented activity. The thesis conceptu alizes “shopping” follo wing the German m eaning of
einkaufen , as an everyday activity with out an a p riori lifes tyl e reference.
11

Different people hav e different motives for shopping, some of which are more or les s unrelated to the actual
buying o r consuming of goods (e.g. s eeing and b eing seen, etc.) (Tauber 1972). Ho wever, these motives ar e not the
focus of this thesi s; rather the focus here i s on the (perhaps integrative) social practice s and socio -spatial setting s
that affect local so cial life.

1. Introdu ction
9
customers and neighbo rhood resi den ts? And third, by considering the business es as part of the larger
whole of the shopping str eet and surroun ding n eighbo rhood, the thesis dea ls w ith the question of how
urban renewal po licies for the neighborho od affect the businesses’ survival, the store own ers’ socia l
practices, and thus also the social li fe surround ing these bus inesses. Simply put, this study aims to find
out how do local businesse s link people toge ther, why , and under what circumsta nces.

1.2. Conceptual Fram ework, Rese arch Design , and Procedure
This thesis investiga tes social interact ions in and around an “ordinary ” metropo litan shopping street as
its field site. It explore s the interact ions between staff and customers as well as th ose among customer s .
An analy s is of consumpt ion practices i n i nner-city neighborho ods can enhance our understanding of
how neighborho od residents and business people interact and interweave i n the cours e of everyday
routine act ivities. I t furthe r argues that busin esses s erve as important co ntact si t es for fr iends, casual -
acquaintances, and strang ers in urban settings. It conceptualize s these mea ningful interact ions as
“more” than simp le co mmercial transa ctions . The “more” also st ands fo r the social proc esses an d
concrete pract ices that so metimes happ en as the (perha ps unanticipat ed) bypro duct of the economic
exchange or are pu rposef ully sought or st imulated by th e different par ticip ants in the bus inesses.
Another way of putt ing this is that urban shopp ing can generate pos itive soc ial externa lities. My goa l is
to analyze how (and why) shop owners’ social practice s and customer - to -customer i nt eraction gener ate
a socially meaningful “more” for the place’s par ticipants, wherew ith in turn also may serve for m or e
than simply ser ving as a place for local supp ly or serv ice provis ion.
In order to answer these q uestions, the d isserta tion takes the follow ing steps:
Chapter two provides a detailed discuss ion of the development of the field site street from the 18 th
century until tod ay. It provides the geograph ic, historical, and socio- eco nomic context for the stores as
the concrete research objects. This d iscussion spans from the distant past to current urban renewa l
programs and their a im to make a co mmerc ially “mor e successfu l” future for Kar l -Marx-Straße .
Chapter three addresses three sets of sens itizing concepts that i nfo rm the sampling process and the
ethnograp hic data generat ion and analysis. The first set is on „pub lic character s” (Jacobs 1961) for a
more conceptual fram ing of the role of store owners as well as for a typolog y of their soc ial prac tices
that might be seen as generating “more.” Jacobs’ idea s help us to i dent ify the social pra ctices that m ight

1. Introdu ction
10
crea te a soc ial “more” fo r customers. Here, Oldenburg’s concept of “ th ird p laces” ( Oldenburg / Br issett
1982; Ol d enburg 1999) provides an ana lytical lens that can further he lp us understand how these
features supp ort the creat ion of socia l relationships d uring time spent in the busin esses.
The second set of sens itizing concepts supports the data generation and analysis regarding cus tomer
behavior and staff practice. H ere I use G off man’s (19 59; 1963; 197 1) and Loflan d’s (1972; 1 973; 1989 ;
1998) elaborations and co ncepts on public behav ior to infor m my analys is of potential dimens ions,
aspects, and m eanings of the social lif e in and arou nd the businesses. The final set of sens itizing
concepts refines the understand ing of social processes, i.e., the ties and senses of attachm ents
generated by the businesses and their owners . These are the dominant ideas, concerning senses of
belonging, home, and commun ity, encompassed by the superior and more e veryday understanding of
social life .
The four th cha pter de tails the thes i s’ metho dology, starting with the theoretical samp ling pro cess,
which was i nformed by the gradually included sensitizing concepts, but moreo ver, by the previously
generated data, working with a G rou nded Theory Met ho d approach (GTM). Hence, the subsections
justify the dec ision for usin g certa in G T M tools, such as a specific type of a more empirically grounded
data generation, ana lysis, and circular interpretat ion (switching back and forth between the da ta and
the theories) . Moreover, th is section discuss es the co ncrete methods tha t I followed, main ly in -depth
interviews with store owners and local officials, and extensive participant obse rvations (and the wider
literature ana lysis of secon dary material on the street and the bus inesses ) .
The fifth chapter pr esent s the f indings on the material space and social context of the samp led
businesses in order to groun d the social li fe worlds i n and of the stores. This chapter presents initial
findings with regard to each business’ design, as well as the ir h istories, owners, staff, and custome rs .
This deta iled catalog ue ser ves as the basis for the furt her discuss ion of the social pract ices and resulting
socio-spat ial features in the subsequent chapters .
With a praxeolog ical pers pective (Reckwitz 2002; 2003), chapte rs six an d se ven then address the
manifold ways in which the businesses and their ow ners offer more to customers. The sixth chapter
focuses on the soci o -spatial features tha t suppo rt diverse soc ial interact ions in the bu sinesses and th e
seventh chapt er presents the ethn ographic findings on the store owners’ social practices and the ir
impacts on so ciability and s ociality .

1. Introdu ction
11
The current urban renewal pro cesses r epresent the “ embedd ing bracket ” for th e discussion of the soc ial
processes in the businesse s. The f indings from the interv iews with the local officials and their pub lished
mater ial are examined and presented as comp lement ing or contrasting the social prac tices of the store
owners throughou t the the sis, but ar e more to the fore in the chapter on Karl -Marx-S traße (2) , the store
owners’ prac tices (7), and the synthes izing l ast chapter (8) . The f inal chapter br ings together the
different aspects of the found soci a l pract ices, the social life in the stores, their socio-spatial features,
and the fram ing of urban renewal. I t a ims to gro und there in a (small- rang e) theo ry on everyday soc ial
life and the r espect ive places where co mmun ity is pra cticed.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
12
2. The Meso-Level: S ocial L ife and Trade on a Metropoli tan Shopp ing Street
If one walks down Karl-Marx-Straße in the Neukölln di str ict of Berlin, for example o bserving the street
life at th e busy crossing of Rathaus Neukölln, the intersection of one subway line and se veral bus li ne s ,
one can see shoppers, residents, local employees, and commuters on their way to work or nearby
schools sque ezing out of the subway exits. M ost sidewa lks are heavily cro wded with people, whereas
others are a lmost empty . At second sight, one might also notice that the lively sidewa lks host a variety
of sm a ller and m edium-sized stores of man y k inds: baker ies, f lower stores, hair and nail salons, groc ery
stores, but chers, several takeaways, diners and rest aurants, cafés, text ile and shoe stores, cell phone
stores, as well as chain stor es, bank branches, and sup ermarkets ; the opposite sidewa lks host block- long
chain sto res or vacant warehouses. This obser ver of the peop le stro lling up and down Kar l -Marx-Straße
might also ask wh y these people choose - perhaps unconsciously - part icular sidewalks. Taking a thi r d
look, the obser ver might discover that many passer sby greet and nod to people inside of the stores,
waving their hands thro ugh the stores ’ fron t w indows, while oth ers focus more on the products in th e
displays on their way to work or home or back . A look throug h the stores’ front windows i nto the
salesrooms and gastronom ic spaces presents an even more differentiated p ictur e of not only who uses
the street and its spaces, but also in what ways and for what purposes: ab ri dged, supply, or socia l
exchange .
This short observat ion of Karl-Marx- Straße’s sidewa lk l ife i ntrod uces the busin esses’ urban context .
Streets are more than j u st places of e conomic an d social li fe . Many cities and neighborho ods are
identified by their main streets, whose respec tive ch aracters ref lect local popu lations, their needs and
lifestyles . These main stre ets also repres ent the populations’ per ceptions of the c ity, the ne ighborho ods,
and their character and h ow people relate or i dent ity with them. Main stree ts are oft en shopping
streets . These are the places where abs tract conc epts, such as globaliza tion and diversity, take a
concrete, l ocal form. Shopping streets are thus p laces of everyday encounter, where the practice of
shopping allows strangers to meet and face one another in (often) routine, familia r, and thus safe
environmen ts (Shamsuddin / Ujang 2008) .
In Berlin, the major street s most associated with the city’s image are the prestigious four -l ane, tree-
lined boulevards such as Unter den Linden or Kurfürstenda mm. But l ikewise im po rtant are the city’s
radial thoroughfares, crowded shopping streets that f orm the cultural, soc ial, and commerc ial heart s of
Berlin's many distr icts. Fo ur of such streets are Müllerstraße in Wedding, Schlo ßstraße in Steg litz,

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
13
Turmstraße in Moab it, and Karl- Marx-Straße i n Neukö lln.
12

These streets typ ically have a mixed housing
stock, with comm ercial spaces on the ground floor and rental apart ments on th e fl oo rs above . Mos t of
the buildings are pre-war, although scattered i n between are public housing developments fro m the
1960s, 70s, and 80s. Commercia lly, one might find street vendors, niche and specialty stores, franchise
and chai n stores, as well as small shopping centers. All have high car, bike, and pedestrian traffic.
13

These streets are important for Berliners, not only as places to buy everyday supplies and specialt y
items, but also as h istorically significant socio-cultural stron gholds. However, due to their i ncreas ed
promotion i n guidebooks, travel blog s, and city m arketing m at erials, these streets are also becoming
important places for tourists. Prev iously only intere sted in Ber lin’s grand boulevards, city visitors are
increasingly spend ing th eir time o n the district sho pp ing streets .
14

Figure 3: Map of three of Be rlin’s ‘main shopping streets’, inc l. K arl-Marx-Straße

Within th is diss ertation, “N eukölln” is used to refer to t he whole district and “North Neukölln” r ef ers to t he
neighborhoo ds surrounding the field s ite street.
13

According to th e planning office’s preparatory exam ination of th e retail development alon g Karl -Marx -Straße,
the majority o f the street’s users co me from the neighborh oods immediately surrou nding the street an d to a
slightly lower extent fro m the south ern parts of the district and the adja cent district of Kreuzberg.
14

For the city o f Berl in’s cat egorization o f main shopping streets as well as further descripti ons of each street, s ee:
Berlin (n.d.). E inkaufsmeilen i n Berlin, h ttps://www.berlin.d e/s pecial/shop ping/einkaufsmeil en/ , accessed
04/06/2016.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
14
Whereas Schloßstraß e and Friedrichstra ße have exper ienced substantial upscaling and resident ial
turnover in the r ecent decades, the populations of Müller-, Turm- and Karl-Marx-Stra ße remain highly
diverse in terms of et hn ic, income, and age groups even in sp ite of recent upg rading developm ents .
Follow ing y ears of di s investment and store closure, new urban renewal programs have rebuilt these
three street s socially, c ulturally, phys ically, and commercia lly. These chan ges have attracted
internat ional capital and investors as well as new, more aff luent, resident s.
This chapter thus provides the histor ical backgro und of my field site – Karl-Marx -Straße. For the
detailing of i ts urban, retail, and social development s in the next parts, I start with an ethnograph ic
anecdote on the re-open ing of Karl-Marx- Straß e’s central squ are.
On the sunny spr ing afternoo n of April 28 th 2014, afte r years of extensive renovations a nd construction,
the new centra l square of Karl-Marx-Straße f inally op ened to the public with a b ig event. Th e street and
oppo site sidewa lk was cro wded with sho ppers, f amilies, and cars - a typica l Sa turday afternoon. On the
square itself, a crowd of ar ound one hundred people l a zed on benches before a stage or waited i n li ne
for a Bratwu rst or an i ce cr eam, chatting and observin g each other. The same sidewa lk theater could be
observed once aga in at a festival on M ay 2 3 rd . The d istrict administrat ion erect ed a central stage that
loomed over a handfu l of small stalls. Within these boo ths, “local entrepreneu rs ”
15

offered
Mediterranean and German food, while loca l cultural and social institutions - suc h as k indergartens, da y
cares, commun ity, and se nior centers - distribut ed informat ion materials and free sweets. Religious
group s and local part y rep resentatives also handed out brochures and booklets . O n stage, a puppet
theater d elighted children with a p lay featur ing local policemen, the mayor , and an urb an dev eloper .
16

Nestled i n th e first few r ows of the bench es, the chil dren cheered and shouted toward the stage.
Afterward, young girls in colorful costume s climbed shyly onto stage to perfo rm a Ukrainian folklore
dance. They were announced by the head of the mun i cipa l deve lopment office, who spoke in a thick
Neukölln dialect. Children ran among the benches in fron t of the street, while hipsters gathered i n front
of the new coffee joint, drinking organ ic lemonade and locally mi cro-brewed beer. The pla za itself is
covered with a variet y of different ly colored stones in the f loor, forming a tria ngle and offering only a
few new, m od ern benches in a very clean sty le, a couple of y ou ng trees and only some garbage cans on

These entrepr eneurs did not necessarily co me from the local shopping street, but from t he entire district o f
Neukölln, most o f whom were of German origin.
16

State Secretary E ngelbert Lütke -Daldrup, District May or Heinz Buschkowsky and City Councilor Thoma s Blesing
declared the street’ s “new cen terpiece” open for the pub lic, cf. Senatsverwaltun g für Stadten twicklung und
Umwelt (n.d.). E röffnung des Alfre d -Scholz-Plat zes in Neukölln,
http://www.stadtent wicklung.b erlin.de/aktuell/kalender/k alender_detail.php? id=3749, accessed 08/25/ 2014.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Li fe and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
15
the border to the high trafficked s treet. S itting on th e modern benches, women and m en of different
age groups and et hn ic origi n relax ed next to one another, chatting and commenting on the
performances . All had very skept ical looks on their faces throug hout both even ts.

Figure 4: Re-opening of new square on 5/23/2014
Karl- Marx Straße was once stig matized by a bad reputation for too many vacant l ots , cheap “ethnic”
stores, “one - s ided off ers,” l o w purchasing power, run -down appearance, and high traffic pollutio n
(urban planner, l. 733 ff.). However , the celebrations for the new central squar e exemp lify the shift in
attention now given to the street on behalf of the district governm ent, the media, and people living
outside the area. Different Berlin and Neukölln daily newspap ers as w ell as the two local televisio n
channels promoted and prais ed the opening of the n ew square as a “new place that invites guests to
stay and can be used for different events”, “ the res idents are enthu siastic”, “for Neukölln people, a
welcomed inves tment”
17

, w hich is i n line with the local speakers, the district’s mayor, the h eads of the
urban planning d epartmen t, the City Mana gement, an d the loca l steering co mmittee .

TV Berlin (04/29/20 14). Eröff nung des Alfred -Scholz-Platze s gefeiert,
http://www.you tube.com/wa tch?v=9rtCiqn1VZo , accessed 06/23/ 2014.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
16
The dis trict autho rities had postpon ed the opening of the new centra l square severa l times, leading to
an unbearable traffic situation for many commuters and pedestrians, and causing grief for the
surroun ding busi ne sses. The construc tion site affected the three small surrounding streets, cutting them
off from both car and foo t traffic . For more than t wo years, the entries were blocked to a neighboring
pharmacy, a b ar, a warehouse, a bank, a l angu age school, a bike shop and a café. Despite having
received some compensatio n, these business owners suffered from decreas ed traffic . Spea king of th e
end resu lt, the skept ical lo cals on the benches sa id, “ this place is not for us;” “no shade at all;” “only for
young people;” and “ too noisy.” O n the other hand, some mothers with str ollers praised the new
sidewalks, say ing they eased pedestrian traff ic on the busy street .
The ne wly built square created a bigger space ( 2500 m 2 ) for local events and fe stivities (offered by th e
local authorit ies, not by private i n itiatives) than be fore, when it was more or less an extend ed sidewalk ,
crossed by car traffic to the side-streets . As the result o f a local art compet ition, the en larged pedestria n
area was covered with eight differently-colored bricks i n a triangle pattern; the colors, how ever, ar e
difficult to d istinguish . During both festivities, visitors searched (partially unsucce ssfully) for the ground
mosaic sa id to have 67 .8% gre y stones for the German population, 13.6% basalt stones for the
population groups from the Near and Mi dd le East, 9% for Eastern Europe, 4.4% for Western Europe,
1.1% for Africa, 1% for the Far East, and 0.9% for the U S.
18

The mosaic, however, does not accurate ly
represent the divers ity of the l oca l populat ion living around the new square. Whereas N eu kölln ha s
325,716 i nhab itants from m ore than 160 nations, most of those who com e from other c ou ntries li ve i n
the northern part of the district around Al fr ed- S cholz-Platz and Karl-Marx-Straße.
19

Fifty-three percent
of North- Neukölln’ s population comes from outs ide of Germany: 11% from Turke y, 9 % from the Middle
East
20

(mainly from Leban on, Syria and Palestine), 5% from Poland, 4 % fro m the former Yugoslavia, and
2% from th e former USSR.
21

The fo llowing m aps indicat e the h igh d iverse propo rtion o f people w ith m igration backgrounds as well
as people with a non-German passport around Karl-Marx-Straße. In the first map, the dark red color

Aktion! Karl-Marx- Straße (05 /2014). Was bedeuten d ie Steine? http://www.akt ion-kms. de/files/2014- 05 -
20_infoasp_2 -seitig.pdf, accessed 04/09/2 016.
19

District Administration of Neukölln. Statistics for 12/31/20 14, http://www.berlin.d e/ba-neuko elln/ueber-den-
bezirk/zahlen- und -fakten/ statistische-dat en/einwohnerzahl en/, acce ssed 04/07/2016.
20

Me mbers of Arabic L eague are Egyp t, Algeria, Bahrain, Dsch ibuti, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan , Qatar, Comoros, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, M a uretania, O man, Saudi -Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab E mirates ,
and th e Pales tinian a reas.
21

District Administration of Neukö lln. Statistics for 12/31/20 13, http://www.berlin.d e/ba-
neukoelln/migratio nsbeauftragten/bevo elkerungsstruktur.h tml , accessed 06/23/201 5.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
17
indicates areas with more than 25% of “ fore igners ” ; in the second map, the red refers to “ people with
migration backgr ound. ”
22

Figure 5: Percentage of “foreigners”
23

compared to Germans livin g in Berlin

. Statistik Berlin Bra ndenburg (n.d .). Statistisch e Berichte for 12/31/2 015, https://www. stat istik-berlin-
brandenb urg.de/Statistiken/sta tistik_SB.asp?Ptyp=700&Sa geb=12041&creg =BBB&anzwer=11, accessed
04/07/2016.
23

The German F ederal Office of Stat istics (201 1: 5) defines foreign ers as all persons who are not German within
the meaning of Art. 1, paragra ph 16, 1 GG, this m eans, all persons who do n ot hold th e Ge rman nat ionality. These
include the statel ess persons an d persons with undeterm ined nationalities. German s, who h old also a foreign
nationality at the same time, are not part of the so -called f oreign population . In other words, foreign ers are people
with a non -German passport. Cf.
https://www.d es tati s.de/DE/Publikatio nen/Thematisch/Bevoelk erung/MigrationIntegrat ion/AuslaendBevo elkerun
g2010200117004.pd f?__blob =publicationFile, a ccessed 04/ 18/201 6.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolit an Shopping Street
18

Figure 6: Percentage of “people with mi gration background” among all Berlin population according to the Berlin districts
For the local authorities, the long-awaited re-opening of the public square was meant to be the
“coronation ” of the local u rban development pro gra m Aktion Karl-Mar x-Straße .
24

This program aims to
transform the stree t i nto a “young, dyna mic and internat ional” corridor, with open spaces for
“encounter, experience, action.” The amenities of the new street were meant for both the local
population as well as for tourists.
25

The renewa l programs offer many social and physical measures
26

designed to “improv e” the area, such as traffic guid ance measures, street and façade refurbish ment,
social networking oppo rtunities, language and family-care classes, and o ther educational and
qualification programs. Ne vertheless, ethnographic observations at the two events revea l significant
fears on behalf of l oca l resid ents and business owners concerning rising re nts, displac ement, and
increased alienat ion from their places of residence and work.
27

For instance, the prices of the micro-

Notab ly, upon its reopening, the p laza was renamed from Platz der Stad t Hof to Alfred-S cholz-Platz in honor of
the districts’ first Soc ial -Democratic Ma yor of the district, a man deposed by the N azis in 1933.
25

Aktion! Karl-Marx- Straße (n.d .). News, h ttp://www.aktion-k ms.de/projekte/alfred -scholz -platz-frueher-plat z-
der-stadt-ho f, accessed 06/23 /2014.
26

The local neigh borhood managem ent programs deal more with social changes, wher eas the local City
Management and Aktio n Karl-Marx-Straße are in char ge for the more physical mea surements.
27

See for furth er projects Aktion! Karl-Marx-Straße (n.d .). Projekt e. http://www.aktion -kms.de/projekte/,
accessed 08/18/ 2014.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
19
brewed beer and focaccias on offer ex c eeded most visitors’ wallets and thus didn’t match with the
needs of the local popu lation gro ups, leading to the a forementioned s ense of alienation.
The celebration itself was promoted as a “multicu lt ural ” e vent, with a prog ram and gastronomic offer
designed to mi rro r and capitalize on the divers ity of local ethnic groups. Nevertheles s, at the event
itself, no local l on gstand ing businesspeople were present, and only few guests seemed to have a
migration background. Again, the people on the be nches see med alienated from the happenings on
stage as well as with the chang es m ade to “their” s treet: “I cannot connect with thi s” was one of the
main state ments I heard at both ev ents.
This event descript ion und erli n es the con trovers ial a nd contested nature of Karl-Marx- Straße’ s current
outlay and appearance . In an atmosphere of he ighte ned econom ic co mpetit ion, rising commercial and
residentia l rents, and a hig h media coverage of r ecent gentr ificat ion, long -term residents and business
owners show highly skep tica l and hesitant behavior toward any new cons truction site, busines s
opening, and street marketing measure . O n the one hand, as gent rification hot -spots still not yet fully
gentrified, the street and i ts surrounding neighborho ods are being accused (by residents, outs iders,
journalists, and politicians alike) of being a “ ghet to” and of hosting “paralle l societies” (cf. Friedrich
2012; 2013) . O n the other hand, m any such stig matizing discourses particularly affect l ocal migrant
populations and social- disadvantaged residents by marking them as a politic al “ pro blem” (Friedrich /
Schultes 2013). These disc ourses enco urage urb an r enewa l programs des igned to create “better” social
and commerc ial mixtures. This could cre a te commun ity empowermen t, but more often, the discourses
have a rac ist and exclus ionary underton e.

2.1. The Street ’s Physi cal History
The following narrative of Karl-Marx- Straße’s residen tial and comm ercial histories that i s construct ed
uses written accounts as well as persona l - often nostalg ic - oral accounts from business owners, city
officials, urban planners an d resi d ents (old and new). These his tories vary considerably depend ing on
who is speaking and to who m they are addressing - in thi s case, a lways myself. I also draw on as many
perspectives as po ssible, using newspa per articles, (non- ) acade mic books on district’s histor y, as well as
on the statistics from municipa l and federal administrat ive bodies . My aim is not to present one
complete history, but rather to uncov er the aspects of l oca l res idential and co mmercial histories that

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
20
have contribut ed both to the present-day aggrega tion of comm ercial fac ilities and to th e current
challenges of urban r enewal and neighbo rhood change. This description o f th e fi e ld s ite s treet provides
an important meso- perspective of the city, where int eractiona l practic es be tween diverse people “are
refined within a distinct area” (Hall 2015: 28) . Th is allows for a further i n - depth analysis of the concrete
interactiona l or contact s ites on th is street, the sa mpled bu sinesses.
28

The description of Karl-Marx-Straße, as the meso-level context for the subsequ ent ana lysis of the
businesses, fo llows Jennifer Rob inson’s (2 006: 3) call fo r groun ding urban stud ies i n a great er di versity
of cosmopolitanisms: It is essential that research ers account for the great divers ity of everyda y
experiences found in the lives of urban dwellers. Researchers should therefore follow their research
subjects to their everyday places and through their e veryday routines. Hence, Karl-Marx -Straße is one of
these seem ingly unspectac ular and “ord inary”
29

places in Robinson ’s understand ing.
Karl-Marx-Straß e was origin ally a three-kilometer Ha uptstra ße ( Main Street ) that connect ed the villages
of Britz and Rixdorf
30

to the city of Berlin. I n the 18 th century, it was surround ed by fields and acres. By
the early 19 th century, the street was a location for merchants, workshops, and two - to -three story
houses, many with late-classicist facades . The street dev e loped into a thriving shop ping street by the
end of the 20 th century, and then, by the early 21 st century, into the current neighbo rhood wi th a widely
known resident ial and com mercial d iversity.
In the 18 th century, the stre et was called Berlinerstraß e , i nd icating its linkage to the city center, and then
Bergstra ße due to the ne arby Rollberg e hills , the latte r of wh ich st ill gives the neighbo ring public
housing complex Rollberg viertel i ts name. By the l ate 19 th century, Bergstraß e had become Rixdorf’s
main commercia l street, home to many l on gstanding busin esses. Many, including the pharmac y studied

Thereby, the methodo logical challenge is to r elate the city, th e street and then t he concr ete business sites as
both b ounded and conn ected spaces, gath ering information on all three levels from vario us sources. All maps,
pictures and statistic s present on ly a single moment in time, but I try to recognize also th e rhythms of chan ge over
longer periods that together tran sf orm the street and its residential a nd commercial co mposition (Hall 2015 : 28 f.).
29

Robinson (2006: 1) describes th e world as comprising a h uge variety of o rdinary cities, which “are all dynamic
and d ive rse, if conflict ed, arena s for soc ial and economic li fe”. The ordinary -city-appro ach takes this world o f
ordinary cities as a startin g point to and “attends to t he diversity and complexity of all cities”. By un derstanding
cities as ordinar y, she argues, research n eeds to follow th e d ive rsity o f urban experiences on the ground and thus
to ground urban theory more th ere in (This is one o f the reasons why this research works with a Grounded Theory
Method App roach, see Chapter 4).
30

Rixdorf was the old village core aro und which Neukö lln developed. Protestant refugees from Bohemia settl ed in
the village of Rixdorf aro und 1 737. Most of the remain ing village -like buildings and farm houses wer e built by the
late 18th century and circle arou nd the settlement’s central square, Richardplatz. Fo r mor e, see: Neukölln im Netz
(n.d.). Berlin-N eukölln, http ://www.neukoelln -online.de/de nkmale/rixdorf/start.htm, acc essed 04/22/2016.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
21
in this dissertat ion, still exist today.
31

Industrializat ion and the construction of working-class housing
estates increased the street’s everyda y social and comm ercial life. The conte mporary narra tives and
images of the street are still i nf luenced by i ts industr ial bu ilt, cultural, and soc ial her itage a s we ll as its
history as a “ proud working cl a ss area . ” The Gründerzeit street was also po pular for its nu merous
entertain ment facil ities, such as Saalbau Neukölln (today a theat er, café/restaur ant and concert venue) ,
the adjacent part y halls in today’s P as sage (today an art house cinema, café/r estaurant and opera), and
other large ta verns and res taurants.

Figure 7 : Berliner Straße (today Karl-Marx-Straße) 1910
32

The construct ion bo om that to ok place fro m 1 900 to 1913 f illed the str eet's vacant lots w ith the
“classic” Berlin five -story perim e ter block development; this gave the street its still-current l oo k and
design. In the same period, the district’s city hall, adm inistrat ion bui ldings, and post office were built, all
of whi ch likewise contribut e to the s treet’s historical character . Throughou t the fi rst and second wor ld

The store owner s repeatedly mention a lu ggage store in the intervi ews, often as a symb ol for the pop ular image
of the street as a sho pping destinat ion in the 20 th century.
32

Source: Friedmann , F. (10/13/2011). Z eitreisen. Mythos Karl-Marx -Straße,
http://www.neuko ellner.net/zeitrei se n/ mythos-karl -marx-strasse/, acce ssed 04/15/2016. Co u rtesy: Museum
Neukölln

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
22
wars, the Social-De mocratic Party (S PD) and the Communist Party (KPD) he ld the majority in the l oc al
district assemb lies, resu lting in trem endous district-wide phys ical demolit ions by the Nazis in 19 33. After
the N azis occupied the d istric t’s city hall tha t year, they fo rced many longstanding Jewish businesses to
close down and leave the di str ict. Despite the vast demolitions that followed the bombing of the city
during the war, the ma jority of the dis trict’s per imeter deve lopments have surviv ed until today .
The street was renamed as Karl-Marx-Straße (19 47) during the Soviet occup ation, connecting th e
terrib le memories of the national- socialist regime with the district’s l ong history as a vibrant working
class neighbo rhood (Hentschel/ Blok land 201 5: 123). (The district ended up mostly i n the W estern par t
of the city, however.) In the 1 950s, under the new land-use pl an, the stree t was de veloped as the m a in
supply center for the so uthern districts of West Berli n: New com merc ial buildin gs filled in the bomb ed -
out lots and new wareho uses added to the street’s co mmercial funct ions. T he bu ilding of the Ber lin Wa ll
in 1961 cut off near ly half of the street’ s customers, em p loyees, and suppliers. The Wall also caused the
street to lose its function as a pub lic traffic line and a major thoroug hfare. In sp ite of these prob lems,
the local bu si n ess people managed to maintain the street’s commerc ial character. Bus inesses
neverthe less did suffer because of the Wall, an d many residents left the area, caus ing many
longstanding business es and cultural institutions to cl ose down over the next decade s. This paved the
way for n ew migrants, ma ny of the so - called “guest - wor kers” from Turkey and Italy, to move into the
area.
Until 1989, Karl-Marx- Straße was Berlin’s third -strongest (in ter ms of popular ity and customer nu mbers)
shopping street with more than 260 different retailers, service providers, and gastronomic facilities -
both individua lly owned and chai n operated (Hüge 2010: 41). At the time, the majority of these
businesses were owned b y ethnic Germans,
33

whereas i n 2008 around one- thir d of the busi ness were
owned by migrants fro m Turkey, Poland, Ch ina, Vietnam, and the Middle East ( Kayser et a l. 2008: 34 ff.).
And since then, ownership divers ity has increased i n terms of the educatio nal, ethn ic, and soc io -
econom ic backgroun ds of the owners. The l oca l urb an renewal comm issioner frame s the structure of
businesses in th e fo llowing way :
and this patchwork rug [of ethnic bu sinesses] , well , they all also speak German well, of cou rse , but the flag
is missing, so we had around 50 differe nt languages and also almo st every where [alo ng the stre et], the
entire big density was repres ented. Is it n ow ethnic retail ju st because they s ell German sho es , which are

“Ethn ic Ge rman“ describes someone bo rn in Germany o f those of German descent. This term is not applied to
returning migrants of German d esce nt.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
23
probab ly made in China and get their label in Italy and then are o ffered in a German store and [with] a
Turkish vendor, I mean what is ethnic tr ade ?! (l. 180 - 185 )
34

While the co mmissioner is aware of the divers e ownersh ip, he depicts the st reet’s diversity in a way that
doesn’t seem to affect h is work with and for the bus iness people .

2.2. “ Trade is Change ”
35

– The Street’s Retail Hi story and its Current Changes
Retail and trade are constantly undergo ing structural changes as a result of intensified competition as
well as demograph ic and socio-cultural changes (Hangebru ch/ Krüger 2014: 6). I n the 20 th century,
individua lly owned spec ialty stores, such as those offering groceries, clothing, shoes, repair services an d
other daily goods prevaile d on the Karl-Marx-Straße , making it an attrac tive shopping l oca tion for West
Berlin’s southern and east ern distr icts. As a commer cial location, Karl-Marx-Straß e changed significan tly
after fa ll o f the B erlin Wall in 1989. Initially, the street rece ived more sho ppers f rom the East, but then
saw a significant downturn in the mid-1990s. This was caused by ar ea unemployment, the out-migrat ion
of the employed working-class and middle-class fa milies, and compet ition from nearb y new shopping
malls.
This loss of potential and regular customers challenged many longstanding bus inesses (Hüge 2010: 23
ff.), many of wh ich had to close down . The i nd ependently owned spe cialized retailers in part icular faced
significant closures . Until the mid-2000s, the new businesses that opened in their place were
predominan tly franch ise and chai n stores as well as discount shops . The street has seen a 50% loss in
sales since the fall of the Berlin Wall for all the remaining reta ilers and service pro viders, and as Berlin’s
third strong est shopping st reet, it stil l faces compara tive ly high vacan cy rates ( Hüge 2010: 42 ).
The local district authoriti es designed several urban r enewa l pro grams to tackle t he street’s d ecline . The
programs, which initially focused o n phys ical im pr ovements, a imed to reverse the bu ildings’ and
sidewalks’ d ilapidation as well as improve the negat ive reputation of the whole d i strict as a place of
vandalism and crime . Klaus Engeln, the former head of the urban renewa l working gro up Aktion Karl-
Marx-Straße , framed the street’s situation in the l at e 1990s and early 2000s as “all in all: no

I translated a ll quotes from my interview partners. In order to best represent th e v oi ce of the interviewees, t he
translations are d irect, rather than free or interpretive. T Th e indicated lines refer to the German transcriptions
attached to this thesis .
35

“Hand el is t Wand el” (Hangebruch/ Krüger 2014: 6).

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
24
econom ically and consum ption friendly atmosphere. I t should surprise nobody, if one or the other
internally departs from N eu kölln” (Klaus Engeln 2001 in Hüge 2010: 42). During this time, the ethnic
German owners of small independent shops, in par tic ular, cr iticized the decline of the formerly th r iving
street and threatened to move their businesses to another district. A butcher inte rviewed for th is thesis,
who owns one of the businesses that bare ly managed to survive this low point, describes the
neighborho od situation in t he mid-2000s in the following way:
[T]he bott om point of the development in Neukö ll n for me personally was in 2004, 2005
36

, when it really
was on the rocks, because too many regular customer s died out or moved away , m any moved away [they]
were scared of o ther n ationalities or w ere worrying and said noooo, I won’t se nd my kid to a kindergarten
or in a school where 90% of t he school mates have for eign roots , th is won’t lead to nothing . An d of cou rse
also th e negative m edia c overage, many just moved then an d said, no we n eed to move to better city
districts, or we want to go away from here, we can’t stand this anymore , this is too noisy, this is too dirty ,
this is too to o too for eign, right . A nd then [they] ju st moved away […] So particularly in N eukölln, yo u
realize immediately soc ial cuts , at least in con versations, b ecause many people th at live h ere are affected
by i t [the s ocial cuts ], right, this is still a working -class district , where only people live , who work in simple
activities, who are low wage wor kers and they kept their saving s back and that just made life for u s difficult
[…] but starting with 2006 it [turnovers] surg ed. 2005 we really hit bottom rocks , that was the very first
time that I had to dismiss two emp loyees because of a lack o f revenue s, this has never hap pened to me,
not before an d not later on. (l. 90 - 14 8 .)
Many other i nter viewees, including both business peo ple as well as local officials, sim ilarly describe d
late 2005 and 2006 as a bad peri od for the area an d a time they serious ly consi dered leaving the
neighborho od. Most stayed, either hoping for better times, or because they fe lt rooted in the
community, or simply due to lack of resou rces. Other problems that the street faced were the c losure o f
two l oca l major warehouses, a terrible traffic situation, and a lack of parking. The local o fficia ls
described the sidewa lk as unwalkable, narrow, and o verfilled with merchandise and signage from stores
looking to drum up business. This do wnturn, with increased unemp loyment, povert y, and vacancy rate s
continued unt il the late-20 00s (Hüge 2 010: 38) .
The street’ s everyday life has been affe cted not on ly by d emograph ic change and urban renewal (see
Chapter 2.3.), but also by shifting l oca l i n vestment strateg ies and changing shopping patterns . Just as
many inner-c ity shopping street s, and despite their ac knowledged fun ction as provisiona l centers, Kar l -

While the bu tcher sees his personal low-point in 200 4/2005, he con siders 2006 a s the low-poin t for the entire
North N eukölln area.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shoppin g Street
25
Marx-Straße is also affect ed by a decline i n econom ic act ivity due to dis investment and the low local
purchase power in some of the rather deprived neighborho ods, when middle and higher income
residents mov ed out of the se neighborh oods (Häußer mann 2011: 2 74, Häuß ermann/ Kapphan 2002).
Furthermore, the rising numbers of chai n stores and discounters that have h igh rev enue s affect the
smaller suppli ers’ sales, bu t also increas ingly displa ce them i n most inner-city neighborho ods, including
Neukölln . In the most recent survey of the street, conducted by the City Managemen t (the district’s
commercia l suppo rt agenc y), betwe en the train station s Hermannp latz and Neukö lln, Kar l -Marx-Straß e
has 38 take-away-food stores, 20 fash ion store s, 1 5 bakeries, 14 cell pho ne sto res, 14 pharmacies, 14
call shops, 13 one-dollar-s tores, 13 bars, 12 banks, 11 jewelers, and 11 hair salons, and a handful of
flower shops, banks, groc ery stores, nail salons, and hardware stor es , most of which are franchise of
chain stores ( cf. Hentsche l/ Blokland 20 15).
In general, the German retail and local supply sector is charact erized by stagnat in g or declining sales on
the one hand and the expansion of reta il spa ce on the other . Higher compet ition, rising com mercial
rents, shifting consumer preferen ces and shopping behav iors, a ll fur ther affect the decline of many of
the trad itiona l and small-scale specialty stores.
37

However, on Karl-Marx-Straße this ho lds true only for
the strip of shops aro und th e city ha ll , wh ere the ma jority of cha in and franch ise stores ar e located.
Resulting fro m thes e facto rs, i ndependent busin esses are i nc reasing ly displaced by chain s tores, which
often offer a less l oca lize d range of products and which also depend less on l oca l knowledge of the
neighborho od and i ts res idents. Since many of the ch ain stores’ e mployees work in different bran che s
all over the city, they often do not develop a sense of connection with the neighb orhood or the loca l
regular custo mers. In add ition, due to the more standard ized operational s equences, the chai n s tores’
employees often offer less space fo r soc ial interaction that goes b eyond the eco no mic transact ion tha n
many of the ir i ndiv idually owned counterparts .
38

The loss of affluent residents a long wi th other more
corporate retail de velopments over the l ast decades has contributed to th e dominat ion of chain store s
accompan ied by shop vaca ncies on Kar l-Marx-Straße and many o ther inner-city shopping stree ts.

The interviewed b usiness peop le name rising commercial rents, demograph ic changes and t he respectively
different shoppin g preferences, the local shopp ing mall and chain stores as well as the far -reaching co nstruction
sites as their main business threats. Th e local officials state shifting consumer pre fe rence s and increase in sale s
spaces along with the unwillingnes s to upgrade their bu sinesses as the main rea sons for the smaller bu sinesses’
struggle (e.g. urban planner, l.561 ff. ; urban commission er, l. 146 ff.) .
38

This is according t o interviewed local officials, who cooperate mostly with the manager s of the chain stores.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
26

Figure 8: The chain sto res ’ mai n bloc k on Karl-Mar x-S traße
Put together, today , the individually owned bu sinesse s on Kar l -Marx-Straß e are c hallenged by the loss of
their customers due to the di s investment in the past years and the subsequent out -migrat ion o f many
previous customer s. At the same time, they must also cope with the recent re -in vestment, sh ifting
demographic s, new corpo rate competitors, and r ising commercial rents .
In addition, e-commerce has also grea tly affected retail and shopping practices, which in turn, has
further l ed to chan ges on the s treet. After years of continuou s structural chang es such as n ew
organizat ional structur es, new distribut ion chain s and marketing alongside an increased demand for
bigger sale space, compreh ensive offers at any time of the day, and a more lifestyle -oriented even t
experience, stationary retail is now challenged by increasing online purcha ses and consumpt ion:
Whereas e-commerce made up 7.3% of all reta il in 2009, i n 2015, that figure had already moved to
11.7%. The goods most often purchased are clothing, books, and el ectron ic devi ce s. O nly very few
groceries and drugs are ordered online in G ermany at the time of writin g.
39

One can see this change
mirrored i n the patterns of store c losures on th e Karl-Marx-Straße . Most of the stores tha t have closed

BEVH (2015). Aktuelle Zahlen zu m Interaktiven Handel. Auszu g aus der bevh -Stu die "Interaktiver Handel in
Deutschland B2 C", http://ww w.bevh.org/markt -statistik/za hlen-fakten/, acc essed 04/07/2016.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
27
offer precis ely these types of produ cts: electron ic devices, books , and clothing. Those reta ilers who
remain off er mostly su pply pro ducts and serv ices, which are less threatened by th e r ise of online
shopping, such as grocery stores, baker ies, butchers , flower stores, c ell phon e stores, and eat ing places .
E-commerc e also changes customer- s taff-interact ion, si nce most staff knows that many customers only
frequent stores to get informed about new products, but buy them online. In addition, shopkeepers
may not dep end exclusively on stationary trade for th eir sales and thus might reduce consultation for
and interact ion with custo mers in the sto res.

Figure 9 : A loc al supermarke t offers online sho pping and delivery ser vi ces
The chall enges posed by e-commerce do not affect only Karl-M a rx-Straße, but i mpact all sho pping
locations in Berlin and G er many: Accord ing to the German Association for Trade (HDE) , man y inner-city
retailers comp lain of d eclin ing customer traffic . Current structura l changes force th e stationary r etailers
to “ p lay to their strength s,” bette ring the phys ical, material, and spatial aspects of the shopp ing
experience . A 2014 surve y of city retailers i nd icates that i n order to do this, most bus iness owner s
depend on customer events (54%), an ex p erience-or iented store des ign (52%), and innovative stock

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopp ing Street
28
(40.3%). However, accord ing to the HDE , retailers must nevertheless comb ine o nline and offline trade in
order to ke ep their busine sses af loat.
40

Those sup pliers on Kar l-Marx-Straße who ha ve re mained o pen have had to adap t their bus iness
strategies to compete w ith the on line market and new consumption patterns, offeri ng online services or
at the very least, m a intaining an online presenc e. One of the local butcher shops, for instance, has a
successful online shop tha t takes and fills orders for its sausages from all over Europe. The butcher
started on line s ervices in 2006, the year the ne ighborho od hi t rock-bottom and the business needed to
enlarge their cliente le in order to survive. Even i f only to use the i nt ernet to advertis e, most of the Karl-
Marx-Straße shops had to expand on line to conten d with their larger, corp orate co mpetitors. Th e
restaurants, in part icular, t ry hard to promote th eir spaces on line (often for fa mily or bu siness events) to
balance customer loss or low turnover s by promoting online their spaces . But the interv iewed owners
also return to e xtended consultat ions in order to make o n- spo t shopp ing more attract ive.
In order for the ir businesse s to survive, it is importan t that owners offer “exper ience - or iented” shop ping
spaces for customers who pursue shopping as a leisure activity.
41

One woul d imagine that events on
Karl-Marx-Straß e, such as the aforement ioned fest ivals, woul d be valuable for drumming up local
business; however, man y retailers abstain from participating because they disagree with these events a s
well as the measures taken by the city to improve the street’s overall shopp ing experience. For one,
many of these co mparativ ely formal events are aimed at target groups incongruous with their own
clientele, e. g ., late n ight shopping or cu ltural e vents such as 48h Neukölln or Nach t und Nebel Neuköll n
that draw primarily younger, li f estyle-oriented visitors. Secondly, partic ipating in the beaut ification,
event mea sures, and oth er m ore experience-or iented shopping events are often too costly (in terms of
financial and time reso urces) for man y of th e smaller r etailers and ser vice pro viders:
[For the lat e-night- shopping] the y ask us to keep [the store] open for a l onger time , first nobody asked
me in advance if I’m able to d o this , no artist wou ld come to us [anyway ] , so why shou ld I keep the
business open? Becau se th e people won’t schlep themselves with a flower bouqu et through the streets at
10 pm […] th ey are not paying atte ntion that the small businesse s, not mine necessar ily, it could be the

HDE (2014). Han del setzt im Strukt urwandel auf Einka ufserlebnis,
http://www.einz elhandel.de/ind ex.php/presse/aktuellemel dungen/item /12446 5-handel- setzt- im - strukturwand el-
auf-einkaufserlebn is, accessed 08/22/2014.
41

GfK (2015). GfK -Studie zu den Ra hmenbedingungen für den Einzelhan del in 32 Ländern Euro pas,
http://www.g fk.com/de/insig hts/press-rel ease/einzelhandelssituat ion- in -d en-europaeis chen-krisenlaendern -
verbessert/, acc esse d 11 /25/2015.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
29
pharmacy, th at they get performances. We can ’t affor d to pay 500 or 1500 or 5 000 E uro for such a weird
light installation (Flower store owner, l. 444 - 4 51).
Many businessp eople therefo re prefer to rely on their own experienc e and knowledge, repeat ing
measures that have prev iously proven successfu l. One flower sto re, for instance, threw a backyard
party, for which the o wner also i nvited the local officia ls, nei ghbo ring busines s colleagues, and
interested custo mers (cf. l. 61 3 - 618).
On the other hand, the adjacent l oca l shopping mall continues to increase i t s customers and sales
numbers with i ts regular and widely-promoted events, most of which are partiall y s upported by the
local autho rities and the urban renewal pro grams. The mall and its ret ailers compete thus w ith a
structura l advantag e, while the other shop owners as well as some of the local officials argue that
attention m ust be given to create a balanced branc h and tenant mix and to ensure their compatib le
integrat ion i nto the urban space. Otherwise , the power and econom ic re lations that already favor the
corporate chai n stores will pro duce further incompatibil ities for the independent businesses . Th e
in d ependent businesses also mourn the closur es of the warehouses, such Quell e or Hertie, which once
stood as anchors on Ka rl-Marx-Straße, attracting sho ppers fro m all o ver Berlin . Whereas the
warehouses worked with the smaller businesses to improve the st ree t as a whole, the shop ping center’s
events seem to exclude sma ll busine sses and problema tically draw all the customers inside the m a ll.
This problem is not just limited to events, however: The shopping center rout inely directs customers
away from s treet- fr ont stor es, particu larly when t emperatures drop and the w eather turns ra iny:
if people decide to shop in th e cent er becau se they find a p arking spot there or b ecause they feel disturb ed
by the rain, I can’t help it , but the street’s diversity, the [shopp ing] cen ter can’t c ompensate th is diversity ,
but the comfortab leness and they [the shop pers] are so lazy , this is a serious prob le m for us (Pharmacy
owner, l. 1 55 - 159 ).
The compe tition with the sho pping center, the discou nters,
42

and e-comm erce has forced store owners
to recognize that the soc ial aspect of shopping i n bric k and mortar stores is unique and desirable. Thus,

Most store o wners name the falls of the wall as a crucial po int in time for change s in shopping behavior and the
local commercial structure. Howe ve r, in th e 1990s, discounters start ed to cover Neukö lln, Berlin and oth er
German inner-city a nd rural areas, evermore changing shopping p atterns. However, Krüger et al. (20 13: 27 f.) also
found for all stores o f daily supply, r egardles s if corp orate (chain, d iscount, franchise, etc.) o r individually owned,
that inn er-city residents decide p rimarily for those stor es th at are in the close surro unding of their re sidential
places (and e ve n mor e for single households and particularly senior households), have a wide variety of of fers, and
attractive prices. At mosphere, d es ign and friendliness and pat ience of the employe e s follow the primary criter ia

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
30
many owners focus on promot ing these desirable qualit ies in their da ily operations, sometimes to the
extent of creat ing dist i nct marketing or busines s st rateg ies. For i nst ance, some shops make stronge r
efforts to engage their senior c lientele, who depend on neighbo rhood facilit ies for their da ily shopping
needs; these owners offer specif ic products, targeted advert isements, and even provide spec ial services,
such as benches, restro oms, and specially trained staff.
43

Likewise, some pharma cies tailor their offers
to address co mmon maladies in the neighborh ood. One pharma cist, for i ns tance, related in an interv iew
how she regularly offers free blood-pr essure readings as well as specia l lessons on managing
cholestero l, hi gh b lood pressure, rheumatism . She als o arranges for Turki sh translat ion when she offers
special sess ions on childr en’s diseases in order to reac h local par ents withou t German langu age sk ills.
One of the primary motivat ions for frequent ing brick and mortar shops is the soci a l component .
Customers thus desire shopping env ironments, i nfras tructure, and design that facilitate mee ting friends,
acquaintances, and ne ighbors ( Fe inberg et al 1989: 61 ) . I n my observat ions, it became c lear that
families, for example, tend to prim ar ily frequent cafes, restaurants, and shops that offer play corners,
diaper-chang ing areas, and child-friend ly a tmospher es. These facilit ies make it e asier for paren ts to visit
with their friends and to initiate interaction with other parents. So fro m this perspective, Karl-Marx-
Straße’s consum ers see m to request a high variety of high qua lity produ cts in (b ut not nece ssarily) close
proximity, just as the pro moted products and serv ices outrank pro ximity for all kinds of urban res idents.
However, as reported by the store owners, the loca l higher i nco me group s may also tra vel and shop to
wherever the h igh qua lity pro ducts are offered.
All in all, the street has experienc ed waves of inv estment and d isinvestmen t. Gl ob al and nationa l
structura l changes have changed its resident ial and commercia l co mposit ion over the course o f the 20 th
and early 21 st century. While t he signs of impending decli n e stretch back to the 1980s, they are also
related to broader changes i n r etail practices as well as to changes i n th e i n vestment s trategies of urba n
renewal and retail dev elopers.

for the selection of a p articular shop ping location. In this context, social interaction with sta ff and personal service
as well as small or fl exible offers are particularly important for se nior cu stomers (Krüger et al. 2013: 2 8 ff.).
43

Some of the sampl ed businesses take part at the “Senioren siegel” campaign, wh ich labels busine sses that o ffer
special shopp ing conditions for senior custo mers, including offering b enches and other fa cilities to sit down an d
take a rest, custo mer restrooms, train ed and specialized p ersonal, parkin g spots for handicapp ed people, et
cetera.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
31
2.3 . “This is the free mark et . We set only the political fram ework.”
44

The His tory of
Local Urban Ren ewal
The decline around Karl-Marx-Straße started in the 1970s with deindustr ialization; the first working
group dedicated to street renewa l was found ed i n 1979 . U nt il the 1990s, th is group of l oca l actors
aimed to i ncr ease the street’s at tractiveness by orga nizing street parties, p lanting trees, and f ighting for
sidewalk ext ensions and other beaut ification measure s.

Figure 10 : Crowded sidewalk with co nstruction site on Karl-Marx -Straße
In the 1990s and early 2000s - and despite the skepticis m of many longst anding retailers - loca l
authorities considered developing shopping m alls i n a l ast- chance effort to “save” Kar l - Mar x-Straße. I n
his supp ort of the shopping m a lls, the then Neukölln m ayor said, ” who doesn’t participate in the chang e
won’t survive the next millenn ium.”
45

Thus in 2007, Karl-Marx rec eived its first shop ping mall: the Forum
Neukölln (today Neukölln Arcaden) , with over 60 busines ses and a square footage of 27,000 m 2 . The

Urban p lanner, l. 281 f.
45

Fuchs, C. (07/08/1 998). Das Fo rum Neukölln soll die ange schlagene Einkau fs meil e aufwerten Ein e Chance für die
Karl-Marx-Straße, h ttp://www.berliner -zeitung.d e/archiv/das -forum-neukoelln -soll-die-an ges chlag ene-
einkaufsmeile-auf werten-eine -chance-fuer-die -karl-marx-st rasse,10810590,9452340.h tml, a ccesse d 7/ 25/2014.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
32
Forum was con sidered to be suppo rting the urban planners’ measures to i n crease the s treet’s appea l as
well as i ts customer num bers. H owe ver, the majority of the street’s sma ller businesses rejected and
protested against the esta blishment, fear ing the h eig htened competition. Indeed, as the local business
owners feared, sim p ly ex p anding the a mount of availab le reta il spac e did no thing to increase the l oc al
people’s purchase power and led to the negative redistr ibution i n the favor of the chain sto res and
shopping mall.
46

However, as reported by the interviewed store owners, many smaller bus inesses
managed to survive by prov iding to both local and c ity -wide customers . The s treet did a lready en joy the
reputation as a city-wide s hopping d estination for clo thing and sho es, repair services and groceries up
until the main urban rene wal progra ms started in the mid-2000s.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Neukölln was wi d ely also co nsidered Germany’s mos t depr ived
district . With the econom ic decline immediate ly afte r the Wall came down, the governm ent stopped
subsidizing the local i ndustries and Neukölln lost 2 0,000 j obs within ten yea rs. The urban rene wal
programs under effect targeted primaril y the eastern Berlin districts and not Neukölln. In addition to the
new sho pping mall, loca l and nationa l p lanning autho rities th erefore dev elo ped several “regenerat ion”
schemes aimed at transform ing the area and upgrading i ts com mercial struct ure. Various programs
were developed, so me focusing at different sca les ( city, stree t, neighborhoo d), and some focusing on
different outcom es, often labeled as revitali zation, upgrading, or renewal. Until today, the concrete
urban intervent ions of the subsequent urban renewal programs cover particu lar streets, such as Karl -
Marx-Straße, Hermannstra ße, or Sonnenal lee, or single Kieze
47

, or entire neigh borhoo ds or district s.
Hence, the city spent the 1 9 90s and 2 000 s concentrating on renewal in oth er parts of the city and
widely neglect ing Neukölln. The neighborhoo ds around Karl-Marx-Straße remained among the few
areas in Berlin where housing prices stay ed at a l o wer level than i n the already upgrad ed eastern and
northern inner-city neighb orhoo ds (such as adjacent Kreuzb erg, or Prenzlau er Berg, Mitte, and
Friedrichsha in), but also where the local purchasin g power decreased due to the loss of jobs
(Huning/Schust er 2015) .

Treichel, T. / Paul, U. (10/31/2002). In B erlin sind zahlreich e neue Sh opping-Center ent stan den. Zu viele, meint
der Einzelhan delsverband, http://www.berliner -zeitung.de/in-berlin- sind-zahlreiche -neue-shopping -center-
entstanden -- zu -viele -- meint-d er-einzelhandelsverban d-viel-platz -zum-einkaufen-15485 868, accessed 0 4/19/2016.
47

Berliners use the term “ Kiez ” t o designate small neighb orhoods within city districts. Importa ntly, the term
indicated an area with a common ly accepted identity an d sense of belonging among it s populat ion. Residents have
a sense of tangible n atural or bui lt bou ndaries, and are often named a fter their main streets or squ ares. The
surroundin g Kieze of KMS are Donaustraßenkie z, Richardplatz Kiez, Ro llbergkiez, Reuterkiez, Körnerkiez , but the
interviewees and planning a uthorities al so describe KMS as one Kiez itself.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
33
In 1999, the Ber lin Senate Admini strat ion for U rban Development and Neukölln’s distr ict authorities
began imp lementing diff erent urban renewal sche mes ( including the Ne igh borhood Managemen t
programs ( Quartiersman agement )), in se veral Kieze around Karl-Marx-Straße, choosing neighborho ods
based on so cio- d emograp hic an d soc io-economic s tatis tics as well as smaller-scale traffic un its.
48

In
1999, its umbrella prog ram, the Socially Inclu sive City Pr og ram ( Soziale Stad t ) also started . L oca l,
federal, and nat ional authorities further implem ented programs responding to the area’s physica l
decay; two of the most no table are Urban Restructu ring West (S tadt umbau-West ) and the
implementa tion of Rehabilitation Zones ( Sanierungsg ebiete ), aimed at the consolidat ion of the urban
socio-spat ial structures.
49

In 2011, the field sit e Kar l -Marx -Straße along with the street Sonnena llee,
which runs from i n a southeast direction f rom Hermannp latz, ha s b een designa ted as one such
rehabilitat ion zone.
50

In addition, the senate adm inistration along with the district ad ministrations a lso implemented the
Active Centers Progra m ( Aktive Zentren ) in order to grow urban centers into an “ attractive econom ic c ity
or di str ict centers ” i n 2008 . One part of this program are the local City Manage ment teams, who are in
charge for the deve lopment of the Active Centers’ co mmercial structur es (Hun ing/ Schuster 2015: 744
f.). Karl-Marx - Straße’s par ticular prog ram is ca lled Aktion! Karl-Ma rx-Straße (Aktion KMS) and is in
charge of the street’s econ omic and commercia l development. These urban planners work closely with
the urban renewal commiss ioner and planning departments respo ns ible for organizing the local
rehabilitat ion z on e and other urban restructuring programs. Of all the urban planners working for the
different pro grams, i t i s the C ity M anagement’s emp loyees who interact m ost with the l oca l business
owners; ho wever, as I will argu e lat er, these emp loyees focus the major ity of their attent ion and
resources on the owners of corporate cha ins and franchises (se e Chapter 7) .
Hence, following decades of decline and with the onset of these program s, the district sudden ly
“became an opt ion for young starter househo lds and middle-i nco me group s who could no longer afford

The traffic units b uild the base for mo st of the German urb an development an d social programs. They w ere
established in 2006 o n the basis of th e prev iou s concept of soc ial environments (Sozialräume) and are no w called
life-world oriented sp aces (Le bensweltlich Orientierte Räu me/ LOR). Th ey aim to cover a spatial unit with a
homogeneou s life-world or m ilieu. See more on LORs: Berlin.de (n.d.). Plan ung Stadtwissen un d Daten,
http://www.stadtent wicklung.b erlin.de/planen/basisdaten _stadtentwicklung/l or/, accessed 02/ 24/2016.
49

Berlin.de (n.d.). San ierungsgeb iet Neukölln – Karl-Marx-Str aße / Sonnenalle.
http://stadtentwicklun g.berlin.d e/staedtebau/foerderprog ramme/stadterneuerun g/de/karl_marx_str/in dex.shtml
, accessed 02/19/2 016.
50

For the reasons to t urn Karl- Marx-Straße in a rehabilita tion zon e and target of the active center progra ms, see
Aktion! Karl-Marx -Straße (n.d. ). Ausgangslage, h ttp://www. kms-sonne.de/au sgangslage- und -ziele /aus gangslage ,
accessed 02/19/ 2016.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
34
to live i n areas such as Kre uzberg, Mitte, and Prenzlauer Berg, where rents had already been rising fro m
a much higher level” (Huning/ Schuster 2015: 745, cf. Holm 2 013). I n 2012, the physical renovat ions
began on the street: they began at the southeaster n end and will cont inue to the northwest in the
direction of Hermannplat z; the final r econstruct ion phase i s scheduled to beg innin g i n 2020. Right i n the
middle of the planned reconstruction z one , urban plan ners b egan, sim u ltaneously in 2 012, to redesign
the Alfred -Scholz-Platz .
51

Figure 11 : Active Centers areas of Karl-Marx-Straße and Sonnenallee, di vided by Donaustraße
52

Aktion! Karl-Marx- Straße (n.d .). Meilensteine d er [Aktion Karl -Marx-Straße], htt p://www.aktion -
kms.de/files/ak ms-imageflyer2012-bar pdf.pdf.pdf, acc essed 02/19/2016.
52

Source: Aktion! Karl -Marx-Str aße (n.d.). Karte, http://www.kms -sonne.de/files/ka rte.html, accessed
03/30/2016. Courtesy: BSGm bH.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
35
All of the aforementioned programs belong to a wider framework of “ integra ted urban development
concepts (ISEK
53

),” a framing concept/mechanism /program that structures the funding as well as the
socio-politic al and daily wo rking context for the urban planners assigned to these projects. The staffs o f
the programs work under a shared motto that summarizes their vision of t he street: “ Youn g, colorful,
successful – trade, encounter, experience ( Jung, bunt, erfolgreich - han deln, be gegnen, erleben ). ” Th is
motto indicates a vision of the street that is c learly des igned towards different dem o graph ics and
businesses than i ts current commercia l and resident ial d iversity. In addit ion an d d espi t e the ir d ifferent
foci, measures, budg ets, and target groups, all planners and m un icipal employees share this commo n
vision and go al to “upgrade ” ( urban planner, l. 252) th e street.
54

In the late 2000s, the urba n renewa l program Active Urban Centers
55

( Aktive Stadtzentren) conducted an
analysis of the street’s stro ng and weak po ints, opportun ities, and threats ( SWOT ), i n order to
determ ine their future work on Karl-M arx -Straße. In this analys is, the writer s argue that the street
suffers pr imarily from h eightened competit ion with nearby shopping l ocat ions (interesting ly, also by the
local shopping mall) and from a negative retail develop ment character ized by hi gh vacancy rates, low
residentia l purchas ing power, a disproportionat e presence of discount stores, and a lack of anchor
businesses, upsca le gastron omic facilities, and i ndep endently owned businesse s. Within the docu ment,
the pl anners celebrate the street’s ethnic diversity and its success as both a place of trade and
residence; however, pred ict further downtur n and bemoan the popula tion’s low social status and the
lack of acceptance a nd interaction between e thnic Germans and migrant groups. Finall y, the p lanners
concluded that in spite of the first signs of (appar ently welcomed) gentr ification, the area still suffers
from a negative image, an d a l a ck of networking amon g the busi ness owners and landlords. With these

ISEK as Inte griertes Stadtentwicklun gskonzept represents th e orientation framework for the long -term
development of Karl -Marx-Str aße and Son nenallee with its main plan ning goals . See more: Aktion! Karl-Marx -
Straße (n.d.). In tegriertes Stadtentwicklun gskonzept, http:// www.kms -sonne.de/ files/141009_isek -plan_kms -
sonne_ausdruck _barr.pdf, acc esse d 02/ 19/2016.
54

As mentioned b y all urban planners and their material, e.g. for Aktion KMS , see : Aktion! Karl-Marx-Straß e (n.d.).
Umbau der südlichen Karl -Ma rx-Straße, http:// www.aktion- kms.de/projekte/u mbau-karl- marx-strasse/suedlich e-
karl-marx-stra sse/, accessed 02/24/2 016.
55

This program was established in 2008 on order to impro ve t he economic and str u ctural situ ation of selected
urban sho pping streets. Thereby cooperation with local retailers and retail association s is seen as key to the
street’s developm ent. The selected Berlin sho pping streets ar e Karl -Mar x-Straße/Sonn enallee, Marzahner
Promenade, Mülle rstraße, Turmstraß e, City West, Wilhelmstadt, se e Berlin - das Hauptstadtp ortal (n.d.).
Förderprogram me und -strat egien für lebendige Qu artiere,
http://www.stadtent wicklung.b erlin.de/s ta edtebau/foerde rprogramme/aktive_z entren/, accessed 08 /25/2014.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
36
concerns i n mind, the plann ers deve loped their concepts and plans for the street’s upgrading, which
began in 2008 and cont inues until today .
56

Figure 12 : Redevelop ment area Karl-M arx-Straße/ Son nenal le e
57

In the con text and framework i n which th e bus iness people work and live, this means that after the f irst
phases of structura l measu res, the larger recon struction mov es gradua lly toward the city hall and
Hermannp latz. When i nt erviewed, the project’s h ead planner confirmed tha t the pro gram’s p lans may
present certain “ cha llenges” for many of the smaller businesses, but firmly re jects the id ea that their

Cf . Aktion! Karl -Marx-Straße ( n.d.). Der aktuelle Ne wsletter der [Aktion! Karl -Marx -Straße], h ttp://www.aktion -
kms.de/sanierung/b ereich-ka rl-marx-stras se /konzepte -bis- 2007/, (2008: 3), accessed 07/ 25/2014.
57

Source: Senat sverw a ltung für Stadtentwicklun g Referat IV C – Städteb auförderung / Sta dterneuerung (201 1):
Zwölfte Verordnu ng über die förmliche Festlegung von Sa nierungsgebieten un d Festlegun g und Ergän z ung von
Städtebauförd erge bi eten, p. 9. Courtesy: BSGmbH .

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
37
measures also threat them: “This is the free market. We set only the politica l fram ework” (l. 281) . I n
2011, the Berlin govern ment and the Senat e extended the funding phase by fifteen additional years. To
date, the Active City Center with its Aktion KMS is the current m a in urban renewa l program for Karl-
Marx- Straße . It a im s to further improve the street’s pub lic space (such as the aforementioned A lfred -
Scholz-Platz) and to beaut ify the loca l sidewalks and places . Further, the projec t hopes to im pro ve the
commercia l offers, the tr affic situation, and i n par ticular, the coo peration with house owners and
selected bus iness peop le.
58

2.4. “Now we go thr ou gh a new change, now t he empl oyed […] come b ack”
59

- The
Current Gen tr ification of Karl -Marx-St raße
The vast changes that have occurred on Ka rl-Marx-Straß e since the mid-2000s have spr ead beyo nd the
analyses of local urban deve lopment off ices to reach the local, na tional, and international med ia. The
media tends to dep ict Neu kölln as a d istrict of extr em es. O ne the one hand , i t is a run-down, high -crime
neighborho od home to a socio-economicall y deprived populat ion and l ow-q uality (migrant owned )
businesses . O n the other, Neukö ll n i s shown as an up- and -coming area with beautifully restored
Gründerzeit ap ar tment b locks, quality boutiques and galleries, and niche stores; it i s a desirab le area
where, in recent years, avant-garde ar tists and new middle-class families and entrepreneurs have com e
to settle. The latter narrative is the one preferr ed and used by the district auth orities. For instanc e, in
their quarterly maga zine Broad way Neukölln (Autumn 2 015) , the renewa l agen cy des cribes Karl-Marx -
Straße as fo llows:
You can see Karl-Marx- Straß e’s c hange even in the dark : Where they used to fold up the sidewalks at 6
pm, you can now see p eople strolling on the str eet after dar k . And not o nly during th e fe stival 48 hours
Neukölln.
60

Along with its cultural highlights, the street also attracts peop le with its g astronomic offers […]

Aktion! Karl-Marx- Straße (n.d .). Der aktuell e Newsletter der [Aktion! Karl-Marx -Straße], h ttp://www.aktion-
kms.de/sanierung/b ereich-ka rl-marx-stras se /vorb ereitende-un ters uchun gen-nach - 141 -bau gb/, accessed
01/10/2016.
59

Urban p lanner, l. 531 ff.
60

48 hours Neukö lln is a festival for artistic projects from all of Berlin’s art sce n e’s sectors. The festival pro motes
art that a ddresses curr ent social issues. As a fe stival for contempora ry and po litical art, the goal is to broaden t he
understandin g of art away from so me thing th at is only displayed in galle ries and museu ms to something t hat
connects, commun icates, and h as a social concern. Both for mal and informal p laces of art p roduction an d
exhibition in N eukölln take place; however, t he majority of th ose that take part ar e the newer galleries, cafés,
bars, and show rooms. In recent years, the festival has turn ed from an art fe stiv al to a m ore nightlife -oriented

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Stre et
38
Who walks through th e Neukölln center [Karl -Marx -Straße] will dis cover a lot: from the old -Berlin corner
bar to the s cene bar , from the Turk ish ve getab les store to the pupp et -theatre -museum. Life on Karl-Marx-
Straße is diverse and exciting.
61

Here the au thors are ce lebrating the positive change s the y have i mp lemented on the street s ince 2008
as we ll as the future changes the y env ision will continue to increase the street ’s attract iveness. I n th is
publication, the authors from the urban renewal office repeat ed ly no te that the district administrat ion
had already ac knowledged the “bad cond ition” of the street in 2004, noting in pa rticular its h igh vacanc y
rates and its lack of “ a ttractive” bus inesses and anchor stores. At this point, they claim that they cou ld
thus start “ suff iciently e arly” to apply for funding in order to remodel the str eet and develop the area
according to th eir vision of a dynamic soc ial and ethnic m ix. Over th e following y ears, and in cooperation
with corporate networks , the distr ict admini s tration has widened the stre et’s southern strip, added
bicycle lanes and parking facilities, i nstalled new lightening and façade decoration s , and rebuilt and
renamed th e central squ are. A ll of these changes have pa ved the wa y for new g astronomic bus inesse s,
brands, and chain stores .
But upgrading the street also attracted comparat ively more affluent hom e owners and renters.
According to their pub lication s i n late 2015 ( Broadway , Handelsnewslette r ), the urb an renewal ag ents in
the l oca l planning office and district administrat ion felt satisfied with ste ps achi eved toward develop ing
their envisioned “young, c olorful and dynam ic” stre et. However, despite their hon orable aim to de velop
the street for - and with - “all” the people working and living along Karl -Mar x-Straße, the question
remains if the ir concep tion of “all” also included th e local business people — and if so, wh ich ones, wh y,
and how? (See Chap ter 7.2 .).
This gentrificat ion had already begun years earlier. In 2010 – in line with the late 2000’s statistic al
changes of the l oca l po pulation’s so cio -demographic structure - the B erlin newspaper Tag esspiegel
wrote:
Neighb orhood Report Neukölln. District of Extremes. Neukölln is well known for social p roblems , violenc e,
and a lack of integration into t he rest o f G erm any. But yet: There’s more opti mism than ever before. And
also more hype than ever before.
62

festival, involving much more consumption than the mere p ublic exhibitions and performances in 199 9. See: 48
Stunden N eukölln (n.d.). Mission Statement, h ttp://www.48 -stunden-neukoe lln.de/en/page/mis sion-state ment,
accessed 02/11/ 2016.
61

Aktion! Karl-Marx- Straße (20 15). Broadway Neukölln, p. 2 f., www.aktion -Karl-Ma rx-Straße.de, acce ssed
04/12/2016.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
39
A year prior, in an article entitled, “Neukölln: Beyond the Hype,” the English -l anguag e m agaz ine Ex -
Berliner asked : “[…] what is Neukölln reall y: co lorful melting pot or Hart z IV
63

ghetto [ ?].”
64

Most public
attention focuses on Neukö lln’s “thr iving” night life and the influx - of i nt ernatio nal art ists and students
(e.g. Timeout magazine : “ Neukölln: The Best Bits of Berlin's Hippest ' Hood”
65

, NY Times : “A Ber lin Hub’s
Arty Spinoff, ”
66

TAZ : “Wand el in N ord -Neukölln: G en trifizierung? Hier Doch Nicht!”
67

, Tagesspieg el:
“Gentrifiz ierung in Ber lin: Hip, Hipper, Neukölln ”
68

).
Since 2006,
69

Karl-Marx -Straße and the areas to i t s north have caught the attention of young
entrepreneurs , who have o pened their first bus inesses there, most often bars and other nightlife spots.
This set in mot ion new waves of i n vestment and media coverage that saw ev en more res idents mo ve to
the area and even more new busines ses taking root. As a result of thi s i nf lux, the area has seen a rise in
commercia l and res identia l rents. The med ia cov erage along with the d istrict’s self -promot ion attracted
further i n vestment, residents and business people as well as tourists. For i nstance , the l oc a l
administration’s maga zine for the renewa l area arou nd Karl -Marx-Straß e i s called Broadway Neukölln ,
and repo rts and advertises the new busi n esses, galleries and arts events . In an interview with the future
district mayor Fran ziska Giffey (2015), both the ma yor as well as the j ournalist argues that the curren t
construct ion sites are necessary to develop Kar l-M arx -Straße into a n ew “ Broad way ” : ” Kar l -Marx-Straß e
should become Neukölln ’s Broadway, more space for pedestrians and bi k ers will be created .” In
addition, the mayor, showing the journalists around Karl-Marx-Straße, only visits the new businesses,
such as the café (op ened 2014) o n the central and n ew designed pla za .
70

Howeve r, in contrast to 6 km

Guthke, J. / Vogt, S. (04/15/2010). Kiezreport Neukö lln Bezirk der E xtreme - Neukölln ist bundesweit Synonym
für soziale Problem e, Gewalt un d Integrations -Defizite. Und d och: So viel Aufbruch war selten. Und so viel Hype
auch n icht, http://www.tagesspieg el.de/berlin/kiezreport -n eukoelln-bezirk-der -extreme/176412 0.html, accessed
06/25/2014.
63

Hartz IV is the G erman unemployment b enefit paid after th e firs t 12 -1 8 months of une mployment.
64

Exberliner (05/20/20 09). Neukölln: Beyo nd the hyp e, http://w ww.thelocal .de/20090520/ 19411, acc essed
09/02/2014.
65

Clac k, D. (10/15/20 15). Neukölln: y our guide to Berlin’s hip pest ‘hood,
http://www.timeou t.com/berlin/en/th ings - to -do/navigating-neuko elln-your-guide - to -berlins-hippest -hood,
accessed 04/11/ 2016.
66

Wilder, C. (18/09/2 009). A Berlin Hu b’s Arty Spinoff,
http://www.ny times.com/2009/09/20/tra vel/20surfacing. html?_r=0, accessed 0 4/11/2016.
67

Brandenb urg, K.W. (3/13/2012). Gentri fizierung? Hier doch nicht, h ttp://www.taz.de/!5098498/, acc essed
04/11/2016.
68

Frenzel, V. (11/30 /2011). Hip, hip per, Neukölln, http ://w ww.tagesspieg el.de/berlin/gentri fizierung- in -berlin-hip -
hipper-neukoelln/9 152496.ht ml, accessed 04/11/20 16.
69

2005 and par ticularly 2006 are repeatedly nam ed across all in terviews as the neighborh ood’s nad ir.
70

RBB: Abend schau (02/05/2015), http://www.rbb -online.de/ab endschau/archiv/ar chiv.html ), accessed
03/31/2016.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
40
long Kar l-Marx-Straße, New York C ity’s Bro adway ru ns 25 km l ong from the South of Manhat tan up to
the Bronx (and then an additional 2 9 km beyond the city borders), and has several very d ifferently
structured comm ercial strip s. Broadway’s strips target mainly tourists and other city visitors and the
main shopp ing parts host almost exclusive ly big cha in stores with high ly overcr owded s idewalks i n the
front and ver y bus y car and bu s traff ic and few marginalized bike lanes on the street spac e. This
compar ison of Karl Marx Straße with Broadway reveals the exaggerated and unrealist ic expectations of
the journalists and the ir vision.
As the district’s urb an plan ner argues:
Well, I consider the current store owners as, those actors that ar e now her e and occupy this space right
now. But we plan stron gl y focused on the fut ure , to around 15 years from now an d we d evelop the
coulisse or a sp ace for activities . We explicitly don’t serve the local actors but we h ave a de velopment
vision , we don’t make imp rovements ‘how to keep the street clean’ or ‘ho w to deal with security iss u es ’ ,
[…] the develop me nt task is t o generate a new v ision of a spac e that takes o ver totally different functions
[than now] and now there was a new profiling, where we reflected on a guiding vision, where we are
become a ware […] which measures will b e implemented and within a circle of indeed p l anners an d experts
we then tried to construct a guiding vis ion […] trading, experiencing, encou ntering this means som ething
different th an in th e past , where the street primarily had a shopp ing focus […] (Urban p lanner, l. 2 43 -250 ).
Well, we want disti nct commercial str uctures or we want them to chan ge […] what w e want is to change
something in the sectoral mix, if we can, but th is doesn’t w ork via th e traders bu t this works first of all via
the land o wner (Urban renew al commissioner, l. 1 46 -150).
In the framing of their j ob s and the pro grams’ working goals, the two urb an ren ewal agents emphas ize
their support for the i ncrea se in w ealthier residents an d new bus inesses. They a lso make clear that their
vision of the future Kar l-Marx-Straße m ay have to be developed with out the coo peration of the current
re tailers. H owe ver, surround ed by talk of gentrificat ion and an i ncre ase i n anti -gentr ification events,
only few commer cial establish ments considered to be typical markers for gentrif ication have actually
opened a sh op on Kar l-Marx-Straße itself (Hentsche l/ Blokland 2015: 128) .
71

From 2012 u ntil April 2016, I counted four new bars, o ne club an d gallery on Karl -Marx-Straße, but man y more
(ca. 10) had a lso opened in the nearby vicinity.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
41
According to the city’ s rental market reports, from 2009 to 2015 , the rents i n t he street’s postal code
area increased 81%.
72

Despite the dramat ic rent i ncre ase and the changing popu lation, those living i n
North Neukölln still have comparatively l o w i ncome s. Although unemployment rates have decrea sed
over the l ast couple of years, as of M ar ch 2016, Neukölln continued to have an ex c eptionally hig h
unemploy ment rate (15.2%), includ ing a h igh perce ntage of bo th long- t erm a nd youth un employed. I n
addition, Neukö lln has a large number of resid ents ( 20.3%) who receive welfare despite be ing e mployed
(“ working poor ”).
73

In fact, more than fifty percent o f the a rea’s children and teenagers gro w up in
poverty.
74

Important for my study, this means that tho se who li ve in the area ha ve a re stricted
purchasing power. Many residents depend strongly on local da ily supp ly bus ines ses and do not frequent
any of the newer nightlife spots or bou tique shops. This i s the r eality i n this area despi t e being depict ed
in the med ia as “trend - set ting ” and “the center of all things h ip .”
75

Most newcomers to N eu kölln have higher educat ional backgrounds and incomes than the area’s current
population . More often the y come from Germany or Western Euro pe as oppose d to many of the current
residents who have often Turkis h, Arabic, or P o lish r oots (cf. Chapt er 2.1 .). The shi ft in demograp hics is
reflected by the new construction s ites and th e types of new businesse s opening up in the area: organic
stores, li f estyle cafés, upsc ale restauran ts, gall eries, a nd designe r bout iques. The local business people
also remark o n these chan ges:
Many youn g people are coming , w ell students, now [… ] yes! I already realize that th ere is so m uch just in
th e mo ve . Which is beautiful, of course, who will then some time, yes eventually they will stay, when th ey
earn money later in the future (l. 2 14 - 218). [the neighborhoo d] has changed b ut when you’re here every

Berliner Morgenp ost (n.d.). Berliner Mi eten seit 2009 – Wo sich d ie Preise verdoppelt ha ben,
http://www.mor genpost.de/in teraktiv/mieten/article1368 75377/So -stark-steig en-die-Mieten- in -Berlins-
Kiezen.html?con fig=interactiv e, accessed 02/06/2015.
73

Bundesagentur für Arb eit (n. d.). Arbeitsmarkt im Üb erblick – Berichtsmonat April 20 16 – N eukölln, JC,
https://statistik.arb eitsagentur.d e/Navigation/Statistik/Stati stik -nach-Region en/SGBII-Tra eger/Berlin/Neukoelln -
Nav.html, accessed 04/1 2/2016.
74

Berlin – das Haup stadtportal (n .d.). Die E ntwicklung der Qu artiere in Neukölln im V ergleich zu anderen (Teil -
)Bereichen der Stadt Berlin in den Jahren 2007 b is 2009,
http://www.berlin.de /imperia/md/con tent/baneukoelln/2 009pdf/qm/nklgutacht en190711.pdf?do wnload.html,
p.1, accessed 08 /14/2014, and
Berlin – das Haup tstadtportal (n.d.). Die Entwicklung der Qu artiere in Neukölln im Vergleich z u anderen (Teil -
)Bereichen der Stadt Berlin in den Jahren 2007 b is 2009,
http://www.berlin.de /imperia/md/con tent/baneukoelln/ flyer/sozialdaten_b ericht_fina l _august2012_1.pdf ?downl
oad.html, p . 5, accessed 08/14/2014.
75

Clack, D. (10/09/20 15). Neukölln: y our guide to Berlin’s hipp es t ‘hoo d,
http://www.timeou t.com/travel/features/1 277/neukolln -th e-best-bits- of -berlins-hipp est-hood , accessed
09/02/2014.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Str ee t
42
day, then you don’ t necessarily see th at [ chan ge] any more. Sure, it was be tter the old days , but everything
was bett er in the old days an d better is also very relative, right, these wer e differ ent ti mes an d h mm , we
can’t regret bygone times, we n eed to cope with it . Sure this was, when I start ed h er 17 years ago, ther e
were b anks aroun d my business and the [long stand ing renown] luggag e businesses and the book store, yes
these long standing b usinesses, and they aren’t here anymore, o f course, and that’s the way it is and it’ s
okay. It’s also because o f the loss of the cu stomer clientele , of cou rse, an d it changed. Oh well, we have to
stick it out (Flower store owner, l. 498 - 503).

2.5 . Summary : “ The m ain focus is on the site ’s developm ent“
76

The pr evious subchapters presented the m a jor changes that ha ve occurr ed in the phys ical, commerc ial,
and demographic stru cture of Karl -Marx-Str aße as well as the development of the local urb an renewal
programs. Further attention was paid to the que st ion of how local i ndepend ent retailers and service
providers ha ve tried to ad apt to chang es in reta il, trade, and shopping pattern s. The d iscussed changes
form the meso-context of Karl-Marx-Straße . I have also shown how the shop owners have be en affected
by the area’s demograph ic and socio -economic chan ges and the recent urban renewa l program s. Re tail
and loca l supp ly must ad dress the n ew consu mer expectat ions that have sh ifted as a r esult o f e-
commerce, shifting time structures with longer work ing hou rs for customers and busi ne ss em p loyees,
the pr esence of shopping centers. The p lanners support the open ing of new gastrono mic fa cilities, with
more and mo re people looking to dine out rathe r than eat a t home.
All of these changes result in i ncreas ed demands for comfortable shopping experienc es. Customers
desire a spa tial a nd comm ercial infrastructure that e ases running errands. They prefer services to be in
close proximity to one another so that they can visit doctors, grocery stores, post offices, banks, and
other shops all near their home. They want shopp ing to be a l eisur e activity, a sens ory and haptic
experience that they can e njoy during the ir lim ite d free time. Since on line shopp ing fosters new trends
and fast- pa ced produ cts, customers now des ire shop ping l ocat ions that offer a similarly large variety of
(specialty and nich e) bus inesses. Custo mer want stores to hav e long o pening h ours, and a large up - to -
date stock that includes fresh, organic, and sustainable products (food and non- food products both)

Urban p lanner, l.564 f. The city man ager wants to “bring p otential” to th e stre et, “to d evelop” the street an d its
“ potential ” (l. 253, 373).

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
43
within one - lifesty le appealing - l ocat ion.
77

Due to these new demand s, many smaller stores on Karl -
Marx-Straße are now strug gling to sur vive econom ically.
Put together, the r etail and gastrono mic facilities alo ng Karl-M ar x-Straße face the challenge of chang ing
neighborho od demograph ics and consumption patterns. This has, resulted in a shift toward a m ore
lifestyle -oriented shopping experien ce that is also supported by the local urban renewal prog ram. M an y
other factors threaten their surv ival: co mparative ly low purchasing power of the l on g- term res idents),
the urban renewa l’s nume rous construction sites along the stre et, the heightened competit ion throug h
e-commerce, ad jacent sho pping ma lls and cha in stores, and rising com merc ial and res idential rents .
Certainly these factors, and the others d iscussed in the chapter, ar e only some of the facto rs that
challenge and fram e businesspeople’ ever yday life and daily work operations on Karl - Ma rx -Straße . This
chapter has outlined those challenges most often cited by th e interviewed reta il and p lanning experts
and local shop own ers . So while the di s trict adm inistration’s main urban planner admits that his and h is
colleagues’ “main focus is on the si te’s development” (l. 564 f.), this focus also holds true for the
interviewed store owners . Hence, it is in this contested socio-spatial context of contemporary Karl-
Marx-Straße, that independently own ed businesses, gastronomic facilities, reta ilers, and other serv ice
providers are trying to align with the l on g- stand ing motto “trade is change” in the face of state -
supported gentr ificati on. Store owners frame change as someth ing “natural” fo r cities and someth ing
that they must adapt to, o r at l eas t, that the y have t o “stick ou t” (flower s tore owner, l. 503). But the
urban renewal actors use the term “trade is change” to further discrimin ate again st some of the sm a ller
businesses, by do wnplayin g the challenges that th ey fac e. Nevertheless, my rese arch shows how -
against this backdro p of on going business threats and neighborh ood change - local owners work for the
development of the stree t as their co mmon business site and as the “center s of their lives” (e.g. flow er
store owner, 781 ff.) throug h their everyda y soc ial pract ices. In chapt er 7, I pr esent spec ific examp les of
business own ers using everyday social practices to contribute to the de velopm ent of Karl-Marx-Straß e
as an important, yet ord inary urban hub that sec ur es integrated everyda y life for all ethnic and socia l
residentia l gro ups . The n ext chapter i ntrodu ces the sen sitizing concepts that guided my case -se lections:
public charac ters and third places, interact ion in semi-public or public spaces, an d comm un ity building /
senses of belong ing.

HDE (2013). German Retail. Facts an d Figures. p.12 ff.,
http://www.einz elhandel.de/ind ex.php/presse/zahlenfakten grafik en/item/110175 -derdeutscheeinz elhandel.html ,
accessed 04/20/ 2016.

2. The Meso -Level: Social Life and Trade on a Metropolitan Shopping Street
44

Figure 13 : Map showing the constructio n phases of Karl- Marx-Straße
78

The map indicate s the different con struction phases with t he arrows indicating the n ew traffic dire ctions and the
orange color marking t he construction site in 2014. In 2016 , the construct ion site covers the entire blue color ed
strip. Source: Aktion! Karl-Ma rx-Straße (n.d.). Handel s-Newsletter Juli 2014, http://www. aktion -
kms.de/files/hand elnews_juli2014_barr.pd f, accessed 03/3 1/2016. Courtesy: BS GmbH.

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretic al Conc epts
45
3. Theories of the G round: Th e Sensitizin g Theoretical Co ncepts
Having established the historical and structural contex t for Karl-Marx- Straße’s contemporar y da il y life as
well as for loca l bus iness es’ survival, this chap ter elaborat es further on the underly ing theoretica l
concepts that i nformed the selection pro cess of certain bus inesses a long K arl -Marx-Straße in order to
explain why businesses are specia l sites for interaction and what kinds of i n teractions occur there .
Subsequent chapters w ill explain the samp ling of the specific typ es o f busine s ses that constitute social
life in Ber lin-Neukölln .
This study works with a Gr ound ed Theory M ethod Approach ( GTM) (Glaser/ Strauss 1967 [German
translat ion 1998]). Although a detailed discussion of this metho dology appears in Chapt er 4, it is
important here to focus on an understand ing of sensitizing concepts and their use in elaborating the
iterative and cyclical proc ess model of Grounded Theory Method here . GTM weave s together data
collection, its ana lysis, the sensitizing the oretical concepts and the emerg ing theory. Crucial to this
process are the initial da ta selection procedures that are particular to GTM: Neither principles of
representat iveness, nor the paradigma tic position of the data to be collected, nor its uniqueness are
important . Rather, data is selected on the basis of analytical ques tions ra ised by the respec tive state of
research and the s tate of t heory formation – thus the term theore tical sampling (cf. Strü bing 2008: 30) .
This process is defined as follows by Glaser and Straus s (1998: 53):
Theoretical sampling means the process of data collection that is aimed toward s the generation of th eory,
during which th e researcher p arallel collects, code s and analyzes her data, and decides w hat d ata shou ld be
collected next a nd where to fi nd them. This p rocess of data collection is controlled b y the n asce nt - materia l
or formal - theory .
As such, the o bservat ion positions and interview partners were chosen on the basis of “sens itizing
concepts”
79

(as theoret ical and practical know ledge), w hereby the selection cr iteria change according to
the state of theory forma tion over the course of the research process, whe reby turning ever more
specific .

“A definitive concept re fers precise ly t o what is common to a class of obje cts, by the aid of a clear definition in
terms of attribu tes or fixed bench marks […] A sensitizing co ncept lacks such sp ecification of attrib utes or bench
marks and consequently it does not enable th e user to move di rectly t o the instance and it s relevant content.
Instead, it gives the u ser a general sense of r eference and gu idance in appro aching empirical instances. Wher eas
definitive concept s provide prescription s of what to see, se nsitizing concepts mer ely suggest dire ctions along
which to look. ” (Blumer 1954: 7)

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
46
The sens itizing concepts themselves are deploy ed as interpretive dev ices, as starting points for the
qualitative study, as m ark ers of the importan t featu res of soc ial interaction as pract ices, as guideline s
for research in specif ic settin gs, and also as indicators fo r the selection of the cases the mselves.
A literature rev iew of pote ntially re levant concepts was undertaken befo re ente ring the fie ld. It seemed
approp riate not to follow Strauss and Glaser ’s suggestion to enter the fie ld witho ut having previous
scientific knowledge on the rese ar ch subject, bec ause theoretica l specif ication he lped frame the
selection of businesses to be stud ied and prov ided structure for the interview questions and part icipant
observation. Further conce pts were added with e very new theme that d eveloped out of the empirica lly
generated da ta.
For the selection of approp riate sensitizing concepts (before and during the data generation and
analysis proc ess), the relationsh ip betw een the sensitizing concepts and th e theoretica l samp ling
process deser ves increased attention (the sa mpling process i s d iscussed in detail i n Chapter 4.1 .): At th e
beginning of the research process, a first case is se lected on the basis of the f irst sens itizing concepts
(see C hap ter 3.1 ., “ public characters” and “third p laces”), which ar e supposed to reveal firs t tentative
questions and po ssib le perspect ives on the phenom e na under in vestigat ion. S u ccessively more criter ia
for additional data selectio n evolve from the respec tive theoretical and conce ptual concl us ions of the
existing mater ial (Strübing 2008: 31; Bl umer 195 4; Bowen 2006: 2 f.). This delibera te selection of
interviewe es and obser vation spaces is accomplished by means o f theoretica l criter ia der ived from the
sensitizing concepts, whereby no attention is paid to representativen ess, but rather to the res pect ive
types and structure s. Cons equent ly and grad ually, the research pro ject’s sa mple is thus form ed on the
basis of the i n itial analys is on the one hand and the search for further theoretica l insights through
additiona l expected data s ets on the other hand .
In short, the g eneral question in theoretical sampling i s : Which people, events, and social pract ices
should be investigated fu rther during the data collection and to what end? In this process, data
collection and analysis of m ax imum contrast ive categories (e.g. varying store sizes or ‘hang - o ut’
qualities, self-s ervice, need of consultation, etc .) expa nds to include more min imum contrast s ituations
(e.g. sa me type of bus iness, of salespeople, etc.). In parti cu lar, b y inc luding extreme or dissim ilar ca s e,
the theory con solidates and becomes richer and more mu lti-faceted (F lick 1995: 44 3).
Ultimate ly, three sets of sen sitizing conc epts i n this study form ed the conceptual framework, linking the
various concepts and funct ions as an impetus for th eory formulation .

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
47
The first set (which also sparked the search for an i n itial research question and i nspir ed the entire
research process i n anticip ation of enter ing the field site), was Jane Jacob’s concept of a “ public
character” (1961: 68). A pu blic character is understood as a nei ghbo rhood figure , who keeps their street
safe and supports local so cial li f e and cohesion . An underlying research interest was to verify i f these
somewhat romant ically described f igures do ex ist on an urban nei ghbo rhood lev el and wha t m akes such
an ind ividual a public character. The secon d sens itizing concept tha t was examin ed and operationaliz ed
before fieldwork b egan wa s Raymon d Ol denbu rg’s co ncept of a “ th ird place ” (with Brissett 1982; 198 9;
1999; 2001), a h ighly sociable place beyon d the boundaries of the “first” (home) and “second” (work)
places. In particu lar, his concept informed the rese arch on the soc ial practices that make a business
sociable and in particu lar, on the busin esses’ mater ial features .
The second and third sets of sensit izing concepts dev eloped in the course of the intert wined process es
of data generation, data ana lysis, and the gener ation of increas ingly more dense and solidif ied
theoretica l concepts . These l at ter concepts were derived through an extensive literatu re review
centering on specific themes, such as sense of belo nging and comm un ity build ing, public as well as
neighborly interaction and behav ior, the role of businesses and th eir owners f or l oca l soc ial li fe , pu blic
spaces and urban ret ail development, shopping and con sumption patterns, and the sociabil ity of semi-
public spaces. This review ed literatur e along with the themes which emerged f rom the interv iews and
observations bro ught about my m a jor argument that store owners’ everyda y practices in the course of
their business operations contribute to community building and senses of belong ing, and becom ing
socially significant places for some of the users. As such, a m etho dological focus emerged over the
course of data collection that emphasized particular co nceptua lizations that consider co mmunity
building and sense of belonging, but also neighbo rly interaction and public socia bility as something that
is practiced in the course of daily life, and thus underpin how neighborh ood social life unfolds . Ap plied
to independent reta ilers an d gastronom ic facilities, the nexus among th ese theoretical co ncepts is
examined not only for the evolving samp ling process, but also as the theoretica l backbone of the whole
research process. Put together, the conceptual framework for the study included three sets of
sensitizing concepts, sense of community/ belong ing, public interaction and third places/public
characters , all of which provide the analyt ic frame, serv ing as points of referen ce and as guides in the
data ana lysis (Bowen 200 6: 3 f.).

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
48
3.1. Sensit izing Concepts I: T hird Place and Public Character
This is a study of sociabilit y o n th e very local micro-level – respectively the (semi-) public places where
sociability, ma inly a mong neighborh ood residents, is generated. According to Georg Si mm el, all for ms of
associat ion comprise sociabil ity, but pure sociability i s the pla y- form of assoc iation, the opposite of
purposeful asso ciation. Th e sphere of pure soc iability might seem as an artif icial world cut off from the
real m att ers of life, and i nd eed S immel des cribes pure sociabil ity as a superfic ial world, off ering a “flight
from life”. Yet, the world of sociability is highly attractive, for i n it “we construct and experience the
meaning and force of [life’ s] deepest reali ty but withou t the reality itse lf.” (Simmel 1949: 261) So as per
Georg Sim mel, sociabil ity is
a distinct social form that dis tills out of the realities o f so cial life th e pure e ssence o f a ssociation, of the
associative proc ess a s a valu e an d a satisfaction [...] So ciability extracts the serious substance of lif e
leaving on ly ‘‘togetherness,’’ the sheer p leasure of the co mpany of oth ers. [...] Freed o f connection with
the serious con tents of life, sociability is tru ly a social game, an d end in itself. (Simmel [1911] 1949: 255)
In sociability, the fo rm can become disconn ected from co ntent: people talk simp ly for the sake of talking
and yet these interact ions are sociall y meaningfu l an d highly important for the individua l’s well - b eing.
Extending Georg Simmel’s wo rk on soci abilit y, Ray mond Oldenburg (1989; 1999; 2001) ana lyzes the
places in wh ich sociable asso ciations tend to take place. He ca lls one group o f these social sett ings “third
places” and def ines them as, ‘‘a generic des ignation for a great variety of pu blic places that host the
regular, voluntary, informal, and happily antic ipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of
home and work ’’ (Oldenb urg 1989: 16).
For my research, the concept of the third place (Oldenburg 19 89; 1999 ; 200 1, and Oldenburg /Brisset t
1982) was us ed primar ily to generate early assumpt ions abo ut the kind of p laces that m ight engende r
higher l eve ls of sociab ility among only very cat egoricall y known (Bahrdt 1969) or completely unknown
people on a neighbo rhood l eve l, to dev elop observational categor ies and to infor m the e mpirical
research in to the busines ses the mselves.
Therefore, third place attributes served as an important variable i n the sampling process, contrasted
against businesses that are also not delineated i n Oldenburg’s work (focusing on bars). Although
Oldenburg r arely co nceptuali zes the ro le of store ow ners, or of bartenders and other employees, here
too hi s concept he lps to d istingu ish the different se ts of practices that gen erate sociabilit y and sociality
in businesses .

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theor etical Conc epts
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For the carriers of these social practices (and as such , the actors of this study), J an e Jacobs’ idea of
“public characters” (1961: 68) is also used as part of this first sensitizing concept on the specific features
of the places – the busines ses – and their legal owner s. Further more, Jane Jacob s’ book “ The Death and
Life of Great Amer ican Cities” (1961) inspired and still i nfo rms the whole research project: Her
understanding of “pub lic characters” (1961: 68) and “ e yes upon the street” (19 61: 45) are examined i n
detail in Chapter 7 w h ich discusses my f indings on the role of store own ers on Karl-Marx-Straße. While I
am awar e o f h er ver y no stalgic and n ormat ive i de as of what ne ighborho ods and sidewa lk life are
supposed to l oo k like, and that her work i s based on her own personal (instead of scientifically
systemat ic) observat ions a nd pu bli c interactions in h er neighbo rhood of Greenwich Village i n New York
in the 1960s , this critique does not take away from her analytical insights. Similarly, her idea of the
public character, which emerged from her own interactions w ith and obser vatio ns o f the store owners
in her neighborhoo d, carries a continued validity des pite its nosta lgic au ra. Her reoccurring description
of them (e.g . the butcher or the superintendent) emphasizes that they do not only watch out for the
streets and their s idewalk lives, but also take o ver ke y exchang es and oth er li t tle services, including the
care of local children . Th ese public characters with their manifold role s for the n eighborho od could also
be counted on to, for inst ance, let the par ents know if the ir children were getting out of hand on the
street, or to call the police i f an odd stranger was hang ing around for too long: "Storek eepers and other
small bus inessmen are typ ically stron g propo nents of peace and order," J acob s ex p lained, "they hate
broken windows and holdups." As per Mitch Duneier (199 9: 6), she also modeled these public figure s
after persons like herself, who distributed petitions on local po litical issues to nei ghbo rhood stores,
spreading loca l news in the process . However Jacobs (19 61: 68) did not fu lly def ine her concep t:
A pu blic character is anyone who is […] sufficiently interested to make himself a public chara cter. […] His
main q ualification is that he is public, that he talks to a lot o f d ifferent people. In th is way, news tra vels that
is of side walk interest. Mo st pub lic sidewalk charact ers a re steadily stationed in pu blic places. They ar e
storekeepers or b arkeepers o r the like. These are th e basic public ch aracters.
On this somewha t vague definition she a lso bases her ob servation tha t all other pu blic characters on the
street, as well as the social structure of the street as a whole, "hang partly" on these p ublic chara cters,
insofar a s “the social context of the s idewalk i s patter ned in a part icular way bec ause of the presenc e of
the public character: his or her actions have the effect of making street life safer, stabler, and m or e
predictable .” (Duneier 1999 : 6) As p er J acob s this occ urs because the public cha racters ha ve "eyes up on
the street" an d take care o f what happ ens outsid e of their bus inesses ( Jacobs 1961).

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
50
Certainly, J a cobs’ early 196 0s Greenwich V illage (Hudso n Street specifica lly) do es not share many
commona lities with 21 st century Karl-Marx-Straße in terms of the residential and commerc ial struc tures,
municipal building, but also shopping and mobility p atterns, and busines s op erations and so forth .
Nonetheless, her work on public charac ters is fundamenta l to our understand ing of the sidewa lk as the
site where the pract ices of particular actors – namely storekeepers – develop a sense of mutual suppo rt
among the more or less acqu ainted p eople who populate them . Further more, Jacobs emphasizes the
role of m utua l respect f or the crea tion of appro priate lim its on i nteract ion and intimac y in th e
production of that social c ontact – even i f this is something that cannot be take n for granted on a highly
diverse shop ping street in the 21st century (Dun eier 1999: 7).
80

Beyond the notion of “public characters, ” I a lso draw on Ray mond Oldenburg’s ideas of public sociability
(1989, 1999, 2001, Oldenburg / Br issett 1982) that he defines through a deta iled account of the kinds of
interaction that hap pen in “neighbo rhood pl aces” (Oldenburg 1997: 9). Wh ile my research i s rooted in
his orig inal i de as on pub lic soci ab ility, I would argue th at that a much broader ra nge of businesses, fro m
small ne ighborho od sho ps to occas ionally e ven corp orate chain stores, franch ises, and shopping malls ,
can (and do) function as places of sociability for customers – depending on the physica l attr ibutes of th e
place, and the socia l prac tices of its owners, employees and custom ers. Further more, Oldenbu rg’s work
lacks a prec ise emp irical analysis of hi s a ssumptions on third p laces and the ir importan t function for the
social cohes ion of U S American cit ies, includ ing the qu estion of scale of the p laces under discussion (are
they blocks, neighbo rhoods, villages, towns, cities?) – a lacuna that this presen t research i ntends to
correct.
81

Oldenburg’s work builds up on the 19 th century theo rist/ sociolog ist/ thinker Ferdinand Tönnies’ (1 887)
concepts of Gemeinschaft and Ge sellschaft which he used to describe the ty pes of interpersona l
relationships and n etworks created i n a rap idly i ndust rializing and urban izing soci e ty – the former as a
real, organic, an d specifically private social for mation; the latter a s a m echanica l, ideal, and specificall y
public socia l formation ( Tönnies 1987: 4 ) . Tönnies’ main concern was the loss of co mmunity as
“Gemeins chaft” i n larger industrializing cities, where res idents live under the threat of l osing their

See Chapter 7 for more information on the definition o f the concept as well a s on the concrete sets o f social
practices that make a store owner a p ublic character.
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Oldenburg focu ses mainly on bars an d restaura nts in his elaboratio ns of the sociability and sociality of third
places, although he originally also includ ed other semi -public an d public spaces such as main streets or librar ies:
“The tavern, t he bar, is without do ubt the dominant third place in our society an d we are not u nique in this. Be it
the saloon, co cktail lounge, pub […] – the bar is no netheless at the core of th e institution (Old enburg/ Brissett
1982: 269). By contra st, I includ e businesses of daily supp ly or daily services in my analysi s, since they al so function
as third p laces and d isplay third p lace characteristics.

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
51
identity, intimat e r elationships and emot ional support, due to a lack of both informal and forma l
gathering point s. E xpanding on Tönn ies’ work, Olden burg suggests that people requ ire informa l pub lic
places (outside the bounds of home or work places ) where they can regularly go to for the sake of
relaxation and con versatio n, in order to rema in “healthy ” as well as to mai ntain their sense of
Gemeinschaft . He def ines these (se mi- ) public places of sociability as th ird places, “pub lic plac e[s] th at
host[s] the regu lar, volunt ary, i nforma l, and happ ily anticipated gather ings of individuals beyond the
realms of ho me and work ” (Oldenburg 1999: 16).
For Oldenburg ( 1999), th ird places are essent ial place s in urban dwe llers’ lives a long with the ir first p lace
(home) and the ir second places ( work). Wh ile all three are important for conviv iality, a m ore
homogeneo us and more selective sociability exists/is created/is engendered in the first and second
places. These cafés, bars a nd shops as semi -pub lic spaces bri ng abo ut and ho ld together commun ities.
They are the places that fu nction as a substitute to the tradit ional historica l ur ban market place – the
social sett ings that encourage regular, but not necessarily trivial , i nterac tion between customer s, where
urban resident s spend their l e isure time, while simult aneously provid ing them with food, drink, or the
good s and services needed to supply their homes. What makes third places and the co mmunit y
formations therein so specia l is that there are no mu tual ob ligations between the v isitors – th ey co me
and go (and purchas e or consume) as they please, wh ich allows for a great er sense of rela xation and
relief than in first or second places, where people expect each other to act accord ing to their respe ctive
roles.
Railing aga inst shopping malls, which he calls non- p laces, Oldenbu rg embo dies a nostalgic and
intellectua lly conservative standpoint, pra ising little shops for functioning as commun ity information
centers, pro viding ho meliness and comfo rtable sensu al ex periences ( Mikunda 2 004: 5) – along side the
good s for sale. For Oldenburg , socializing and the search for Gemeinschaft or commun ity i s thus of
primary intere st to peo ple com ing to these p laces – and thu s the primary act ivity.
Paralleling Robert Putnam’s crit ique of the loss of social capital in “ Bow ling al one” (1 995; 2000),
Oldenburg (in his early work with Dennis Brissett ) l a ments the steady decline in people’s sense of
responsib ility and control, caused by th e narrowing ran ge of a vailab le arenas for social partic ipation to
the two-stop-mod el between hom e and work place (Oldenburg/Brisset t 1982: 265 f.). They further
bemoan that the neglect by scho lars and p lanners a like of the ro le of third pl a ces in creat ing a sense o f
community, has furthe r de creased the oppo rtunities for congregation outs ide of fi rst and s econd places .
Fundamenta lly, the main problem of the A merican society is the l oss of specific spac es where peop le

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
52
can interact without the pressures and e xpectat ions typ ica l for soc ial i nteract ions at home or at work .
As such third places act as “get - aways ” or a “ ho me away from ho me.” Moreover, he argues that if these
facilities and public spaces are endangered, and urban environments become incapable of providing
oppo rtunities for soci a l relat ionships and diverse social exper iences, the overall social fabric of a
neighborho od or society is endangered as well ( Oldenburg/Brisset t 1982: 2 67; Oldenb urg 2002).
Emerging out of their predecessors – G erman beer gardens, English pubs, French cafés, and villag e/
town mark et plac es – thes e third p laces are free or inexpens ive establish ments, often serving food and
drinks, and high ly access ible (e.g. a walking distance) for most of their visitors, and who frequ ented
these places on a regu lar and habitual bas is . Further, thi rd places provide a we lcoming and co mfortable
atmosphere, making it easy to congregat e there, mak e new friends meet o ld on es . These places pro vide
a home away from home, withou t the constraints and role expecta tions as to b e found in p laces of work
and residence, result ing in a quite playfu l mood. Nonethe less, customers most often only know each
other casually in th eir role as acqua intances in a bar or res taurant . Oldenburg does not go into a
definition of home or community or how the two are perceived and practic ed by staff or customers
themselves . Hi s thoughts remain very superficial and based mainly on the observed conversat ions in,
and a histor ical li teratur e review o f, selected third places. Furth ermor e, h is sampling rema ins v ery
unclear: the discussed examples are m ost often l ong standing neighborho od taverns and diners with
customers of d ifferent gender and age group s, but m ost oft en w ith the same ethn ic and ra cial
backgroun d. In addition, all his discussed facilities are family -owned and owne r-operated places on or
near main stre ets in Am erican c ities.
Although Ol denbu rg is aware that key ingredient s often remain elusive, emergent, or subject to shifting
lifestyle patterns, he does ascribe rather narrowly defined ch aract eristics to his model thi rd pla ces as
places of pub lic soc iabil ity (1 9 99: 20 ff.): Th ird p laces offer neutral gro und, wher e visito rs ha ve little to
no obligation to be there, none of them has to act as host or guest. In addition, customers are not
committed to the place f inancially, politically, legally, or otherwise – they are free to come and go as
they p lease. Further, third places p lace little to no importance o n the v isitors’ s ocial st atus. The ir socio -
econom ic backgr ound does not matter i n these facilities i n terms of per mitting entrance, part icipation,
or special attent ion by other actors in the l ocat ion. Rather, par ticipation and congregation in third
places is based on a greater or lesser equality of all visitors w ith a sense of commonali ty for th e length
of the stay. These low expectat ions of custom ers ofte n extend to the space as a whole – th ird p laces are
characterist ically “wholesome, ” with a home ly feel and lacking pretentious or sno bby sal e speople and

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
53
customers, but also extravagant and grandios e décor and att itude (Oldenburg / Bri ss ett 1982: 270). My
observations as well as other ethnographic studies on bars and coffee places contradict his utopian
view: In practice most dining and drinki ng facilities are structured by gender, c lass , and ethn icity. This
happens most often in informal ways and oft en through self -select ion; furthermore, some places
active ly select a part icular type of c lientele tho ugh doo r policies.
In situations of pure sociability, one enters, according to Georg Simmel (1949), into the most purely
democratic experience life can offer, where people “are truly differen t but truly equal” (Oldenb urg/
Brissett 1982: 271), since a person’s status does not inherent ly matter in the maintenanc e of human
fellowship. Yet, Oldenburg’s ascribed chara cterist ic of th ird p laces be ing a “leveler ,” sett ing no criter ia
for social inclusion, is rather utopian, since most businesses and part icularly dining and drinking facilit ies
are highly structure by ge nder, class, and ethnic ity (cf. Share 2003 : 11). Despite the “femin ization” of
many public p laces i n the course of the 20 th century, bars and many night life facilities rem ain often
highly mas culine and ther eby high ly exclusionary p laces. Hi s most prized of “leve ling” third p laces, th e
neighborho od tavern, fun damentally exc ludes cer tain pop ulati on grou ps by dint of the fact that alcohol
is sold there. Today’s metro politan areas – such as the neighborho ods around K arl-Marx-Straße – have
ethnically and r eligious ly divers e populations, many of whom do not dr ink alcoh ol and do no t visit places
where alcoh ol is sold b ecause of the ir beliefs .
However, the core of Oldenburg’s deli n eation of third p laces (and for him the most obv ious of all
oppo rtunities within such plac es) is the poss ibility of pure sociab ility . Referring t o Georg Simmel (1949:
254 ff.) th is pure sociability goes beyond special and immediate purposes and brings peop le toge ther.
According to Simme l, people need this kind of pure so ciability in addition to other form s of assoc iat ions
in the “outside world,” (d efined as associations entrusted for a specif ic purpose, subord inated to the
required roles and organiz ational criteria) (Oldenbu rg/ Brissett 1982: 2 71) . Third pl a ce sociability, by
contrast, means fu lly pl a yful, “humorous” and “happy” fa ce - to -face conversatio n are the main ac tivity,
although top ics can vary an d getting more ser ious over time and a lso might be acco mpanied by other
activities . In h is enthus iasm for the “great go od ne ighbo rhood places, ” Oldenb urg seem ingly ignores the
fact that talk can also be used as an instrument of o ppress ion . He often defines the mood of pl ac es as
determ ined by a playfu l con versational tone without serious tensions or hostilities (Oldenbu rg 1999:
31).
Another important feature of third p laces as p laces of sociability, according to Oldenburg, are the
regulars themse lves, who not only give the place its tone and contribute to the moo d and verba l climate

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
54
of the spac e, but also attract o ther customers and influence how oth er (f irst time or non-regular)
customers perceive the space and its inclusivity . Ostensibly, it is not the sur roundings or ev en the
service that make a third pl ac e attract ive, bu t the other customers, where the ultimate goal is t o
become a r egular, and thus to dev e lop a mutua l r elationship o f trust. Here, Oldenb urg does not g o into
the role of sho pkeepers, bartend ers, and other third place employees . For h im, public soc iability evo lves
rather as so mething natur al a mong regu lar cus tomers, not directed or fostered by any “formal” owner s
of the place . I, o n the othe r hand , doub t that interact ion amon g custo mers, no m att er if re lated or not,
develops without direct or indirect incentives fro m the employees (and own ers), since they set, frame,
and govern the b ehaviora l and interact ional rules for the places.
Another important attribu te, as per Ol d enburg, is a thi rd plac e’s easy access and accommodation by
means of its (idea lly) walka ble location and phys ical design, i nc luding a dé cor, li g hting, furnitur e, and its
arrangemen t, as well as other artifacts such as play toys, newspapers, or bar ga mes, all of which please
and match with the n eeds and des ires of i ts clientele. These det ails do not appear sui generis, bu t are
clearly crafted either purposeful ly or accidenta lly by store owners and employ ees. I n that sense, it
becomes clear that the im pact and social practice s of store owners and employees are much more
important than origina lly arg ued by Ol d enburg: They build, des ign, and decorate the place, they decide
where to put up tables, co mbined with a spec ific lighting syste m, how to promote offers; they choose
the kind of music and the volume at which i t is played, and so on i n order to order to generate an
atmosphere and a design to fit the ir business ideals, co ncepts, profit expecta tions, and daily opera tions.
Oldenburg focuses on the spatial locat ion rather than the interior ph ysica l qualities of th ird places. He
decries American planning regulat ions that too often exclude such pla ces fro m urban and suburban
areas, and pleads for easy accessibility that r equires a high number of th ird places across the c ityscape
and within res idential settlements . Their quantity and presen ce do matte r, but more so do Ol d enburg ’s
outlined b enefits of thi rd pl ac es: the provis ion of an atmosphere of familiarity, feelin gs of po ssession,
belonging and intimacy, the constitution of a home away from home, but not f ar away from home. Even
if close to home, th e defining feature is that these places are not home, yet the a tmosphere and fee lings
of homeliness affec t ho w people move and b ehave i n third places, i n that they engage in practices such
as taking off sho es, scratch ing them selves, or marking newspaper s and discuss ing private issues without
high levels of secre cy (Oldenb urg/ Brissett 1982 : 271 ff.) . With Oldenburg, the u nderl ying assumpt ion
for the current empir ical i n quiry is that businesses as everyday places receive an ever- sh ifting variety of
locally residen t and/or working i nd ividuals and sometimes even “externa l” v isitors, who are a ll g ranted

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
55
participat ion by virtue of their co-presence in the cou rse of routinized ever yday life. In third plac es,
people of different profess ions, milieus, and or igins might end up next to each other; wh ereas at home
or at work, i nter actions are not only highly regulate d and standardized , but also occur mainly among
people of very similar and selected backgrou nds (Oldenburg / Brissett 1982: 274 f.). Further potent ial
benefits of the participat ion in thi rd places are, accord ing to Oldenburg (1999), that people find
emotiona l relaxat ion ther e, since they are freed from their role expectat ions and can thus express a
higher level of emotion – but nevertheless dependent on the respective bus iness’ behavioral codes and
correspond ing atmosph ere . Third p laces i n Ol denb urg ’s estimation are often ver y l oud and live ly places,
where emo tional conv ersations are common , where people discuss very private top ics specif ically
because of the lack of stron g ti es betwe en the custo mers. Revealing private i ssues j us t serves the
purpose of personal releas e not availab le when discussing these issues with someone more related . This
leads to another benef it of third places: persp ective. As per Oldenb urg, third places he lp to overcome
social isolat ion and foster mutua l support. Frequenting th ird places enlarges custome rs’ social netwo rks,
but further, visitors to third pl ac es mi gh t end up sitt ing next to a plumber , who could be hired for a
repair, or someone who rents out an apart ment, so meone who knows a good doctor or nanny. These
relationships, even if co nfined to the l ength of stay in the business, might thus hel p to o vercome
situations of need (Oldenb urg/ Brissett 1982: 280 f.). In add ition, with this “incomplete integrat ion”
82

(Bahrdt 1969: 86) or the only partial know ledge of others in the p lace, th ird places pro vide a responsive
arena fo r the i nd ividual r eality construct ion for each customer . Accord ing t o Oldenburg , a h ea lthy
measure of role distance becomes im po rtant in t he retention of men tal perspective (Oldenburg/
Brissett 198 2: 282).
Having character ized the main features of third places, Oldenburg admits tha t mere participat ion in
third places does not gu arantee “anything, ” which I interpret as no gu arantee of sociab ility or of
personal happin ess. Certa inly, he and Brissett see many positive elements i n third places, such as the
discussed sociability, leveling, and communit y bu ilding. However, they consider the positive
consequences as emergent and rarely l inear, while provi d ing users access to social experiences and
relationships that are increas ingly unavailable outside these places i n society at large
(Oldenburg /Brissett 1982: 273). I t also remains unc lear if membersh ip in these places extends to the
“outside” world, i f custom ers mainta in and sustain their third place acquainta nceships or friendships

As per Hans Pau l Bahrdt, incomplete inte gration mean s that only on e aspect of the personality is in troduced in
the respective interactio n, while other aspe cts are ignore d or h idden. By participat ing in the ‘market’ (as the
central urban space), a person is in tegrated in a system of exchange, but th is integration is not aimed at th e whole
person, wherewith Bah rdt calls this integration incomplete (Bah rdt 1969: 86 f.).

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc ep ts
56
outside of the businesses in quest ion, and as such, if the sociability of third places actua lly leads to
higher integra tion and part icipation in broader soc iety .
83

Another critique concerns the incr eased self-marketin g of businesses as third places, which erases the
commercia l aspect inherent in running a business by making it disappear behind a mask of sociability .
For instance, the Starbucks Corporat ion actively promotes its cha in coffee stores as third places,
pretend ing that the sociability – th e war m and w elcom ing atmosph ere of these cafés – matter more to
the company and i ts employees than selling pr icy coffee and baked goo ds.
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Starbucks advertis e their
third plac es as “safe,” “comfortab le” and “ non threaten ing,” ref erring to the same discourse of
homogeneity and no tions of safety and co mfort that find th eir material ex pr essio n in h ighly segreg ated
and gated resident ial communit ies, as well as in the widespread dep loyment of police, secur ity guards ,
and electronic surve illance systems i n m a lls, parks, and other public settings . S tarbu cks di d not begin to
promote the ir stores as third places until the mid-1990s, when th ey began to capitali ze on the social and
interactiona l desires of their overwork ed middle-cl as s customers with a nostalgic narrative of
“commun ity li fe ” (Gaudio 2003: 678). Similarly, oth er dining and drinking institut ions also see an
oppo rtunity to capitaliz e o n the concept of third places by marketing themselves as such or even by
making it an essential part of their brand (Crick 2011: 2 ff.). The function of retailers and dining fac ilities
is – of course – first and foremost to sell and create profit. Sinc e third places represent a seductive
experi ence, they often draw on these “ third place e xperience s” i n order to increase attent ion levels,
length of stay , and subsequent ly their sales . Thro ugh “m oo d managem ent” or “ conv enience
entertain ment,” e motions beco me a v a lue - added in the consumpt ion experience, linking “ true, b ig
feelings” to the sho pping environment, the salespeo ple, or the products so ld ( Mikunda 2004: 6 ff .). I a m
highly awar e that the small bus inesses’ owners and salespeop le a long Karl -Marx-Straße might a lso use
such techniques to b ind cu stomers to the ir bus iness, increas ing the length of their stay and the number
of goo ds purchased, as a means of pro-active ly defending aga inst the compet ition, while increas ing their

Fo r these que stions it becomes obviou s that Oldenbu rg’s conceptualizat ion lacks empirical data and evidence.
84

See Mikunda 2004 : 5; Starbucks (n.d .): “Your Starbucks experience is so much more than just coffees. It’s the
conversation y ou have with a friend, a moment o f solitude at th e end of the day, a quick stop on t he way to the
movies. And in th e tradition of the coffeehous e, it’s also the chan ce to immerse yourself i n eclectic and enduring
music while you sip y our favorite coffee” ( Starbucks (n.d.). Our H eritage, htt p://www.starb ucks.com/about -
us/our-heritage, a ccessed 04/20/2015). Da ve Olsen, Vice p resident of Starbuck s also wrote in the in troduction of
“Starbucks p ass ion for co ffee: A Starbu cks coffee cookbook (Sunset Book s 1994: 8)”: “ Today, as they fir st did more
than 700 y ears ago, coffeehouses o ffer a delightful diver sity of experiences. You can chat with friends, j oin in
heated discussions or r ead in solitud e. You can study, sketc h or write. You can list en to music or hear p oetry
recited. You can play card s, checkers, backgammon, ch ess. As an unsun g Viennese wit once pu t it, a coffeehouse is
‘the ideal place for p eople who want to be alon e but need company for it.’ All the while, what ever you choose to
do, yo u can sip and enjoy o ne of the world’s gr ea t pleasures.”

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
57
own profitabil ity. I n a nutshell, generat ing a third place and sociabili t y becomes a concrete business
strategy.
Despite the danger of being capitalized or turned to account, Oldenburg’s c oncept of (semi-) public
places that are used as private hab itats, draws attention to the previous and ongoing restrictions on
spheres availab le to urban residents for socia l participa tion . These restrictions are mostly due to
structura l change s, longer working ho urs, as well as a turn to the more ex c lusive sphere of fam ily during
the scant leisure time. Both work and home places are highly pred ictable and homogeneous i n te r ms of
ethnicity and li festy le. Third places, b y con trast, expose their visitors to dive rsity an d novelt y, and
thereby repres ent fert ile ground for practicing the 2 1 st century diverse me tropolis (cf. Chapter s 1 and 2).
Bu ilding from Oldenburg’s notions of neighbo rhood places and Jacobs’ ideas about neighborhoo d
figures, this pres ent research expands the line of inquiry to invest igate how the physica l design of the
stores alongs ide the social practices of the store owners a nd oth er staff, coup led with the oft en
unknown yet repeating mixes of p eople that share the space at a particular time, are respons ible for a
more inclusive or exclus ive, good-spirited or strict, famil iar or new atmosph ere that supports (or does
not) the gen eration of a s ense of com munity, hom e, or belong ing.
Hence, these are the main assumption derived from third places and public characters as the first
sensitizing concepts, which subsequently i nfor med the empirica l i nquir y i nto Karl-Marx-Straße . While
O ldenburg’s th ird places encourages interact ion and fam iliarity among all its participan ts, the samp led
businesses and their owne rs might foster interac ti on for only some or no ne of their custom ers, so me
businesses might not have a regular or already acqu a i nt ed client ele at a ll. Nonethe less, just as Jacobs’
public character idea polishes the ana lytical lens for the socia l pract ices of store owners, I chos e
Oldenburg’s third place mod el becaus e it revea ls th e potential for discovering the relatively uninhibi ted
sociability a mong main ly unacq uainted others – some times strange rs – in (semi-) public spaces .
Some of the operat ional research questions seek to expand on J acob s and Ol d enbu rg’s models: first, in
order to include other – non-gastrono mic businesses – as the most visited places of everyday supply,
and second, to include the role of the i nd ividuals wo rking in these businesses. Are they aware of the
‘third place functions’ the business fulfills, do th ey practice third place intent ionally, and why? H ow do
businesses and their staff affect custo mer interact ion? How does th e respect ive physical des ign of th e
businesses represent, prevent, or support third pl a ce ‘qualit ies’? If Karl -Marx- Straße’s businesses are

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
58
indeed a type of third plac e, for whom are they so? What role do these busine sses as third places play
for the ne ighborhoo d and broader society?
Within this context , I considered bu siness space size, type, access ibility and locat ion, as we ll as customer
mix (especia lly the presence of regulars), and the overa ll atmospher e and mood i n the bus inesses as
variab les in the course of my theoretical sampling process. Since visitors can never fully predict the
social mix and atmosphere of a third place, due to variable factors such as the time of day and week,
ot her potentia l customers and their moods, and furthermore b ecause stron g ties do not seem to be the
dominant type of re lationsh ip in these semi- pub lic p laces, the benefits of third places dep end strong ly
on particular time-space sett ings. I thus presumed in thi s research that m uch i nt eraction takes place
between m ore or less acqu ainted i ndiv iduals and even complete strangers . Their only com monalities
might be the ir place of residence i n the vicinity of the respective business and their co -presence therein
du ring a specific time of t he day and week. Hence, most interact ion in these – third or not – business
places is firs t, interact ion in (se mi-) pub lic space and thus second, interaction amo ng “ strangers .”

3.2. Sensit izing Concepts II: Interaction in Se mi-Pub lic / P ublic Spa ces
Karl-Marx- Straß e, as a diverse metrop olitan shopp ing street is, among other things, a “world of
strangers” (Lofland 19 72; 1973) and so ar e its bus ines ses. These little worlds of strangers are populated
by urban resident s (but also vi s itors) who are likely unkno wn to one another (Lo fland 1 972; 197 3). S ince
the businesses may work as contact sites for bo th strangers and alread y acquainted people, th e secon d
(set of) sensitizing concept(s) my research grows fro m the concept of interaction i n semi-public and
pu blic spaces, wh ich is analyzed by means of various analytical categories, including Lofland’s scheme of
private, paro chial, and pu blic spaces, as well as the noti on of public life as theater .
As Lyn Lof land (1972) ar gues, soc iology has m os tly i gno red the relationshi p among stran gers and
acquaintances .
85

Whenever sociology addressed the general relationsh ips among urban dwell ers , the
main focus has been on primary and sec on dary relationsh ips – relationsh ips in which the interacting
individua ls already know ea ch other . Th is is li k ely to have produced the widespread soc iologica l
assumption that interactio ns among strang ers in pub lic spaces ar e not rea l or so cially meaningfu l, and
thus – cyc lically – that thes e intera ctions and encou nters were no t of interes t (Lofland 1972: 10 6).

However, there ar e few exceptio ns, such as Georg Si mmel’s work also focuses on th e relationship between a n
individual an d to a group than b etween individual strangers themselves.

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
59
Stemming fro m th is lack of research on public space a nd the soc iability there in, Lofland develops a new
different iation be tween the private, paro chial, and pu blic rea lms and the ir resp ective b ehaviora l for ms,
in order to out line how wid espread, common, and mean ingful interact ions betwe en unrelated peop le or
only categorica lly related (cf. Bahrdt 1969) peop le i n urban sett ings are. The public realm as a socia l
territory is “the unique social and psycholog ical environment provided by urb an s ettle ments” (1998: x ii),
while public se ttings ar e those
regions in a community whic h, as Goffman (1 963: 9 ) h as said, are ‘freely acc essible to members of that
community’. I refer to this part of urban world […] as ‘a ny street, alley, park, public buildin g , any place
which is open to public view or to which the p ublic has access.’ (Ann Arbor, Michigan Ord inance Code 1957:
ch. 108, Paragrap h 9: 61) (Lofl and 1972: 107)
Yet, public settings do not necessarily belong to what she calls the public rea lm. The pub lic rea lm i s
defined as the non-private areas of urban sett lements where individua ls when pr esent there tend to b e
strangers to o ne another or know each other only in terms of the re levant catego ries, such as i n the ir
professiona l role or i n what they currently practice (Lofland 1989: 454). From this fo llows that the
businesses along Karl-Marx-Straße – as Lof land would descr ibe th em – are par ts of the parochial realm,
even if they consist of public spaces and places. Lofland’s catego rization of certa in spac es as public,
parochia l or private stems from the ty p es of relationships and behav ior that are to be found in thos e
locations .
In this resear ch, I follow he r conceptua lization and co nsider the stud ied commer cial facilities as public or
semi-pub lic spaces, which , according to the observed for ms of beha vior and ties, ar e then sub-
categor ized as either pub lic, parochia l, or even pr ivate rea lms.

Public Realm

Parochial Realm

Locale 86

City Center Plaza

Newly Trendy E thnic Restaurant in a Stable
Neighborhoo d

Location

Private Home, Territory Bar in City Center

Neighborhoo d Bar

Figure 14 : Ch art on pu blic an d par ochial realms, derived fr om Lyn Lofland’s original
87

“A locale is where peopl e with similar value s and identities ar e likely to be found” o r bounded portion s of non -
private space in wh ich people are likely to b e similar. By con trast, a locale is a place or “ street that draws to its elf
different sorts o f pop ulation s” as a space in which peop le are likely to be stranger s, or dissimilar or o nly
categorically known t o each oth er (Lofland 1989: 456).

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Co nc epts
60
I t m ust b e noted that the “lines ” betw een these catego ries are often blurred by the e veryday pract ices
of salespeop le and customers alike, who, depend ing on their persona lity, mood , relationship with othe r
people present, their per ception and sense of ownership or belong ing of the place a nd the like,
constantly switch between the respec tive behav iors. As such, a clear assignmen t of the interact ions in
the businesses to each of Lofl and’s catego ries becomes difficult. But Lofland al so describes all “real”
places as e xisting in a continuum betwe en private and public, pr ivate and p arochial and between
parochia l and public . In non-private space s, peop le may on ly be known to each other by the categories
they v isua lly present as (race, gender, relig ion); but life in public spaces is nonetheless th oro ughly socia l
(Lofland 1989: 457). This might seem to contradict Oldenburg’s elaborations on the i ntimac y of thi rd
places, display ing closely-kn it relationships betwe en customers, but must be understood as a continuum
in r eality, where these places also facilitate the integr ation of new and unknown visitors into th e familial
setting. H ence, the second theoretical start ing point for the examination of sociab ility i n busines ses
along Karl-Marx -Straße is interact ion with (eventua lly) unknown other s – in sett in gs that are “public” or
open to the publi c, but not n ecessarily used as public p laces.
In th e de velopment of my early a ssumptions and ob servationa l c ategor ies for th e e mpirical field work,
this research also drew upon the work of Erving Goffman (1963; 1 971) as a means of studying this
continuum of social i nt eraction (as social pract ices) i n public places, as well as of the (semi -) public
spaces themselves, and to help conceptua lize these interactiona l types of behavior. According to
Goffman, the fundamenta l characterist ics of i nt eractions between more or l ess known i ndiv iduals in
public settings are a comp lex production of soci a l ord er, the gradu al i nt egration of individuals and their
practices into a pat tern o f mutua lly un derstood co operation, such as “t echn iques that p edestrians
employ in ord er to avoid bumping into one another. These seem of li tt le s ignifican ce. H o wever, they are
constantly in use and they cast a pattern of/ in street behav ior.” ( Goffman 1971: 6) The cruc ial question
for the study of interaction s wi thin individual busin esses is then how this order emerges and how
participants consensua lly interact without irritations.
88

In order to conceptua lize these interact ions (and
other meaningfu l social practices) among wide ly un acquainted peop le in such public settings, Lofland’s
work (following G off man) also he lps in our understa nding of social li fe in public spaces (just as in all
societal spac es) as both fo llowing spec ific rules, and d epending on human re lationships .

Source: Lofland, 1989 : p. 456.
88

The only commonality among people in public spaces, such a s in some of the busi nesses along Kar l-Marx-Straße,
might be that t hey occupy th e same territory at the same time.

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
61
These rules represent a set o f “ techn iques - tact ics” with which people can cope with s trangers (Lof land
1972: 94; 198 9). They need these techniques or rule s in order to m a intain the ir self -esteem, to protec t
and guide themselves, competent ly through these public settings (Lofland 19 72: 95). The three main
principles are civil inatten tion (i n referen ce to Goffman 1963), audience role prominence , and civility
towards diver sity (Lof land 1989: 4 61). Goffman (196 3: 83 f.) conceptua lized civil inattention as fo llows:
When persons are mutually p resent and not involved toget her in conversation or oth er focused interactio n,
it is possible for one person to stare op enly an d fixedly at oth ers , gleaning what he can about them while
frankly expressing on his face his response to what h e sees – for ex ample, the ‘hat e star e’ th at a Sou thern
white sometime s gratuitously gives to Negroes walking past him. It is also possible for o ne person to treat
others as if th ey were not there at all, as objects not worthy of a glance, let alone close scru tiny. Moreov er,
it is possible for the individual b y his staring or ‘not seeing’ to alter his own ap pearance hardly at all in
consequence of th e pre sence of the oth ers. H ere we have ‘ nonperson’ treatment, it m ay be seen in our
society in the way w e sometimes treat chi ldren, s erv ant s, Negroes, and mental p atients.
Currently in o ur society, this kind of treatment is to b e co ntrasted with the kind generally felt to be more
proper in most situations, which will here be called ‘civil inat tention’. What seems to be involved is that o ne
gives to another enough vis ual n otice to demonstrate that one app reciates that the other is present (and
that one admits openly to having seen him), while at the next moment withdrawing on e’s at tention from
him so as to expr ess that he does not constitu te a target of special curiosity or d es ign.
As per L ofland (19 89: 402), whether or not c ivil inattention is exactly as G off man descr ibes i t, there can
be no questi on about the existe n ce and power of this first rule of pub lic beha vior: “It is, per haps, the
absolute sine qu a non of city life,” (Lof land 1989: 402) and as such we become a ware of it only in case o f
interruptions, ex c eptions, and v ar iations – for instance, i f people stare at each other in the subw ay or if
someone intrudes on ano ther’s p rivacy by get ting too clos e.
Civil inattention is the first for m of “coo perative motility” (Lof land 199 8: 29) and does not imply
complete i na ttention . The l ess public a place is p erce ived an d practiced, the mo re fr iendly people
recognize each other. For in stanc e, on a neighbo rhood l evel or within neighbo rhood stores, people
greet each oth er, b y a friendly nod, a short gre eting, often including the other person’s name and
questions about the ir well- bei ng , wh ereas in the “real” public, p eople i ns tead perform civil inattention
by avoiding body contact and/or excessively friendly or attentive looks i n to the other person ’s eyes.
Even though Lofland ascrib es neighborh oods and neighborho od places to the parochial r ealm, I argu e
that public behavior and therewith civil i natt ention, audience role prominen ce, and civility towards

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
62
diversity are pract iced in semi- pub lic or paroch ial places as well, depending on, am on g many othe r
factors, the sense of ownership, belonging, and fam iliarity with the place and other co -present peop le.
However, all b ehavior in th e public and paro chial or s emi- pub lic rea lms ta kes place in a spe cific sett ing,
and consequ ently adapts t o it.
The second rule, audienc e role prominen ce , notes that all public beha vior takes p lace with the
awareness that there i s an audience - other people present i n th e space. Lofland derives th is rule from
Goffman’s work on public life as theater li fe, in which the front stage equates to the pu blic and the back
stage sy mbolizes the more private spaces. Work ing from th is metaphor, the individual person acts in
public as an acto r does, always awar e of his or her a udience, relax ing and “perf orming” less as soon as
he or she l eaves to a more private space - the back stage. How many theatrica l perfor mances are
availab le for the voyeuristic pleasure of the audience depends on the type of settlement, the socia l
setting and time - ranging from l ove and fight scenes, nurturing bab ies or body care, to commerc ial an d
sexual exchang es - crea ting a “public ballet” where the dancers walk, sit, sleep, read, make onese lf up,
hug or watch each other (Lofland 1989: 263 f.). Restrained helpfulness or so -called pub lic a id also stem
from aud ience role prominence: being aware of th e other people pr esent, one can reaso nably expec t
small favors from them, such as te lling the time, opening a door, or asking for directions. The m or e
parochia l and less pub lic the place, the higher degree of helpfulness is expected and ex er cised. For
instance, on a nei ghb orhoo d scale, or within l oca l businesses, paroch ial aid ran ges from small services
such as accepting persona l deliver ies, transferring goods from o ne customer to another, taking care of
pets, plants, keys, or ev en children for a limited t ime (Kusenb ach 2006: 291).
Public beha vior is a balancin g act: If the public realm s educes its part icipants into gett ing too involved in
other people’s affairs, audience role promin ence suppo rts the i gno rance of each other’s affairs. The
more paroch ial or private the realm is, th e more atte ntion or proactive care is desired and expected of
other people against potent ial threats or discomforts (Kusenbach 2006: 294). Here, proactive
intervent ion means extended helpfulness i n contrast to public a id. The more proact ive the inter vention,
the more people watch out for one another, th e less public the p lace used is. For instance, in a local
grocery store, people mi g ht secret ly gaze i n to other people’s shopping bag, but commenting on the
chosen goods or their qu ality wou ld be an inter vention that exce eds the rule of audience r ole
prominence for public set tings – but is noneth eless a co mmon interact ion in man y neighb orhoo d
businesses .

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
63
Lofland’s last princip le for public settings, civility towards diversi ty , refers to face- to -face interactions
between very different people in a p ublic space. Con fronted with people of different et hn ic and socia l
backgroun ds, with d ifferen t styles, demeanor, and sexual preference, “ urban ite s”, a s per Lofland (198 9:
464) (most oft en) act dece ntly vis-à-vis this divers ity in public spac es. However, thi s ru le of urban public
behavior does not nece s sarily mean that this kind of civ ility i s inherent ly nice or polite. Referring back to
Georg S immel (1903), who similarly described urb an res idents as distanced, indifferent, and even b lasé
in order to hand le the coexisting and loaded interactions in urban settings, Lofland argues that this
civility towards diversit y is actually indifference without mutua l appreciat ion. Ho wever i n se mi -public or
more paro chial settings, participants rar ely expr ess complete i ndi ff erence towards other people’s
differences, o r converse ly, the level of ind ifference that is express ed depends on the part icular s ituation,
practices, and people involved . Difference might be prai s ed an d welcomed in some situations; wh ile in
others, i t is experienced as a threat. At different j u nctures, comp lete ignorance might be a su itable
response, whereas at d ifferent times, only full i n clusion and attention would be considered as
approp riate (Kusenbach 2006: 297). I n local re tail and gastro nomic fac il ities, much of this c ivility i s thus
determ ined by the owner s’ or salespeop le’s practic es, allow ing for m e mbership i n the p lace or not,
setting the boundaries for tol e rance, attent iveness and appreciation. I n cases of conflict, deviant
behaviors or attributes might cancel all membership ri ghts ; or, they m ight increase the sociability and
inclusion of the place. Put together , these normat ive, implicit, and explic it rules of i nd ifference along
with audience role pro minence, (includ ing r estrained helpfulness as public aid) and civil i natten tion
guide individua ls’ behavior al conduct, avo iding chaos and di sson ance, and f inding different expres sions
depending on the degree o f perceived pub licness (Lof land 1989).
Along with the three princ iples of public behavior, th e second ingredien t in Lofland’s conceptual ization
is that of human relations hips. Public space can only be thoroughly social if i t s participants relate to
each other. As an e xplanatio n for the (self-m anag ing) behavior i n public realms or set t ings itsel f, Lofland
(972: 99 ff.) further offers a more detailed insight into how all public space us ers try to protect their
rather frag ile selves by emp loying a variety o f survival s kills, wh ich genera lly resu lts in a peac eful
coexistence in public. By redu cing or even avoid ing their i n volvemen t with others, they support the
existing social order . The managemen t of the self follows spec ific sequences of appro aching these public
settings, but a lso the deve lopment of specific s tyles to cope with them. Lofland thus di stinguishes three
types of re lationships that are most common for pub lic spaces: fleeting , segmental and
unpersonal/bou nded relat ionships (Lof land 1989: 46 6).

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretica l Conc epts
64
Fleeting relationships hav e only a very br ief durat ion and generally do not involve a spoken exch ange
beyond that of an i nquiry /reply . This type of relation ship is the most r epresentative assoc iation for m i n
the public realm and micro-manages the encounter of l arge numbers of strang ers. However, fleet ing
relationships are continually transfo rmed into more s ociable forms: For examp le, a da ily m orn ing nod in
the bakery may lead to a more perso nal conversa tion about daily schedu les an d so on (Lofland 1989:
46 6 f.). In my research, I as sume that most contact build ing in businesses was of this fleet ing ki nd , which
occasionally d evelops i nto more committed relat ionships, even i f only for the time of the stay i n the
business.
The t erm segmental relati onships refers to relationships between peop le who on ly kno w each other i n
regard to limited seg ments of the self, such as by an occupationa l ro le. For instance,
customer/sa lespeople interact ions typically consist of segmenta l r elationships . Other emotional aspects
or segments of themse lves are l eft out and are not n ecessarily re levant during the course of a usually
short-lived i nt eraction . This i s also what Lofland addresses when she talks about categorica lly known
people in public or paroch ial spaces – the peop le o nly know each other in terms of the relevant
categor ies, such as in their profess ional role or in what th ey currently practice. However these
segmenta l r elationships can also easily deve lop into more personal re lationship s, when more emot iona l
and bi ograp hical elements are i ntegrat ed or interactio ns between the same se gmentally know people
repeat or take place on a regul ar basis (Lofland 1989: 467 f.). I therefore consider segmenta l
relationships as part icularly important fo r the conceptual ization of custom er -salespeople relationsh ips,
and of interactions wh ere i nd ividuals begin to interact exact ly because of a partial know ledge or
recognition of a c ertain attribute in the bu sinesses (fo r ex a mple, wearing a un ifo rm, push ing a stroller,
using a wa lking cane) .
The thi rd type of relations hips that i s common in public spaces i s unpe rsonal
89

/bounded relationships ,
which are neith er i nt imate, nor f leeting, nor segmental. The se relationsh ips are simu ltaneous ly
characterized by closeness and socia l distance, in whi ch personal informat ion is shared, but with the
understanding that no relational i nt imacy i s implied. These impersonal relatio nships are friendly and
sociable, but do not necessarily l eak ov er into the pr ivate or paro chial rea lms (Lofland 198 9: 469) . For
Lofland, typica l exa mples of such relationsh ips are customer interact ions i n d ining or drinking facil ities,
laundromats, or cloth ing retailers . For the local businesses along Karl-Marx-Straße, I consider
unperson al/bounded re lationships as neces sarily const ituent i n the ma intenan ce of the l oca l socia l

“Unpersonal” is the p recise term Lofland us es (1989 : 468).

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
65
order and rel a xed atmosph ere, and concerning the business peop le, as a common i nter actiona l practice
to smooth bus iness operat ions or even increase re venues and cu stomer loy alty.
Lofland’s ideal -typ ical diff erentiations of behavior and relationsh ips serve i n this pro ject to highlight
where, how, and under what conditions m ean ingful interactions and relations hips between people in
(semi-) public spaces can occur. Depending on the respective relational type, the space can then be
distingu ished as a m ore publicly or pr ivately used space as part of Lofland’s sche me of public , parochial,
or private realms. Th e relat ionships thems elves change constant ly: fleeting relationsh ips becom e
unperson al/ bounded, and vice vers a , ho me spa ces disintegrate, whereas segme ntal r elationships migh t
begin to i n volve sentiment and so forth (Lofland 1989: 4 70). Th is applies in particular to spaces such as
businesses, where formal ownership may be private , but which are open to the public , and thereb y
offering oppo rtunities (and hidden corner s) for more private behav ior and int imate relat ionships, as w ell
as for the (on ly fleet ing or more co mmitted ) intercourse w ith comp lete strangers .
Lofland’s detailed categories are particu larly helpful f or ethnographic observations of the customers in
businesses and ho w they a ccommodate themselves in the r espect ive pub lic set ting. For examp le, when
an individual approaches a crowded s etting mad e up predominan tly of stranger s, they cannot m a ke an
entrance unob served, since the other cus tomers hav e already secur ed their positions in this setting and
the salesperso n i s trained to pay attention to any newcomers . Hence, the entering person needs to
observe and “if necessary, rearranges his [or her] bo dy prese ntat ion to make certain noth ing i n his [or
her] appearance will jar the image he [or she ] wish es to convey.” (Lof land 1972: 99) This is why most
people ta ke care of their outfit and ha irstyle, an d ma ke last-minute ad justments to the ir presentat ion,
before entering such se tting s. T he business becomes a fro nt s tage sett ing, where these readiness ch ecks
are pract iced within the view of at l east a f ew strang ers. They spend o nly a fe w secon ds o n th is
backstage behav ior in order to be pr epared for the front stage perfo rmance . When they enter the
business, they take a read ing of the setting in order to fam iliarize their selves with th e space’s phys ical
layout and to av o id errors such as walking into walls or private rooms, stumb ling over furniture or
waiting at the wrong end of the line. Here in, the impo rtance of self -manage ment in the maintenance of
a space’s social order be comes c lear. As per Lofland ( 1972: 10 1), the ac t of ass essing a physical layout
can demand different levels of att en tion, from taking off outdoor clothing or sunglass es, reaching for a
cigarette, shivering or sighin g, or j ust taking a look around, to – l east intens ively – avo iding any reading
at a ll by blindly following other cus tomers. The f inal step of approaching a public sett ing i s to r each t he
final position: In my busi n ess cases this could be achieved by, for i nstanc e, securing a table, sitt ing down

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
66
with the ordered go ods at a chosen locat ion, joining the cashier’s li ne , stoppin g at the counter and so
on. The more the par ticipan ts have read the space, the more altern atives exist as to where to come to a
halt. Secur ing a pos ition within the space signals the beginning of a new phase in the i nd ividual self -
management a mong strang ers, in which the individuals are then ab le to take a more frank a ppraisal of
the setting (Lof land 19 72: 105 f .).
Most people one encount ers on streets, in parks, in businesses, subway stations and so forth, are not
personally knowable, but at least identifiable as represen tatives of a category (gender, em p loyment,
age, etc.). Armed with this informat ion, one kno ws ho w to act toward these strangers: one can live as a
stranger in the midst of strangers, since the gleaned knowledge dis mantles so me important e lements of
the strangeness ( Lofland 197 3: 15). Individua ls g ain this know ledge and ability to order strangers fro m
their own exp eriences, an d their soc ializat ion. This categ orization of a stranger is based on obser vation
– gaining partial informat ion on their status or role from their utterances, physica l appearances (bod y
presentation, clothing, and hairstyle), and physic al l ocat ion. L of land (1973: 2 7) calls the first
appearential ordering and the second spatial orde ring . These two principles of ordering help the
individua l, a stranger the mselves, to beha ve co mpeten tly among other stran gers in public spa ces.
As the know ledge of a particular space i ncr eases, so too does the familiarity o f a space as well as i ts
participants – which might eventually allow for such a sett ing to be used for private purpo ses as well.
The more individuals de velop kno wledge of social cat egori es , the less they p erceive a p lace as strange o r
alien, and the more th e space b egins to seem lik e home for them. W ith a certa in (high) level of
knowledge, i nd ividuals the n al so behave as if they are in a private place, occupying, colon izi ng , and
creating a home t erritory , but a lso de velop ing at titudes of propert y in the se nonethe less pub lic spa ces
(Lofland 1973 : 122 ff.). This corresp onds to Oldenburg ’s i dea of th ird places and t he respective behav ior:
The order ing of the space and its participants enables private behav ior and intimate interact ion with
nonetheless unknown peo ple i n a public space.
90

The ability to catego rize thus serves as a basis for
action – for soc ial pract ices that fost er feelings of belonging and co mmun ity.
Put together, these pr inciples of public behavior, th e types of pub lic space-relationships, and the
concept of self-manag emen t a llow for a deeper understand ing of the ways people i ntera ct in the public
and semi-public spaces of busi n esses, and further more, how these businesse s might be turned i nto
more pr ivate spaces thro ugh di stinct soc ial pract ices by staff an d/or customers alike. Ultimately,

The type of kno wle dg e and subsequent practices decide a bout how the space is perc eived and p ractice d and
thus these public spa ces are often turn ed into semi -public o r private settings.

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
67
Lofland’s and G offm an’s work explains how c ity life, if we def ine i t a s living to gether with largely
unacquainted strange rs with the regular experienc e of anonymity, is enabled . Nonetheless, both
authors insis t that living in full anonymity would be intolerable. As such, the fine l i ne betw een more or
less p ersonal relationships, even i n its short est and most fluid form, i s cruc ial for the well - be ing of an
individua l in cities (Lof land 19 73: x f.).
To turn direct ly to the topic at hand, this research applies Lofland’s and Goffman’s rules,
categor iz a tions, and behaviora l pr inciples as a secon d set of sensit izing concepts for my analys is of th e
pr ivately owned (sem i- ) p ublic spaces of businesse s on Karl-Marx-Straße. On this very l ocal level,
shopping as well as consumption involves concret e and real i nteract ions w ith other r eal human be ings,
constitut ing an important sn ippet of everyday soc ial life . Fo llowing Lofland’s and Goffman’s e laborations
on public beha vior, in the moment of i nt eraction of two or more inv o lved people, they act ac cording to
these addressed rules and expected roles. For the local businesses along Karl -Marx-Straße, the roles
that involve most of th e interactiona l soc ial prac tices are most like ly t ho se of custo mer and salesperson.
Neverthe less an assumpt ion derived from Lofland and G off man’s elaborat ions is that people i n these
businesses act i n m u ltiple roles and conduct differen t socia l practices simu ltaneously. H ence ,
participat ion in these p laces requ ires different t ypes of rol es, and social practices, as well as rules and
related the ir negotiations .
To conclude this subsectio n, the concept of public behavior and its modif icati on for semi-public or
parochia l spac es as the second set of sensit izi ng concepts forces greater attention upon the micro-
interactions and micro-geographies of interact ion between two or more peop le in th ese sem i -public or
public spaces and reveals how these practices are themselves gu ided by rul es and respective
relationships . This further supports the theore tical samp ling by guiding my attenti on to the physica l
outlay of bus inesses – how they are d ivided into different front and back s tages, who and what kind of
actors perform on the stag e and who and what kind of audiences exist there, how strangers beco me
familiar with the plac e an d i ts people, how they turn these spac es i nto (more) ‘pr ivate’ spac es and
practice (public) fa miliarity, and how these processes are fostered and negotia ted by the owners and
their staff’s practices, how people observe each oth er and gain catego rical kn owledge of each other,
and more genera lly, how civ il inattention, aud ience ro le prominence, and civ ility towards divers ity are
pr acticed, what kind of relat ionships – fleet ing, unbound or segmental – are typica l for these (not
necessary th ird) places .

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3.3. Sensit izing Concepts III : Community Building / Senses of Belonging
As outlined by means of Lo fland and G offman’s wo rk, the type of re lationships and interact ions def ine if
a place is used as a pub lic, private or mixed space, and thus help to revea l a business’ respect ive
potential for i nc lusion, i nt egration, or co mmun ity b uilding. In that vein, the fi na l set of sensitizing
concepts to underg ird my argument that the material qua lities of a bus iness along with the socia l
practices of bus iness peop le contribute to a socio- sp atial setting tha t fosters f eelings of belonging and
community for the ir custo mers are the concepts of “community building ” and “sense of belong ing”
themselves . These concep ts are interrelat ed and I consider the l att er as a vital component o f th e
former.
For an et hn ographic study of a shopp ing street and i ts busin esses, the not ion of neighborho od and i ts
relationship to com munity and belonging a re c learly crucial. U rban sociolog ists such as Logan and
Molotch (1987 : 108) argue that nei ghbo rhood and community are not synonymou s, but are imp licitly
connected w ith e ach other, defining neighbo rhood as “a shared interest in overlapping use v a lues
(identity, security, and so on) i n a single area.” Essen tially, neighbo rhood s become meaningful to their
locals (residents, but also people who work or othe rwise spend a significant am ou nt of time there),
because of both the numerous social i nteract ions in them, and the e ventually shar ed ‘values’ and
interests. Hence, ne ighborho ods – as physica l or geograph ical sites – encompa ss not only a variety of
interactions and exchanges that form a complex set of social and econom ic relations, but are also
practiced and soc ially cons tructed thems elves . Conseq uently, the pro blem that the physical bound aries
of neighborho ods rema in unclear see ms to be inher ent to the very nature of nei ghbo rhoods as soc ially
constructed – i n particular places at particular tim es, never specific or fixed . Yet, as the basic contex t
and set ting for everyda y l ife, these soc ially constructed neighborho ods have real material consequences
for the people who live and wo rk in them (Mar tin 20 03: 732).
The same amb iguity exist s with the concept of community . Desp ite the fact that commun ity has a
longstanding pro minent status an d is a widely r esearched top ic in urban studie s, it rema ins unclear wha t
community ac tually means :
[D]espite the lege ndary ambiguit y of the concept of commun ity, previous overviews largely agree on th ree
basic compo nents th at have dominat ed definition s of co mmunity in the past: first, the presence of a shared
territory; se cond, th e presence of significant so cial ties ; and third , the presence o f meaningful social
interaction ( Kusenbach 2006: 280 f.).

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
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Here Kusenbach underlines the linkage between the tw o concepts of ne ighborhoo d and comm unity but
also their d ifferentiation. As the third sensitizi ng or theoret ical concept for this project, I thus argue that
a loca l co mmunity needs a shared space and mutual relat ionships, but is firs t a nd foremost som ething
that is practiced on the level of everyday li fe . This argument follows Kusenbach’s crit ique t hat most
community studies have prioritized the territor ial and geographica l notion of comm un ity -
neighborho od, town, or city - and the “rela tional” which was concern ed with the “quality of character of
human relationship, without refer ence to locat ion” ( Gusfield 1975: xvi), over the th ird ele ment, nam ely
social interaction. But a lso Durkhe im (196 4) has alrea dy observed in the l ate 19 th century that “modern”
society develops commun ity arou nd i ntere sts and skills more than arou nd l oca lity, wh ereas som e of th e
newer conc epts equa lly apply to te rr itorial co mmunit ies (neighbo rhood s) and to relational communitie s
(e.g. profess ional, sp iritual, et c etera).
Regardless if the def inition of community is based on a shared geographica l location, social networks, or
interaction, commun ity is not necessarily an all-i nc lusive concept . As such it is often used to muffle
political opposition, and as a critique in the name of civility (Staehe li/ Mitchell 2006). Inasmuch as I
claim that some of the businesses serve as the heart of the communit y for some residen ts - or
essentially as a commun ity center - community seems to be an appea ling alternat ive to public li f e
(within a privately owned s pace). The concept of community prom ises to provide the pleasures of pu blic
sociability without the d iscomforts of the unfamil iar, hinting at the exclus ionary d imensions of
community ( Koh n 2004: 193) . B y contrast, a full public im p lies cha lle nging encoun ters and confrontat ion
with random and differen t people, whereas community emphas izes commona lity, smoothing over or
even excluding difference . The reference to community can thus collapse the differentiation betw een
the privat e and the public by incorpo rating appeals to private life, such as fa mily, i d entity, sec ur ity, but
also form s of control (Stae heli/ Mitche ll 2 006 : 978; Kohn 20 04: 193). C ivility, or derliness, responsibil ity,
and conformity are at the center of commun ity and community bu ild ing. Hence, whene ver I d escribe
the practices of the chosen businesses and th eir employees’ as contri but ing to commun ity bu ilding, I am
very aware of the exclusio nary and disciplin ing nature of community that may deci d e over the quality
and type of socia l practices and relationships i n the businesses or the range of speech and allowed
participat ion (Staeheli/ Mitchell 200 6: 980).
However, bu sinesses tha t act as the cent ers of their local communities do not always blend the public
and p rivate with the inten tion of increasing sales and the locale ’s overall pro fitability, e ven if the
primary funct ion of reta ilers and gas tronom ic f acil ities is consumpt ion. In con trast to L ynn Staehe li and

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
70
Don Mitchell’s work (2006: 981 f .) on shopping malls as new community cen ters, I doub t that owners
and employees of small retailers and gastronomic businesses u se the notion of co mmunity as a
disciplinary strategy i n governance and regulation. As pub licly access ible but private pro perties, owners
and employees do decide what ty pes of social prac tices are considered as ‘civil’ and thusly ‘tolerated’
and accepted, but somet imes customers practic e community and occup y the businesses outside of the
control of the e mploye es. Further, the para meters for allowed practices i n the busine sses are less
standardized than in sho pp ing centers or chain stores and may change, depending, for i nstance , on the
owner’s personality, moo d, daily turnover or custo mer mix. For more corp orate busi nes ses, the
“communa l” phenom ena of consumption are widely recognized and part of dail y business practices .
Business owners and market ing experts actively attempt to i ncreas e the social li nk or “linking v a lue”
between customers and the respective product or serv ice (Cova 1997: 297). Today d ifferent modes of
consumpt ion exist next to each other, such as traditiona l consumpt ion, mass consumption, or
individua lized consump tion (Cova 1 997: 302) . Combined with a chang ing landsc ape of com munities, the
many consumption modes as well as the many forms or modes of community (as social links), can be
experienced by one person in the course of one day. Corporate rather than individually owned and
smaller bus inesses often try to strategica lly capita lize on the assumed l a ck of l oc al or socia l commun ity
outside of consumption p l aces and thus “compensa te” for this lack by deve loping and promoting a
social li nk between their offered products and serv ices and the custo mer, giving the customers (an
illusion of) belong ing to a certa in place and consu mer commun ity (Co va 1997). The busi n esses thus
become the linking plac es.
For the individua lly owned businesses a long Karl -Mar x-Straße, the enacted com munity at certain times
of day might also inc lude the owners and employees thems elves, whereb y the n orms of commun ity may
be changed and diluted. N e vertheless, the concept of community is inherent ly exclus ionary, as i t is
based on the construct ion of di ffer ence. Communit ies are rooted i n some element of commonali ty,
which are recog nized and accepted by their members, simultaneou sly r eifying t he differenc es are
created – a mong the members, but first and foremost b etween members an d non- memb ers of a
particular commun ity. H en ce, whenever commun ity is generated or pract iced, exclusionary proc esses
and practices are likewise at work (Staeheli/ Mitc hell 2006: 981). The small life worlds or communit ies
of each sampled business also might be exclusionar y towards certa in individual customers or who le
group s; not only on the basis of the s ocia l pract ices within the busine sses, but also pri or to entry, on the
basis of the types of prod ucts and serv ices sold, th eir lifesty le appeal, and price r ange.

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
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Akin to the cr itique of the definition of commun ity itself, the notion of a “sens e of community” suffers
from a similar lack of studies into the interact ional or practica l d imension – whic h then pr esents another
avenue of analysis in my research. McMillan and Chavis (198 6), for i nstanc e, propo se four cri teria for
the definition of sense of comm un ity – m e mbership , influence, the integration of needs, and shared
emotiona l connec tion. The f irst element is membe rship , as the feeling of b elonging or the percept ion
that a sense of personal relatedn ess is shared . Membership is a feeling that one has invest ed parts of
oneself in order to becom e a m e mber and therefore has a right to be long. Here ‘sense of belonging’ i s
located within the concept of “sense of commu nity” (McMillan /Chavis 198 6: 9). Certa inly, this
membersh ip has boundaries – along lines of class, gender, ethnic backgroun d, language, or lifestyle
symbols (e.g. clothes, l angu ages, jewelry, food) . As a common symbol system th ese define who is in or
o ut of the perceived com munity (“we” vs. “ them ” ). For instance, the l oca lly spoken di a lect in Neukölln
(regardless of the ethnic backgroun d and further accents or dialects) serves to m ark m e mbership in the
neighborho od and knowledge about i ts histor y in m ost bus inesses. These bound aries also serve to
delineate whom to trust, thereby estab lishing the basis and structur es for emotiona l safety, as well as a
sense of belonging,
91

leading to personal i nv estments which provide a fee ling that one has earned a
place in the group.
The second element, influence , is a sense of m a ttering or of making a differen ce to a group and vi c e
versa. These two forces – a push for conform ity by the group and a push for cohe sion by th e individua l –
work in concer t, generally balanc ing the conf licts around grou p c ohesiveness and confo rmity. H ow ever,
conformity does not necessarily mean a l oss of personal choice for the i ndiv idual, if the commun itie s i n
question apprecia te i nd ividual difference . Conformity derives out of a feeling that a grou p member
either can dir ectly or indirectly exer t some contro l over the co mmunity (Mc Millan / Chavis 1986 : 10).
The th ird elem ent i s a feeling that me mbers’ needs will be int egrated or met by the resources
accumulated thro ugh group memb ersh ip. I n order to maintain the sense of togetherness, the individua l -
group associ at ion m us t be rewarding for i ts members. The possible re inforcements that bind peop le
together into a close co mmunity can be, fo r instanc e, the status o f being a me mber or shar ed values .

As per McMillan a nd Chavis (1986: 10) “The sense of belonging and identification in volves the feeling, beli ef , and
expectation that one fits in the group a nd bas a plac e th ere, a fee ling of ac ceptance by the grou p, and a willingn es s
to sacrifice for the grou p. The role of identifi cation must be emphasiz ed here. It may be r epresented in th e
reciprocal statem ents "It is my grou p" and "I am part of the group." I use this as a first d efinition for “sen se of
belonging .”

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Th eoretical Concepts
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Shared emotional connection as the com mitment and belief that members share a common history ,
place, time together, and sim ilar experien ces (and will continue to do so i n the future) roun ds out th e
fourth el em ent. O n the basis of the so- ca lled contac t hypothesis (which states that “the m or e people
interact, the more likely they are to become c lose” (Allport 1954)), a shared connect ion is developed by
the quality of interact ion (the m or e positive the experiences, the great er the bond), the closure to
events (group cohes iveness is curbed i f interac tions are a mbiguous), shared events (the more, the
better), constant invest ment (the gre ater the investment, the more important i s the com munity’s
history and current status are to members), honor/humil iation (making community membership
attractive or repuls ive to the individua l), spiritual bonds (preva lent in relig ious groups or cults but to
some degr ee i n all co mmun ities) (McMilla n/ Chav is 1986: 13 f.). The concept of shared e motional
connection func tions similarly to Tönnies’ (1957) notion of Gemein schaft as a social unity based on
locale. However, even if Gemeinsch aft i s conceptualized as the village-type or the sma ll-town
community, shared e motional connect ions do not req uire a sma ll-scale local com munity. McM illan and
Chavis (1 986: 14 fo llowing Kasarda / Janow itz 1974 : 388) arg ue that incr eased pop ulation size and
density do not significant ly we ak en local commun ity s entiments, an d as such, that commun ities are no t
necessarily bounded by location. Accord ing to them, shared emotional connection seems to be the
definitive e lement for “ true com munity.”
92

In short, McMillan and Chav is propose tha t a “ s ense of community” is a feelin g of belong ing, a feeling
that members m atter to one another and to the gro up, and a shared faith that memb ers’ n eeds will be
met through their comm itment to be to gether (M c Millan/Cha vis 1986: 9; see also McMillan 1976).
Despite i ts operat ional character, this defin ition still focuses primar ily on the perceptiona l an d
emotiona l level and l e aves out the i ntera ctional element of community . I argue that community is
something that i s pract iced on an everyday level, whereas a per ception or sense of commun ity derive s
out of interact ion with other (po tential) co mmun ity members .
As we can se e, the do minan t definitions for bo th commun ity and sens e of commun ity use e ither
territor ial or relat ional de scriptors. Whereas res earch emph asizing the terr ito rial (especially within
social network theory) has long d iagnosed and bemoaned the declin e or los s of co mmunity (cf. P utna m
1995; 2000), the research on rel a tional aspects has begun to understand commun ity as transformed,
liberated, or even saved (cf. Wellman 1979; Wellman/ Le ighton 1 9 79), argu ing for a “radica l

McMillan/ Chav is (1986: 15 ff .) further argue that th ere is a high dynamic within and among th es e elements o f
sense of community , yet with the core elem ent of shared emotional con nections.

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
73
despatia lization and i ndiv idualizat ion of the concept” (Kusenbach 2006: 281). I n between these two
research strea ms that either overemphas izes the spatial or (individual) soc ial ties , I use “communit y”
only as a sens itizing concep t and argu e for the spat ial r eality of social ties in fac e- to -face interact ions.
In the empirical part of this thesis, the definition of community h as been left up to the interview
partners and not the i n terviewer (myself). Commun it y ( “Geme inschaft”) is as a v er y strong or even
archaic term in German, deno ting very strong and tight ties, and is therefore r arely used i n ever yday
language . But i f conceptualized as something that is prac ticed over the c ourse of daily l ife, the
respective commun ity build ing practices and utteran ces can be observed empirically. Following
McMillan and Chavis’ d e finition of sens e of commun ity - highlight ing the individual’s subject ive sense o f
rather than a fixed list of characterist ics for commu nity - , these are pract ices and utterances around
membersh ip, belonging, mutual m a ttering, and trust that needs will be fulfilled i n the community . I
assume that the doings and sayi ngs do not always match, for instance, that m ore or less custom ers
belong to a business’ s ocial wor ld (Honer 2011; Hitzler / Honer 1991) than the store owner ment ions, or
that the strength and spectrum of membership in local commun ities is different ly framed than
observed. Whenever community building pract ices or practices that foster a sense of belong ing are
observed, it remains unc lear what sense of community m eans to its m ember s. H owe ver, the focus of
this stud y lies on the store owners and s alespeop le’s practices that cr eate th e so cial spaces and foste r
senses of home and belong ing and consequently fee lings of com munity and not on the mean ing of
these commun ity m emberships for the customers th emselves – even if this would be high ly interesting
and sociall y signif icant.
Hence, co mmunity is conceptualized as soci a l cond uct as “communal interact i on.” Accord ing to Lofland
(2003: 939 f.), i f one considers the city as the i nter actional context for commu nity bu ilding, primar y
relationships are still a s plentiful i n urban as i n any other settings. Despite the concerns of both
dominant research streams, secondary relat ionships do not replace family and neighborhoo d ties;
rather, they supp lement them. If primary and se condary re lationships exist next to each other in the city
and beyond (du e to new means of communicat ion and transpo rtation) the question rema ins where or in
what env ironment and bet ween whom they still are p ract iced in situ .
I argu e that w ithin the city as an interac tional context for co mmunity, Karl-Marx-Straß e repr esents the
contact z on e and the local busine sses the concret e contact spaces for face - to -face i nte raction tha t
enacts some kind of (t ime/spac e-bounded) community. More precisely, much of this face- to -face
interaction that builds community in the course of routine li f e takes pl a ce in the most used and

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
74
frequented local spaces and pl aces, namely the l oc al shopping streets and their amen ities. Whereas
residentia l and work places
93

encompass already exist ing comm un ity ties among already familiar (but
preselected) people , i n these paroch ial, se mi- pub lic, or public settings, unfamil iar or only partia lly
known i ndiv iduals are enco untered. Through socia l interactions i n these spaces, membership in some
kind of community might th en develop. Although the con cepts of community or a sense of comm un ity
remain vague, deploying McMillan and Chavis’ operationa l definit ion, and the open process of letting
interview partn ers and res earch sub jects define commun ity (even if the term is n ot used at all) as part of
their “home,” as sens itizing concepts, draws attention to the potential b enefits or positive ou tcomes of
the store owners’ pract ices on Kar l -Marx-Straße.
Neverthe less, as noted earlier, inclusion i n a com munity implies exclusion as well. Membership i n a
community might a lso carry nega tive consequenc es in the form of social control or the impositi on of a
set of values and ru les that prevents integrat ion i nt o wider society. For the businesses on Karl -Marx-
Straße, the creation of a social li fe world in one plac e might be geared to the exclus ive social c ircle of
local residents, to the exclusion of others, e. g . along class, gender, ethn icity, and li fes tyle li nes . U s ing
community only as a s ensitiz ing con cept ( versus as a normative value) further all ows for an a wareness
of the negat ive consequen ces of th e bus iness peop le’s pract ices.
Weaving togeth er Oldenburg’s list of third place att ributes, Jacobs’ concept of public characters , and
Lofland’s con ceptual frame work of privat e, public, and parochia l spaces and the r espective ( Goffmanian )
urban relationships and behaviora l forms, I argue for the i nc lusio n of the ever yday pra ctices i n urban
retail and gastronomic busi nes ses i n our understanding of commun ity creation and maintenance . As
everyday places, they reveal a high proportion of non-i nst itutional and low-threshold interaction s
between residents with d iverse socio-econom ic and ethnic backgrou nds. Tre ated as socia lly insignificant
for a l on g time in urban sociology, I hypothesiz e that these fleet ing, seg mental, and unbound
interactions and relationsh ips in public and sem i -public spaces, might nonethe less add up to (a sense of
practiced) com munity and feelings of belonging, no matter how ambiva lent the o utcomes.
To conclude, I conceptua lize commun ity and belongin g as something that i s practiced on a routine dail y
level and as a set of i nteract ive pract ices that characterizes a neighborhoo d as a ty p e of parochia l
territory (Lofland 1973; 19 89; Kusenbach 2006: 282). Even in their m ost superf icial and eph emeral form,
physical and v erba l intera ctions in local businesses form a crucial i ngred ient in the development of

These are the fi r st and second places in Oldenburg’s interp retation (Oldenbu rg/Brissett 1982).

3. Theories of the Ground: Th e Sensitizing Theoretical Conc epts
75
community and a sense of belonging for some customers and staff. The in -business social interact ion (a s
a set of social pract ices) thus represen ts the smalle st building block of any type of commun ity – the
social component. It is therefo re esse nt i a l to res earch these i nt eractiona l space s i n which community is
practiced in a nuanced way, as in this case pres ented here, wher e th e bus inesses themselves represent
a significant micro-sociolo gical commun ity place – the spatial component of commun ity (building) on
Karl-Marx-Straß e.

3.4. Summary and Use of Sensi tizing Concepts for the Sampli ng Process
A grounded theory is gener ated by initial themes that then merge w ith themes developed from the data
during analysis, capturing the essence of experiences d erived from different contexts and situations .
Consequently, th eory generation requ ires sensitizing concepts but no research hypotheses. In line with
its i ndu ctive nature, ground ed theory as qualitat ive research instead involves the researcher’s atte mpts
to detec t, understand, and interpret the e merging themes i n the res earch proc ess. Sens itizing concepts
thereby help to discov er, organize and understand exper iences and situat ions (Bowen 200 6: 2 f.). The
three set s of sensitizing co ncepts dra w atten tion to important features of socia l interact ion and o f the
respective contac t sites, and thus lay the foundation for an ana lysis of researc h data, but also provid e
guidelines for the emp irical research in these spe cific sett ings.
For Karl-Marx-Straße, the three sets of sensitiz ing concepts are used as i nter pretive devices and as a
starting point for the ethnog raphic study of a select number of businesses that exemp lify the wider
commercia l structure and its respect ive loca l social life. Even if the concepts of t hird place and public
characters, public behav ior, and community bu ilding represen t only backgro und ideas that inform the
overall research problem and process, they may “deepen perception, they provide starting points for
building ana lysis, not ending poin ts for evading i t. We m ay us e sensit izing concepts only as points o f
departure fro m which to st udy the data” (Charmaz 2 003: 259 f.).
According ly, these three sets also form the conceptual framework, serv ing as an impetus for the l a ter
formulat ion of theor y, i nc luding the basic arg umen t of this thesis, that business p eople’s everyda y
practices in the businesses on Karl- Mar x-Straße foster interactions that might lead to a sense of
belonging or community for some of the customers .

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Proce ss and M ethodology
76
4. Realities on th e Gr ound : Sampling Process and Met hodology
The context and direction for this study was guided by the prem ise that storekeepers are important
figures i n n eighborhoo d life, from which the three se ts of sens itizing concepts were derived to help se t
the context and d irection for my study . I combine the concepts of public charact ers and thi rd plac e and
use the nexus between them. It is often public char acters, or owners, that perform “public character
practices” to a certain ex t ent, and who operate third places. But n ot all owners of third places act as
public character s, nor do a ll pu blic characters necess arily operate bus inesses th at serve as third places .
However, these concept s p rovide an analytic frame an d serve as a po int of reference as well as a gu ide
in the ana lysis of dat a and , in part icular, in the selec tion of the cases (cf. Bowen 2006; Glaser / Strauss
2009).

4.1. Theoretical S ampling
Theoretical samp ling lies a t the core of developing a “ gro unded theory”: Essent ially, the cred ibility of a
theory canno t be dissoc iated from the process by which i t has been genera ted (Gl as er/ Strauss 1967;
Strauss/ Corb in 1998). Th e term “ground ed” stems fro m grounded in the data from which it was
derived, insofar as the sampling process has a “theoretica l” orien tation and is di r ected towards the
generation and developme nt of a conceptual theory . In this case, theory is gradu ally derived from the
data and the data’s recou rse to the mentioned theo re tical conc epts of third place/ public character,
community building and (semi-) public interaction . In the course of the i nqu iry the emerg ing theory
progressive ly focuses the data collection in order to refine and i n tegrate the theory (Glaser/ Strauss
1967 ). I am aw are that Glaser and Strauss’s appro aches differ wi d ely. For the sake of this research , their
ideas are rather treated as a set of tools and appro aches to ground an emerg ing theory i n empirical
data, ga ined through interviews and observat ions. Howev er, I systemat ically follow their elaborat ions
on a theory dr iven sa mpling pro cess, wh ich can be bro ken down i nto stages of open samp ling,
relational, and variationa l samp ling, as well a s discrim inate sa mpling (Strauss/ Co rbin 1998, sugges ting a
different way of data pro cessing), which corresp ond directly to their stages of open, axial, and se lectiv e
coding (Glaser/ Strauss 1967). Axial coding i n volves the application of a so -called coding paradig m in
order to i dent ify conditio ns, context, action/int eractional strategies, interv ening conditions, and
consequences . For this reason I apply for each cod e the questions of why, wher e, who , ho w, what, for
what and under what cond itions.

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
77
Barney Glaser an d Anse lm Strau ss (1967: 45; 2009) or iginally def ined theoret i cal samp ling as
the p rocess of data coll ection for generating th eory whereb y the analy st jointly collects, c odes and analyses
his data and decides what d ata to collect next and where to find th em, in order to develop h is theory as it
emerges.
Hence, the a im i s to d iscover a ma ximum numb er of var iations among concepts and to densif y
categor ies in terms of their pro perties and d imensions .
The theoretica l sampling process beg ins with an initial data collection and analysis. The open coding of
raw data generates f irst codes that in turn stimula te the ongo ing data collection. In th e e arly stages of
analysis, codes are rapidly genera ted. By means of a j oint process of theoret ical sampling and memo
writing, codes are corrected and edited, as well as conti nua lly adjusted to the data. Memo writing
enables the conceptua lizatio n of each category ’s boundaries and properties and points to potential gaps
in the e merging theory, an d thus high lights where (and what) to sample ne xt and for what th eoretica l
purpose (Glaser 1978). The continual compar ison of cod es generates a fur ther set of conceptua l
categor ies, from which in turn new catego ries emerg e. Continuou sly new i ncid ents are adjusted and
readjusted into existing c atego ries.
According ly, the very f irst business was s elected on the basis of the sens itizing considerations of da ily
life and i t s respective commerc ial spaces of every day supply, and then i n a sec on d step there in, on
everyday social practices that might contribute to the creation of “home, ” “belonging,” and
“commun ity” (as a space, as feelings, as pract ices). I n that selection, the firs t guiding concept was
Oldenburg’s i d ea of thi rd places, while maintain ing a critical distance to its very narrow def inition of
third place character istics and Ol d enburg’s empha sis on gastronomic fac ilities versus local amen ities
more generall y. Further, a review of the li t erature on Jacob s’ not ion of the pu blic character (such as
well- establish ed shopkeepers and barkeepers ) lead me to question both authors’ quite narrow,
unsystemat ic, and piece meal samp le cases to pro ve their c laims.
Consequently, I searched for an i n itial case that was ostensibly outs ide the bounds of both Oldenburg
and Jacobs’ assigned char acter istics. On the basis o f their work, my guiding co nsideration was t o won der
if th e res idents – who actuall y and regular ly shop and consume in their l oca l surroundings – might na me
completely diff erent places with different type s of ownersh ip than those that fit into Oldenburg’s and
Jacobs’ typo logy. The guidin g thought wa s that there were li kely to be differen ces but also sim ilarities
between the academ ically ascribed third plac es and p ublic character s and the locals’ own use and ideas

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
78
about these p laces and their business owners. These cou ld a lso compr ise places that we r e no t s mall and
individua lly owned businesses, but l ocat ions such as public benches, parks, libraries, self-m ade third
places, franchise or chain stores, o r even en tire shopping malls (Manuel/ Thom pson n.v.:2). D ur ing the
search for an appropriate f irst fie l d entry case, I increasingly began to quest ion Jacobs’ and Ol denburg ’s
typology after witnessing its i ncre ased application as a (self -attr ibuted) m ark eting tool of the store
owners.
94

For the first case selection, I nevertheless used the l a ck of a “classic” third place i n
combinat ion with the l ac k or presence of public character attributes (e.g. s hopkeeper’s long -term
presence, the perfor mance of caring, support and generally attentive practices, l oca l know ledge and
local socia l networks) as th e main sele ction criter ia.
As the sa mpling proc ess moved toward more contras ting cases , I us ed the pres ence o f featur es such as
playfulness, the presence o f regulars, easy acc ess, “lower” prices, and type of shopkeepers, as further
selection criter ia – all of which, of course, were cons tructed very subjectively on the basis of my local
knowledge and perception . These i n itial con ceptualizations helped me make sense of the data, but also
design a clear procedure for selecting further cases . Upon beginn ing the analysis, I then identified the
conditions, context, action/ interactional strategies, intervening cond itions, and consequ ences for ea ch
emerging the me.

4.2. Sampling P rocess
After a lite r ature rev iew on the street’s develop ment, but before I started the search for a first case
study, I con ducted an ex p loratory expert interview w ith the head of the l oca l p lanning agency in ord er
to gain a better under standing of past deve lopments as well as of the current status of Karl-Marx-
Straße’s com mercia l structure. This expert interv iew also s erved as the very f irst field s ite entry con tact.
The planning off ice acts as City Management , super vising the develop ment of the street ’s trade, by
means of its o wn i nst itutional expertise garnered through interviews, surveys, and studies on the local
commercia l s tructure and relationships with long -term and newer l oca l businesspeop le.
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In th is

Particularly in the US, where for instance ‘third place’ is more com monly used and wh ere increasingly more
businesses, hou sing and commun ity developers recognize the role of th ird p laces for their go als. But also in
Germany b usinesspeople promote th eir stores by u sing references to the local co mmunity an d the important ro le
of local economy.
95

For further information see Aktion! Karl-Marx-Stra ße (n.d.). Cityman agement der [Aktion ! Karl-Marx -Straße],
http://www.aktion -kms.de/akms/an sprechpartner/city management -der-aktion-karl -marx-stra sse/, accessed
03/10/2016.

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
79
interview, I p lanned to ask about shop owners that are particular ly strongly linke d, engaged, and socially
rooted in the str eet and h ence could potentially be c onsidered public character s (fro m the per spectiv e
of the expert) .
Before I had even begun to ask my questions about potential public characters among the shopkeepers
on Karl-Marx-Straße, the interviewed urban p lanner mentioned – to my surpris e – a long-standing and
individua lly o wned, but very small, flower shop. The urb an planner’s recom mendation to visit this s tore
in particular , since the own er had a deep w ell of local knowledg e, start led me since f lower shops do not
necessarily fit to Oldenburg’s typologies of a third place, insofar as it is an unc omfortably cold plac e,
without the spa ce for soc ializing, and the vegetation on offer cannot be c lassified as part of da ily supply.
However, the way the owner’s network was describe d fi t into Jacobs’ defin ition of the public charac ter.
Based on this i nterv iew, I began my emp i rica l fieldwork by approaching this sto re, despite the fact that
on my own loca l knowledge woul d have suggested a di ffer ent set of stores . I a lso decided to examine
this bus iness as my first case study, because after numerous unsuccessfu l attempts at conta cting the
other stores along Karl-Marx-Straße (defined roughly as those bet ween the two subway stations), the
flower store owner was the first to respo nd positively to my request for an interview. Un expected ly, and
despite the ch illiness and lack of space to “hang out, ” the tiny flower store an d its owner ser ve as an
extended liv ing room for the longstand ing elder ly residents fro m the surroun ding build ings.
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However, after linking back the coll ected data on th is fir st bus iness case to the theoretical concepts of
third p lace, commun ity and particular ly public interaction, concerns about the high homogeneity in
terms of gender, class and ethnicity led to the se lection of a second case that hosts a m ore diverse
clientele and maybe con trasts the f irst case’s pub lic character and th ird place attr ibutes.
With th is exper ience i n ha nd, I then l oo ked for a seco nd busines s that served a b roader c lientele, where
different degrees of public or private beha vior were displ ay ed and where different age, lifestyle, and
income grou ps could be found. I ultimately encountered a restaurant, used mainly by pri c e -conscious
local workers and businesspeo ple, but also tourists and shopp ers, for lunch, which also catered to a
gourmet -oriented city-w ide cliente le on spec ific event even ings.

My first inter view and subsequent observations revealed t hat these c ustomer s depend strongly not only on th e
flower store, but also o n other, very local amenities, since most of the m are unable to c over more the distanc e of a
block on foo t. In short, th eir circums crib ed life world and th e majority of their social in teracti ons are deeply linked
to the flower store an d its owner, an d as such, the shop d oe s act as a third space, and the owner as a p ublic
character.

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
80
From th is second business (always r eturn ing to the research qu estion and the s ensitiz ing concepts), th e
sample gradually gr ew to encompass an ever-widen ing spectru m of business types (includ ing desig n and
size), and custo mer and salespeople char acterist ics. I also condu cted ob servatio n in th e l oca l shopping
mall as well as more corpo rate chain stores in ord er to discover proc esses and pract ices that contribute
to community build ing and a sense of belo nging i n these rather standardiz ed spaces; howe ver, the core
sample includes on ly individually owned and owner-operated businesses. H en ce, I sampled both for
theoretica l similarity and difference in regar d to third p lace/public charac ter, public beha vior, and
community bu ilding, in order to illustr ate the properties of each ca tegory, and to saturat e all categories
until finally a co re catego ry emerged (Glaser / Strauss 1967).
On the one hand, the samp le was also suppo sed to mirror the current commercial structure of the
street in terms of branches, ownersh ip, and appeal, but on the other, the sam p le was supposed to offer
a maximum of v ariations within and across alre ady existing categor ies, wh ile also a llowing for the
potential inclusion of new concepts. U nfortunately, most bus iness people declined to take part in th e
study, despite nu merous at tempts to conta ct and conv ince them.
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The initial proble ms in f inding interv iew part ners and po tential cases mirror the concern about when to
stop data collection. Because of the inductive nature of theory generat ion, the theoretical samp ling
should come to a point at which sampling will cease, controlled by the emerg ing and increasing ly more
consistent theory. Put in other words, Gl a ser and Stra uss (1967; 200 9) cons ide r t he theoretical sa mpling
as finished when a point o f theoretical saturation has been reached – when catego ries and their
properties are cons idered as sufficient ly d ense and when the data co llection no l ong er generates new
derivations . The po int of theoretical saturation do es not imp ly that eve ryth ing is known, since
theoretica l s ampling does not aim for a fu lly d escript ive co verage of the data, but that enoug h data has

After making an in itial list of all businesse s between the two sub way stops Rathaus Ne ukölln and Karl-Marx-
Stra ße an d categorizing them into b ranch and length of b usines s resid ence, I sent out em ails and parallel formal
letters to at least two b usinesses within each branch, asking for th eir participation in the study, or an interview.
Due to an overall weak response rate, I t hen called the busi nesses, and also walked into many of the sampl ed
businesses and tried to convince the busine ss o wners and salespeople fac e - to -face. The h igh reluctance and
opposition o f the street’s business p eople crystalized in acc usations of being a “ spy” for co mpeting businesses or
the local auth orities (particularly t he tax office), or of resear ching the competition b ef or e opening my own
business. Many o f the participating b usiness people still tested my lo cal knowledge and my intentions in the
meetings and intervi ews. I assume that this high level of ske pticism and suspicion ste mmed from the h eightened
business comp etition, the increasingly auth oritative and contro lling or even exclusionary behavior of the local
authorities in t he course of local urban renewal, the overall fear of neighborhoo d change, a nd previous negative
experiences with local authorities and “ researchers.” Some mentioned (with sham e) that they are struggling to
survive and there fore were too bu sy to meet with me. On the p hone many shop keepers also a sked for help, b ut
still rejected my of fe r to meet with them during o pening hours.

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
81
been collected that the developed categories not only have h igh explanatory value, but also integrate
the core variables grounding the emerging theory. My great est concern was no t when to stop coll ecting
case studies,, but rather when to end observat ions i n the alread y sam p led and “i nter viewed ” cases,
since m ost of the field site visits still revealed new aspects and new variation s of alre ady identif ied
themes.
The result ing case studies have p layed a dec isive role in Karl-Marx- Straße’ trans formation over the late
twentieth and early twent y- fir st century, m ost ly hi d den from the view of dom ina nt society and l oca l
politicians and author ities. They ha ve been a t the f orefront of urban change, i ncreas ingly satisfying
gentrifiers’ tastes for ethnic and social diversity (Zukin 1987), desp ite having contributed for decade s to
the area’s diversit y of s ocial, commercia l, and cu ltural pra ctices. Man y struggle to keep their business es
alive, and experienced financial losses due to the cu rrent reconstruc tion of the street. A long w ith the
long working hours required of owners of small i ndep endent owned stores, I ac knowledge the business
people’s high leve l of skepticism and distrust in ta lking to me. This i s why I am particular ly gra teful to
those – even i f fewer than pl anned – owners who i n troduced me to and included me in the small life
worlds of the ir businesses .

4.3. The Core Sample
The core sample (defined as those bus inesses that g enerated the most material, in ter ms of par t icipant
observation protocols, oth er type of field notes and i n-depth i nter views) of businesses on Karl-Marx-
Straße’s ma in strip co mpr ises
 A long stand ing
98

flower stor e, owned by a woman of German d escent
 A newer “G erman foo d”
99

lunch restaurant, owned by a man of Ger man descent
 A long-stand ing café/bar/ restauran t, named café I, o wned by a man of Turkish descent
 A long-stand ing café/bar/r estaurant, na med café II, owned by a man of Ger man descent
 A long-stand ing pharmac y, owned by a woman of German descent

I categorize “long stan ding” as more than ten y ears, “newer” a s more than five year s and “new” as le ss than four
years of busines s residence (despite the fact that t he sampled new busine sses’ length of r es idenc e is le ss than two
years) (effective Mar ch 2016). The co ncrete opening dat es are also mentioned in the detailed case descr iptions in
Chapter 5.
99

The second a nd seventh case bu sinesses offer so -called ethnic cuisine, wh ereas the other gastronomic facilities
have a less clear ethn ic menu.

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
82
 A long-stand ing butcher sh op, offering lunch, owned by a man of German d escent
 A newer “Tu rkish” café and bakery, owned b y two m en of Turkish desc ent
 A new organ ic grocer y store, owned b y two wom en, one o f German, one of Polis h descent
These seven are di s cussed with a focus on thei r s pa tial and socia l qualit ies i n C hapter 5 along with a
summary of ex tra cases . The core samp le cons ists of two types of business es bro adly def ined – those
that necess itate a l ong er stay or greater need for adv ice, and those that are as sociated with a s traigh t
exchange of go ods (ret ail, (non-gastronomic service providers). The latter type of businesses a lso o ffer
professiona l ad vice, but to a lesser degree. Other bus inesses where I spent a significant amount of t ime
and tal ked to customers and salespeop le, but not i n a systema tic and recorded way , and thus do not
form part of the core sa mple, are:
 A l ong-stan ding bar that closed permanent ly during t he course of my field work, owned by a
woman of Hung arian desc ent
 A new “h ip” café, owned b y a man o f Turk ish descent
 A long-standing fru it and vegetable store, that closed permanently during my fie ld work, owned
by a woman of German des cent
 A long-stand ing hair sa lon, owned by a woman of German descent
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 A long-stand ing beer gar den/restauran t, owned b y a man of Italian descent
 A long-stand ing kebab take-away, unclear owne rship
 A long-stand ing cha in drug store
 A long-stand ing shopping mall host ing mostly new f ran chise stores

100

The owner agreed to a n interview, b ut only by telephone. In t he course of the conver sations, she mentioned
the difficult busine ss situation and shame a s the reason for her withdrawal fro m an in -person interview. This
business welco med predominan tly elderly residents and was afraid o f losing its clientel e due to demographic
changes (also cau sed by gentrification).

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
83

Figure 15 : Business es’ main locations alon g Karl-M arx-Straße
Since very li ttle has been written on interactions betwe en different ly strat ified urban dwellers in the
(semi-) pu blic spaces of businesses in G erman cities, t he sample also focuses on business spac es where
an ethnically, de mographic ally, and socia lly diverse clientele shops and consumes. The ex isting literatur e
mostly focuses on th e map ping of so-called ethnic bus inesses (with owners, s alesp eople, and customers
most often of Turkish desc ent) and their econ omic contribution, but almost nothing has been said about
the soc ial and cultural dynamics and contribut ions of multi- ethn ic ne ighborhoo ds, shopping s treets, and
their “remarkab le, yet often invis ible and unrecogn ized contributions to urban cultures and econo mies”
(Kuppinger 2014: 141) and social life. The studied businesses operat ed by an o wner with a migrat ion
backgroun d are not defi n ed as ethnic business es in th is research, as their entang lement with family and
community networks is no different f rom their “ethn ic G erman” counterparts . In addition, I avo id the
term ethnic entrepreneur or et hnic business, since with the exception of the urban renewal program
actors, none of the interview partn ers described themselves , or their own and anyon e e lse’s businesses
in that way .
101

101

Just as with a ll sm all a nd/or individua lly owned b usinesses, so -called ethnic entrepr eneurship is rooted in a
structural context or state regu latory regime, as well as in r esources and supp ort mechanisms deri ved from the

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
84
With the core sample, I thu s focu s more on sma ll and “ordinary” (Hall 2012) bus inesses, due to my early
assumption that they also accommodate more “minute cross cu ltural encounter s which are cruc ial for
the creation of inclusive urban cu ltures” (Kuppinger 2014: 1 41) than their more expens i ve, li f estyle-
oriented, and branded chain store counterpart s. With the except ion of the main café, the businesses
that are not owned by so-called e thnic Germans belong to second-generation immigrants . In contras t to
the first Neukölln generatio n of busine ss -owners, who focused exclusively on the i mport of so- c alled
ethnic products (particularly foodstuffs, re ligious goods, and clothing) for the immigrant market (e.g.
Halal meat for Turkish migrants, but whi ch was then al so purchased by non -Turkish Muslim families)
and filled not only a commerc ial nich e but also the m an y vacant business spaces along the street,
today’s secon d (and third) generation immigrant owners have a keen understanding of their
surroun ding soci o -spatial environmen t, the respect ive res id entia l and customer composit ion, and th e
neighborho od’s and consumption dynamics. In this context, they know that i n ord er to survive
econom ically on the stree t w ith its increas ing r ents an d changing shop ping patterns, they ne ed to
expand their offerings a nd services to the bigges t possible populat ion group and thus serve a multi-
ethnic and highly divers e clientele. For this reason, they also work much m ore than chain stores or
lifestyle stores and their predecessors as so- ca lled cu ltural bro kers or “m iddle men”
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(Bonacich 1973),
who bridge loca l cu ltural and social gaps (Kupp inger 2014: 148) .
To summarize, having begun this process with the flower shop because of its pre -ascribed role as a
public character ( although i ts physical or socia l featu res d id not n ecessaril y that hint at a third place),
the second business (the l unch restauran t) was selected because fir st obser vations therein revea led
higher l e vels of public sociab ility, (s emi)- pub lic beh avior, and therewith th ird place a ttributes (in
particular more space and seating facilities to spend time i n the busines s and potentially soc ialize), but
even if the owner a cted less as a pub lic character . The third case study, the addition al café I ( that is also
a bar and restaurant), sought to capture a more classic third place i n the sense that the explorator y
observed bus iness operat ions and seat ing facilit ies seemed to foster pub lic sociabilit y and interact ion.

entrepreneur’s social n etworks, which, a t least in this case, are not ethn ically specific, but rath er me diated by class
relations. In the v ein of Kloostermann et al. (1999) and the bu sinesses’ “mixed embedd edness,” I also rail again st
the reduction o f “immigrant entrep reneurship to an ethn ic phenomenon within an economic and ins titutional
vacuum.” Ju st as all business people d o, immigrant entrepreneurs r ely on social network s and draw on family
support if needed, p articularly in situations of heightened c apitalistic competition or other economic issu es.
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As per Bonacich (1 973: 5 83), the principal p eculiarities of these midd lemen are “the eco nomic role they play . In
contrast to most eth nic minorities, they occup y an intermed iate rather than low -s tatus p osition. They tend to
concentrate in certain occupa tions, notably t rade and com merce […] They play the role of middleman b etween
producer an d consumer, employer an d employee, owner and renter, elite and masses.”

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
85
Focusing on the e merging t hemes i n the interv iews and observations, the thi rd case study also provided
a more et hn ically d iverse c lientele, both in terms of ownership and customers. The main them es after
these three cases coalesced aroun d urban community bu ilding (but with insuff icient know ledge o f the
participants and their selection), urban renewa l as chall eng ing the business surv iv a l and commun ity
practices, and discr imination (for both sid es - p erson discrim inating, and the i ndiv idual being
discriminat ed against). Thus for the fourth case, I searched for a minimally contrasting option ,
convincing the o wner of the ad jacent café II to ta lk to me and to co nduct obser vations in the business.
Whereas the cliente le was as diverse as i n the prev ious café, the majority of customers’ over all
consumpt ion patt erns and physical appearances hinted at a higher so cio -econo mic background than in
the three previous cases . Here, on-site obser vation s revealed that interact ions between staff and
customers and among customers crossed a greater number of c lass and mil ieu lines than elsewher e. In
both café/bar/r estaurants, urban renewal seem ed to be a less important theme (at least in terms of
how often i t was mentioned by owner s and the ir staff), but this is not unexpe cted, since gentrificat ion
broug ht many of the ne wer customers to these busin esses in the f irst plac e.
In orde r to include a more “ rat ionalized ” and less “hang out” space, the fifth case is a l oca l pharmac y,
where s eating is r estricted to one or two customer s who need to rest, con versations are in a low tone
and the atmosphere less “ soc ial.” This case was selected on the availab le theory but a lso on
observation-dr iven assumptions that pharmac ies both prov ide substan tial and comprehens ive
consultation and service (therefore supporting public interact ion). A further assumpt ion was that they
are places that are routinely integrated i nto ever yday life – especially for the elderly – and that as such,
they are also affect ed by urban renewal as we ll as a change i n demograph ics. The second gu idi ng
assumption was that people do not spend more time than necessary i n a pha rmacy due to its high ly
professiona l or technical atmosphere, distanc ed con versations, and a settin g full of referenc es to
disease and ill ne ss. H owever, because of the (often v er y intimate) found c onversat ional topics, I
deduced that the salespeop le might have formed a trusted n etwork at least with their regular
customers, as well as with l oca l doctors and other related m ed ical institutions , and thus might act as
public characters to a certa in degree .
Since the previous cases were all more or less l ong-stand ing i ns titutions, the fifth case was supposed to
be a business that had opened only recent ly, where the relationsh ip to customers and neighborhoo d
might st ill be limited and the busin ess space did not show the same level of rou tine practices b y either
employees or customers. Hence, the n ew organic grocery store represented the next business,

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
86
combining seating facil ities (for its l unch and coffee offerings) with third place features such as dail y
supply. Daily supp ly was also the focus for the selectio n of the subsequent case, a local butcher, wh ich
whose consumers were ex pected to be less conspicuo us or l ess “ consc ious” than in the organ ic store,
and, b ecause o f the refrig erated p roducts, a very loca l c lientele. Since the butcher’s shop showe d
surprising ly high levels of public sociab ility among a surprisingly regular and surprisingly divers e and
sociable crowd of customers, despite i ts ph ysically un comfortable en vironment (cold and bloody), the
last case in the core sa mple was included to empha size a more clas s ic third place type of business, a
bakery that also functions as a café. Througho ut the sampling process, I also participated at bus iness
owner and community meet ings, conducted observat ions in other chain or franchise stores, the
shopping ma ll and i ndiv idually owned bus inesses a long Karl-Marx-Straße in order to g et a full er pictur e
of the current com mercial and ownersh ip structure, its past and cur rent develop ment, but also to
recruit potent ial inter view partn ers and bus iness cases for further o bservat ion .
The portraits of the selected cases ’ social and material spac e in c hapter 5 convey a first but lasting
impression of the history , design, appea l, and atmosph ere of the bus iness space, the charac ter,
personality and operational style of the owner and the emp loyees, as well as the regular and rando m
customers. These portraits form the basis for the first conceptua l ideas about t he core sa mple’s socia l
life and da ily rhythms, as well as about the spat ial a nd social v ar iables that fos ter or prevent soc iabilit y
and public fam iliarity in the stores and/or hi nt to the businesses’ roles for the street and/or certain
customers, before the core analys is began. These portraits we r e based on both th e insights fro m the in-
depth interviews with the owners, chats with em plo yees and some custo mers, as well as numerou s
participant and non-particip ant observations in, and in fro nt of, the bus inesses.

4.4. Methodology
In order to process the identified samples, the ir sign ificance, as well as the consequences of social
interactions and other soci a l practices that occur arou nd shopping locally, Grounded Theory Method
(GTM) was chosen, for i ts em p irica lly justif ied, co nceptually compressed a nd internall y-consistent
theory generation . As a qu alitative urban study, this research design focuses on the e mpirical inquir y –
systemat ically collect ing and interpreting social facts or factual findings (Attes lander 2006; 2008). The
aim i s to describe social phenomena and to make sta tements on corre latio ns betwe en d ifferent
phenomena und possibly to test these statements or claims. I d eally, qualitative socia l research idea lly

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
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aims to acknow ledge and understand phenomena of human exper ience in a holistic and integrated way
and from within (subjectiv e). Finally, qualitat ive research a ims to g enerate hypotheses or theor ies at the
end o f the p rocess (Fr iedrichs 1990). In order to develop theo ret ical constru cts for the re spectiv e
phenomena at hand, q ualita tive so cial resear ch often uses open and n on- st andardized methods of
inquiry, as w ell as interpre tative evaluat ion and ana lysis methods.
Qualitat ive soc ial research typ ically b egins with a rath er imprecise research question (see Chapter 1.2.),
but is then g uided and sharpened by the sensitiz ing con cepts (see Chapter 3), and by the step- by - step
acquired empirica l data and findings – alwa ys cyc led thro ugh the lens of the sensit izing concepts,
theoretica l concepts, and em erg ing theoretical i d eas. The entire proces s of data collection i s
characterized by a h igh degree of opennes s, whereby the r esearcher is i n the fie ld, in close proximit y to
the research subject . This appro ach also undergirds the dec ision for a social life w orld approach (defined
in Chapter 4.4.1. ), interwoven with a more GTM- dr iven sam p ling, i nqu iry, and analysis. By combining
these two appro aches, this research hopes to br idge the curren t lack of a theor etical un derstanding of
the ro le of small businesses i n the l oca l soc ial li fe (cf. e. g . Lofland 1998). Field work was thu s a imed a t
the genera tion of a theory that descr ibes and expl ains – as close ly and densely as poss ible – th e
interactions and soc ial pro cesses in and around the local shops and eater ies, the ro le of the socia l
(owners) and material (businesses’ socio -spatia l setting) aspects, and the effect of these socio-spatia l
practices on local social life on Kar l-M arx -Straße .
In the r ema inder of this chapter, I will first exp lain the decision to base the ensu ing th eoretical concepts
in th e e mpirically acquir ed data, and for d eploy ing socia l life worlds as the met hodologica l frame work,
before presenting the concrete forms and types of inquiry utilized, a discussion of the respect ive
methodolog ical an d practical challenges of being i n the field a nd having suc h a close proximity to
research sub jects, and f inally, a de scription of the d esig n of the data ana lysis.

4.4.1. Working on the G round: Gr ou nded Theo ry Method an d Small Social Life Worlds
Instead of imp lementing th e Grounded Theory M et hod (GTM) approach as a fixed m ethod with fixed
rules, Anse lm Strauss’ and Barney Gl as er’s deve lopmen t of grou nded theory as a collection of proposals
for the elaborat ion of a "t heory founded in em p irical data " (Strübing 2008: 13). P art icularly their
suggestions fo r “theoretic al samp ling” (pr imarily in the init ial select ion of cases and i nter viewees),
coding, and the analysis of the collected empirical data, as well as their su ggested focus on “core

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
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concepts” a nd the produ cti on of systemat ic re lationships between the phen omena offer a useful
framework for the empirica l i n vestigat ion i nh eren t to th is project . GTM generates a theory by
systemat ically obtaining and anal yz ing data, and then generating patterns or “c ategor ies.” From these
patterns, conceptual catego ries or “core concepts ” are developed to represent the theoret ical
framework’s co mponents (Glaser/ Strauss 1998) . The GTM approach develops an empiricall y based
theory through a constant dialogue between me, the researcher, and the collected data, as well as
between th e th eoret ical t houghts and empirical evidence, i n wh ich the story o f soc ial int eractions
during shopping emerges. Simply put, GTM’s main purpose is to develop an em p irically “grounded ”
theory (Glaser / Strauss 1 988).
In this stud y, the f irst core concept was constructed to represent the research subjects’ (pr imarily the
salespeople, but also the observed customers ') concerns. After the core concepts were defined,
attention was turned tow ards an understanding of why and throug h what kind s of social pract ices
stores’ owner s imbue the ir business es with add itional mean ing (Rosenb aum 2006 : 64; 2007) .
The fie ldwork itse lf followed Hitzler and Honer’s ethn ographic “li fe world ana lysis” ( Lebensweltan alyse ;
Honer and Hitzler 1984; 1986; 1991; 1995; 2003), which emphas izes th e inner perspectives of the
observed soc ial life worlds of local businesses . Th is appro ach helps to reveal not only inner perspective s,
but also the inner micro-log ics and micro-geographies of everyday life
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and to focus on those social
practices in local bus inesses that generate and nurtur e them .
Originally, the project was conceived around a comparative ly c losed research question (and thus a more
“classical” socio logical fra mework) of “How and in what ways do l oca l businesses contribute to the
creation of loca l socia l capital, and on a neighbo rhood level, to soc ial cohesion?” The i nit ial i dea was to
frame and explore socia l interactions during shopping through the l ens of social cohesio n (Durkh eim
1988) and soc ial capital (cf . P utna m 19 95, 2000; Cole man 198 8; Bourdieu 198 6) - both prominent and
popular theoret ical concepts in the field of sociology. During the cou rse of my empirical i nquiry, I soon
discarded them i n favor o f a more open-ended and impartial methodo logy i n order to av o id both a
narrow focus on these social interactions as a singular type of social practice and the quite norm ativ e
view of these two concepts on social life in urban settlem ents. Howev er, the research o n social cohes ion
and i n particular on the d ifferent def initions and concepts of soc ial capital during the first four months

103

“The World in th e City” – th e focus of the International Gra duate Program at the Centre for Metropo litan
Studies at the Technisch e Univ ersität Berlin – was interpreted in this thesis as including th e numerous and
sometimes overlappin g small (social and /or ethnic) worlds t hat can b e linked to specific social a nd physical places.

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodo logy
89
of my r esearch still proved to be fruitful for the conceptual structure of th is s tory and re vealed possible
directions and m aybe so-called grand theories, with which the empirical resu lts could be interpreted . In
addition, it cou ld be conceivab le that one of the core concepts of the emp irical data is local soc ial
capital.
To return now to GTM, there are two ma in var iants t hat have been dev eloped s ince the 1960s: Anselm
Strauss’s (1998 [1967]) pragmat ic vers ion, rooted in the ep istemologica l and socio - ph ilosophica l
tradition of Amer ican prag mat ism of the Ch icago School; and Barney Glaser’s (1978) more "empiricist"
or more inductively working version, popu larized by the so-called "jus t do i t !" positive-functiona list
school at Co lumbia Un iversity (Strübing 2002 : 32 0). Despite their differenc e, the crux of both types of
Grounded Theory re mains the constant r epetition of the recognition-steps of induction, abdu ction, and
deduction, which genera te, test, and eventually discard and/or modify ever -new theories and
hypotheses (Strü bing 2008 ).
Working within the spe cific iterative mode offered b y th e GTM, w ith a view to a maximum of analytical
openness, this research more closely follows the approach and research too ls offered by Anse lm
Strauss' v ers ion of GTM with an “activist, through acti on, i.e. working, revea led meaning of objects"
(Strübing 2008), and links i t to the idea of the businesses as the loc al spaces where (different) social
worlds might intersect, be maintained or nurtured, or be newly genera ted. In li n e with the ethno graphic
research approach (which also s tems f rom the Ch ica go Sch ool), these appro aches he lp to describe the
overlapping and n ew generation of social interact ions within the s mall social li f e wor lds as dens ely as
possible. In the course of this process , d escription and analysis are not treated as dicho tomous po les,
since the act of descr ibin g (both in my obser vatio n protocols and data collect ion, but also in the
descript ions g iven by th e interviewees themselves) is inherently a process of un derstanding that offers
in its fina l written itera tion an exp lanation of the ob served soc ial processes .
Within life world ana lysis, the second intrins ic research pro cess aims to describe (and thus explain) s ma ll
segments of soc ial experie nces in order to discover, describe, and analyze as many aspec ts of so-called
“part - t ime world of senses” ( Teilzeit-Sinnwelt by Hi t zler/Honer 1995: 382) as possi b le – each with i ts
own rules and routines, which, put together, cr eate everyday life. As such, small social li f e worlds are
the m ost effective way to interrog ate the small social for mations of a sociall y -constructed wor ld of
experiences genera ted by th e everyday pract ices of shopping (buyi ng and se lling), consuming, sp endin g
leisure time, and working . The underlying assu mption for this project is then that busines ses represent
one l ocat ion where different social life wor lds are concretely experienced and (re-)constructed on a

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
90
neighborho od level. O n ly by focusing exclusively on the subject ive perspectiv es and i nter ests of the
research sub jects (and not on my i nterests as a socio logist), is i t possib le to capture these small soc ial
life worlds . Put i n other words, the ma in methodolo gical task wa s to change p erspectives and d iscover
the research subject’ s world through their e y es. This fund amental change of pers pective affects no t only
the analysis, but also the data collection, forc ing a reconstruct ion of th e research subjects’ sub jective ly
constructed soc ial life wor lds (cf . Hitzler/ Honer 1995).
Ultimate ly, GTM and li fe world ana lys is (as opposed to other qu alitative social science methods) shar e
many points of emphasis: the expectation that the relationship between r esearcher and research
subject will cont inuously e volve; the process es of de scribing and exp laining; an d the paral lel, mutually
interdependent, and ostensibly perpetual, sequences of data coll ec tion, data analysis, and theory
generation. Through this dialect ical process, a theory is developed that is at once heav ily influenced b y
the sub jectiv ity of invo lved actors and specific con ditio ns, but also can tak e the fo rm of a general social
theory (Strü bing 2008: p 14 f.). For instance, the first i nt e rview and first two day s of observa tions in and
around the flower store (the first empirica l case) pointed to the them es of emotion al and social support,
mutual assistance, business-friendships, and sens e of community as created in the business. These
emerging them es were then tested and contras ted with, expanded, limited, or rejected with each data
acquisition, becom ing ‘thic ker’ o r ‘stron ger’ w ith the addition of detail and dim ension. For this spe cific
sampling process i n GTM, no special accommodat ions w ere made for an y paradigmat ic position or
uniqueness of the data to be collected, or principles o f representativeness (St rübing 2008: 30). The ma in
features of ethnographic life world analys is and of GTM complement each other since they mutually
reinforce their explorat ive and investigat ive nature and support the reconstru ction of the (assumed)
little socia l life wor lds in and aro und Karl-Marx- Straße’ s businesses .
The highlight ed aspects of the i ntert wined approac hes of G TM and li fe world analysis also help to
understand the role of my own person i n the progress ion of my ethnograph ic field work, which was
neither objective nor external, but influenced m y research subjects througho ut the observat iona l
process. The combined appro ach hel p ed to disentangle the r esearcher’s own (subjective /biased)
positionality while working in the field . Working ethno graphically de facto involv es the r esearcher act ing
in (an on ) a con crete soc ial environment, so it was imperative to consider my po sition as an immed iate
participant thro ughou t the research proc ess.
My own p ositiona lity b ecame more apparent the more time I spent on Karl-Marx-Straße, and the
greater number of i nterv iews and observations I con ducted. First, the majority of Karl -Marx- S traße’s

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
91
businesses are operated by men, who often cater to a predominantly male cliente le, or are en gaged
with more men than wo men during certa in t imes of the working day . Second , t he stree t ho sts a l ot of
businesses operated by people with a so-called migr ation background. Whereas some stores cater to
specific age or lifestyle gro ups, others (often fram e d as “ ethn ic busine sses”) predominantly welco me
people of the same (region al, nationa l, or city/v illage) orig in as the owner and/or se lected emp loyees,
and where the conversat ions take place i n fo reign l an guages. The na med e xamples repres ent spaces in
which my appearanc e was often conspicuous or exceptiona l, and by entering some of them, I
immediately drew attentio n to myself. With e very in terview and ob servation, it became clearer to me
how much my persona l attributes mattered in the cond uct of fieldwork .
By way of examp le, I gained my firs t exploratory expe rt interview with relat ive ease due to my pr ivileged
position as a formal member of the academy, my G erman ethnicity, social background, my
(professiona l) l anguag e sk ills, fie ld and interdisciplinar y p rofess ional knowledge ( in this part icular ca se,
the l og ic, the vocabulary, and rheto ric of urban planning) and Cau cas ian ap pearance, with which I
gained a great dea l of trust and i nt erna l i nfo rmation that was not necessar ily accessib le to others . In
contrast, during other moments in the data collect ion process, exactly these sam e attr ibutes be came
obstacles to my re search: In particular, my profess ion, my gender, my age and ph ysical appearance led
to inc idents of distanc e, mistrust, and distrust
104

(Szto mpka 1999). Many of the business people I
approach ed we re skeptica l about my i nt entions and the purposes for studying them; m ost of them
suspected me of working for the tax author ity or for a new or soo n to open competito r (which
paralleled many o wners’ fear of rising rents and eviction, or of having the whistle blown on
underhand ed sales tactics or tax fraud ).
In some of the bus inesses, if the conversational or serv ice language was fo r i nsta nce Turkish, Arab ic, or
Polish, I could only obse rve the types of inte ract ions, th e gestur es, tones of chats, and fac ial
expressions . In parallel, du e to my Caucasian app eara nce, people often ob served me obser ving the m, no
matter how much I tried to play the role of regular customer. Further, some c ustomers – m os t often
men – were visibly disturb ed merely by my presence.
105

However, in the context of my own buying,
ordering, and consuming pract ice, none of the bus inesspeople paid more atten tion to me than to any

104

Social trust is de fined as the belief that o thers in society can generally be trusted, and le ads to positive
outcomes in exchan ge situations – such as the participat ion in a n interview. In contrast, in a situation with a lack of
clear expectation s, one hesitates to commit on eself; creating a situat i on more of mistru st, where trust and distrust
are suspended o r where trust or distrust are withd rawn (Szt ompka 1999: 26 f.).
105

This is also the rea son why I e ither switched off or did not u se my r ecorder at all during co nvers ation s with
customers.

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
92
other unfamiliar customer, which, for i ns tance, mimics their routinized interact ion with unacqua inted
customers w ith eventua lly diverse ethnic backgro unds.
My own and the i n terv iewees’ pos itionalities also played a role in how store owners and planning
experts framed and descr ibed the street’s users: For instance, the ur ban p lanner i n the local p lanning
department assum ed that I fa vored the same type of new businesses that he welcomes and enjoys in
the area, with a preference for the same aesthetic s and offerings. This was one reason why he, for
instance, felt comfortab le with talking openly about the renewa l plans to get r id of some of the current
(migrant own ed) businesse s.
In part, my early res earch on the commercial and residential s tructures of Karl -Marx-Straße, conducted
before entering the field site, co lored m y fi r st perceptions and im p eded the requ ired change of
perspective . The often ster eotyped perspect ives of store owners and plann ing experts shaped my initial
observations of custom ers, l ocal resid ents, and street users . To m ov e b eyond frames located i n the
soc io -econom ic an d de mo graphic s tatistics of Neukölln, it was cru cial for me to encounter every single
individua l as a tota l strang er and not to make any assumptions based on their physical appearanc e.
Fundamenta lly, the cha llenge was to see the world thro ugh my r espondent s’ eyes. Fro m the first
observations and interv iews, it was obvious that each busine ss a ttracts, receives, and serves a d iverse
group of customers, v ary ing by ethn icity, age, income, and gender. I t was a continua l challenge no t to
enact and fix constructed identit ies based on these et hnic, gender , or soc ial status categor ies i n m y
fieldwork (fo llowing Neal et al. 2015) . While a t the research sites, my field notes on social practices and
interactions revealed differences between or commonalitie s among the obse rved people (and me).
However, memo writing rem ov ed m uch of the nuance, reducing i nd ividuals to the ir most visib le
characterist ics, and thus high lighting thes e difference s on a ( visib le) basis. Looking at the physica l (e .g.
skin or ha ir co lor) and the cultural (e.g. dre ss and a ccessories, spo ken l ang uage or di a lect) aspects o f a
person is ne ither enough nor appro priate to ascribe an ethnic or lifestyle i den tity. It reduces individua ls
to racialized sets of id entificat ion. Without interv iewing people directly and asking them abou t how they
construct their identity and background , the observer has on ly unver ified and highly subject ive
impressions . Thus, m y f ieldwor k was ma rked b y many efforts to avo id s tereotyping on th e bas is of the
interviewe es’ and my o wn observations, yet i t leaves me with an uncomfo rtable concern that my
insights might still be i nflu enced to some degree by an objectif ied and biological -essent ialist see ing
(Neal et a l. 2015: 467).

4. Realities on t he Ground: Sa mpling Process and Method ology
93
Conversely, the d irect, highly partic ipatory, and d ialogic engagem ent of fieldwo rk often he lped me to
avoid the ethno graphic gaze. My st udy goes to “the thing itself,” d irectly focusing on the soci a l pra ctices
of the storeowners in an effo rt to corrob orate – or set aside -- my initial impressio ns, public statistics, or
official chara cteriza tions of the ne ighborhoo d (cf. Valentine 2013).

4.4.2 . Inq uiry Metho ds: Interviews , Participant Obse rvations, Seconda ry Materi al
My inquiry into the so cial and mater ial aspects of the bu sinesses a long Karl - Marx-S traße and their role
in local socia l li fe used a multi-metho d or triangular approach, involving i n-depth i nter views and
participant obser vation in the samp led business s ites and expert interv iews with the three main ac tors
of the l oca l urb an development programs . Th e the sis’ mix of methods thus at tempts to generate a more
attentive, d ynamic and reflex ive pract ice that privileges the i nt erviewees’ and other co -presen t
particip ants’ voices and social practices, not the researcher’s preconcept ions. While l arger data sets
were mined on the meso-level for the histor ical and current soci o-demog raphic and economic po rtrait
of Karl-Marx- Straße, providing “a lens on patterns of loca lit y” (Hall 2015: 2 7 ) , micro-level resear ch
revealed the nuances and dynamics of the everyday interact ions and related social practices i n the
businesses . Only ethnograp hic work – by means of in-depth i nterv iews and partici pan t observation –
can illuminate the l oca l social life in these urban settings, espec ially i n the ost ensible final frontier of
micro-geograp hies of local businesses. This multi-method app roach thus all ows the res earcher to live up
to the ” topo logical complexity of lives lived within and bet ween a number of ur ban l oca les” (Ha ll 2 015 :
27) – the bus inesses, the w ider street and n eighborh ood, the city and be yond.
Interviews
The one- to - one interviews with store owners and employees took the form of “shopp ing interv iews” – a
play on “walking -inter views” (Nea l et al. 2 015 : 466) or “go along - interviews ” (cf. Kusenbach 2003 ).
Concretely, th is meant that during the inter view, staff and owners cont inued to serve customers, which
increased the po tential access to some of the ephemeral and r eflexive aspects of lived experience in s itu
(Kusenbach 2 0 03). They also showed me around their busines s, pointing out important peop le, tools,
artifacts (Reckwitz 2003) o r locations within the business that ha ve a special meaning for them or for
selected customers, or for i nt eraction between and among them. The interviewees were either fully
focused on the interview o r on the individuals who approach ed them – customer s or colleagues, serv ing
or replying, op ening the i n terview or discussion to them, but also readdress ing the i nt erview when they

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
94
were g one, or cutt ing them off to co ntinue the i nterv iew. With the except ion o f the flower sto re
owner’s mother who listened and interjected several times, in no other inter views, was anyone else
sufficient ly involved to disturb or change the course of the interview or the owners’ answ ers .
Anonym ity was offered to all interview partn ers. In practice, however, a ll gave their informed consent to
use their own or the ir business’ na mes. While this stud y uses pseudonyms, suc h as café I or main café ,
or av o ids name s altogethe r, the detailed information provided here about the street, the businesses,
and the ir staff s till wou ld e nable the d eterm ined read er to i den tify the research objects and subjects.
106

For instance, the maps of Karl-Marx-Straße can easily be evaluated for po stal codes and house numbers,
and from that basis, the vast array of the working individuals can be found as well. As representa tives of
their urban planning off ice or renewal prog ram, the names of the interviewed local off icials and their
programs cou ld not be ano nymized .
The interview guidelines (s ee a ttachment s) had a more or less standardized design, with the m a in focus
on the self-descript ion of their everyday work on Karl-Marx-Straße, interactio ns with customers, and
“business survival strategies,” and perceived neighbo rhood changes. Starting with a simple question
about when the owner(s) began operations, i t was easy to lead the conversat ion to topics of change,
role for the neighborho od, and if they offer “more ” to the ir customers, the ir m otives for do ing so, and
to their relationships to (regular) customers and other business p eople. The interviews with the owners
were conducted exclusive ly during business ho urs and while th e owner of the pharmacy and butcher’s
shop took me to their back offices, all the other interviews took place in the sales spaces, behind or
across the counter . However, o wners sugg ested i nt erv iew times during hours when business is usua lly
slower. Even wh en intervie ws wer e conducted i n the bac k, conversations continued in the fron t rooms .
Sometimes staff also directed me to the busin ess entrance and outdoor spaces, most often to the front
sidewalk in order to point out chang es, peop le or pl ac es. And aga in, sin ce the interv iews were
conducted during o perating hours, I could im mediately ma tch the narrat ives of the owners abo ut
select ed custo mers or employe es to both their actual behavior t owards them and to my own
observations (e.g. style, pe rsonality, frequency of bus iness visits, preferred goods or services or seats,
etc.). The pr imary intentio n was to match happenings and utteran ces contemporan eo usly, to hear and
see more and “ better, ” to absorb the multiple re lationships and conn ections between the i nt erviewee,
the other i nd ividuals present, th e space, and me as the researcher . The ethnograph ic work wa s

106

For the p ublications all additio nal information and in particular the location al in formation o n the businesses are
altered or cut ou t.

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
95
repeated; these regular observations and conversations i n the bus inesses allowed for a further
engagement w ith the spac es’ atmosph eres, practices, uses, da ily rhythms, sounds, and sme lls.
At the cente r of this research design was the attempt to develop a familiar but non -intrus ive
relationship bet ween the interviewer and i nt erviewee ( Neal et a l. 2 0 15). The re lationship to the
interviewed store owners was based on the repeate d contact and dialogue during the field vis its, but
also on staying in touch with the i nt erview partners o utside of the visits and observations in and around
their stores. By m eans of ”just being in” the l oca tions and in doing the interviews during the nor ma l
opening hours, the bus inesses with their concrete spatial m ater iality were thems elves embedd ed in the
research proc ess and des ign.
The i n- dep th i nt erviews’ guide lines and conduct used elements of narrativ e, focused , and semi-
structured interviews, but also of a problem- cen tered i nter view, with plenty of space for biographical
anecdotes . Due to the dynamic and often con versatio nal style that also allo wed for the i nvo lvement of
mater ial ar tifacts and mov ing around or c hang ing position or space, even those owners who show ed the
most d istrust before or early into the i nter view s eemed to forge t theirs suspicions, comfo r table in the ir
familiar setting and their r outine ro les as businesspe ople. The developm ent of trust an d ease was also
enabled by my efforts to im merse myself as much a s po ssible in the fie ld, de veloping “embo died ways
of feeling, se eing and un derstanding ” (Gieryn 20 06: 6) .
The f ieldwork began in l at e 201 2. A lthough the f irst ex plora tory interviews with the h ead of the urban
planning office in charg e of City Management i n and aroun d Karl- Marx -Straße and the first store owner
interview were conducted in December 2012, the comp licated samp ling proces s took time to comp lete.
Beginning in autumn 2012, I wrote letters and emails to around 30 busin esses on an d near Karl-M arx -
Straße, also calling several times and dropp ing by half of the m. U nfo rtunate ly, fewer than expected
agreed to take part i n the “forma l” interviews . Ultimate ly, eight business people took par t in the forma l
in -depth i n terviews (betwe en 1.5 and 3 hours i n length), whereas four owners ag reed to talk to me on ly
informally . Ultimately, it was poss ible to speak with all of the busines ses in the addi tiona l cases
described in Chapter 5.6. , but most of the data used comes from interviews of the core sa mple. I n those
cases wher e the opportun ity for a comprehens ive interv iew was limited, I tried to observe more
comprehens ively. A lthough it was possible to descr ibe the social practices of cust omers and sal espeop le
in the business es in deta il, it was hard to measure the social meaning of shopping i n these p laces to the
customers obser ved, which was unsatisfy ing. In additio n, without b eing able to interview the customer s,
my descriptions of age, socio-economic status, ethnicity, pla ce of res idence, and real m ot ivations must

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
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necessarily re main superfic ial and speculat ive. This gap could be bridged some what by talking informa lly
with individua l customers and by listening to the ir conversa tions.
Concerning the customers, thoug h these method s allowed m e to gain i ns ights from approximate ly 15
shoppers in differen t stores, the i nab ility to conduct formal interviews together with the presence of
other people, language issues, and the press of time limited what cou ld b e learned. Nevertheles s, to the
extent the y could be captu red, these con versations and social practices were no ted in my ob servation
protoco ls, often in v er y de tailed and dense wa y. P art icularly important were their m ot ives for spend ing
time in or frequ enting cert ain businesses and what they expect to happ en there .
Participant Observat ions
The second ma in research tool app lied was participan t observations in the bus inesses. U n like everyda y
observation (so - called “peo ple watching”), scien tific observat ion is characte rized by a sp ecia l fo cus and
methodolog ical contro l. The basic i d ea of qualitative observat ion is that the researcher – throug h the
proximity to the research subj e ct – i s able to capture the i nner perspect ive of the observed subject.
Participant observation is particularly su itable when the subject i s embedd ed in a social situation , when
the subject area is diff icult to see fro m the outsid e, and whenever the research quest ion has a more
exploratory and theory- or hypothesis -generating character (Lamnek 1993). The se aspec ts app ly to th e
current study about Karl-Marx- Straße’s businesses, where the owners and their staff are inextricably
linked to and embedded in the social situat ion of their bus inesses and these busi n esses are i n turn
embedded in larger socia l and commercial proc esses of the street .
The combinat ion of partic ipatory and non-structured observations was once the exclusive purview of
anthropo logy and ethno logy. B ut urban stud ies, where the city be comes the study’s object and venue at
once and where the city acts as the “empir ical referent for analys is and the phys ical site where
investigation ta kes place” (Gieryn 20 06: 6), and , in particular , for an ethnograph ic urb an studies thes is,
such as the one at hand, ha ve also become appro priate venue s for participant ob servation (Gieryn 2006;
Lüders 200 8). Finally, par ticipant obser vations also represent the most approp riate and fruitful metho d
for my inquiry of urban soc ial lif e, since the significant feature of the qu alitative observation is the u se of
the natura l world of the su bjects (La mnek 1993) .
During partic ipant observation, the data i s collected i n the process of by participat ing in na tura l
situations and in face- to -face interact ions. Hence, throu gh the direct exper ience of situations, aspe cts of
acting and thinking beco me observab le that would not have be en during d iscussions with experts, the

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sa mpling Process and Metho dology
97
owners, or other groups, or by reading docu ments on these interactions or situations . Simp ly put, the
characterist ic of this method i s the person al p art icip ation of the researcher in the i nt eractions with
people, but applying participant obser vation is a lso a switch to and from the field, from proxim ity
(participat ion) to distance (observat ion). Thereby the distance is essent ial to enable the necessar y
scientific r eflect ion to analyze the observed interactio ns (Lüders 2 008; 2001 ).
The observational criteria are developed either before entering the field and/or throughout the
research process. After some prelim inary “test” observations but without a fixe d set of observat ional
categor ies, I sharpened the categories with each addit ional observat ion. However, each of the
observations had a different focus. Therefore I did not follow a genera l observ ation category catalogu e
until the end of the fieldwork. I n the beginn ing, I tried to make sense of the spati a l qua lities in the
business and at what concrete points they enabled interaction or increased the likelihood of interaction
between acqua inted or unfamil iar people. Subsequent ly, my attent ion was drawn to the spatial qualit ies
as fro nt or bac k st ages (Goffman 1959; 1963), spaces that “ be long” to the custo mers or employees, o r
spaces that blur these lines. I also looked at background features, such as music or TVs playing, smells or
noises, the o verall temperature, and a tmosphere (follow ing Kazig 2007; 2012) . Following Rec kwitz
(2003; 2003) and Kazig (2007; 2012) and their praxis -orient ed perspective, I u nderstand shopping or
consumpt ion as a pract ice or set or cha in of pract ices that can be rea lized in numero us ways, includ ing
the ga thering of information before ent ering th e store , the actua l vis it and consultat ion i n the store, the
purchase and immediate consumption, or transport ation of the purchased go ods to the customer’ s
home. This is linked to th e so- cal led shopping atmosp here, because “the sub jective m oo d of a person
can change depending on the surrounding ” and “this change i n mood can be exp ressed in the mode of
attention, motor behavior, or emotiona lity” (Kazig 20 12 : 64) . Simultaneously, the surro undings, in which
shopping takes p lace, ha ve different qualities . These can affe ct the customer’s m oo d, and the
completion of the purchas e, sho pping, or consumption act i n many ways . The f ocus in the observations
was thus also on the atmos pheric charact eristic s of th e businesses .
Beyond materia l and interactive qualities, the focus shi ft ed i n the second phase of obser vation to th e
people in the store, their physical appearance, and social behavior . These o bservations were more
interested i n social pra ctices and their carriers (Reckwitz 2002; 2003), their performance (Goffman
1959; 1963), and less in the concre te spots or micro -geo graphies of these pra ctices (since the y were the
focus of the first ob servatio nal phase), before mov ing finally to an exam ination of th e socia l pra ctices/

4. Realities on th e Ground: Sampling Process and Methodol ogy
98
actions, behaviors and the impact of these. J us t as in the i nt erviews, the m a in challenge was not to
describe th e actors in a stereotyped, ra cia lized, or biolo gical- essent ialist wa y.
Generally speak ing, my i n dividual observat ion methods can be di st inguished along the following lines:
Open versus hidden observ ations – the owners knew of my presence, but not th e custo mers. Wh enever
someone noted my l ong er-than-usual presence in th e business, I introduced my s elf as a research er
working on socia l practices in Karl- Marx Straße’s businesses . Partic ipatory versus non -partic ipatory – I
interacted with the res earched subjects and within in the r esearch subject . I active ly part icipated in the
socio-spat ial sett ing, p erforming o r carrying out th e s a me pra ctices as othe r custo mers du ring the
observation. The observa tions di d not fo llow a structured and detailed obs ervation sch eme, but were
structured – in those case s where field notes were taken – after the vi s it, co mparing the notes and
contrast ing them to prev ious observat ion protocols (follow ing the GTM idea of loo king for minimum and
maximum contras ts i n ord er to underpin or disc ard the emerg ing themes and aspects) (Bortz / Döring
2013). I was presen t in all businesses fo r a m ini mum of five separate occasions and even more often i n
the gastronom ic businesses with seat ing. Seating facilitated obse rvation and immersion in the fie ld,
whereas i n the other businesses “hanging out” was much more complica ted after the purchas e and
eventual consumpt ion .
In those cases where the possibility of comprehens ive observation was limited, I tried to expand and
refine the i nter views, reac hing toward a greater l e vel of detail and narra tive from the interviewees,
focusing less on knowledg e oriented ques tions, interviewing and talk ing to them during shopp ing
interactions or normal bus iness operat ions. Furthermore, my interv iews took place during all opening
hours: weekdays and Saturdays, morn ing, midday, afternoo n and ev ening hours, as well as nights for
the bars and r estaurants.
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Bortz and Dör ing’s (2013) six typica l s teps of qualitat ive obse rvation guided the conduct and ana lysis of
the participant observat ions:
The first phase consisted o f pl ann ing and preparing the observations and time in the bus inesses. Dur ing
this phase, I tightened up the investigat ion topic, tr ied to operat ionalize my research question and to
collect f irst ex per iences in the field, l oo king for a suitable p lace, tab le, corner, as well as most importan t
actors in the business. The second step wa s to enter the fie ld, wher e I a lso addressed the fie ld subjects

107

Sunday is not a shoppin g day in Germany. N one of the samp led businesses is open on Su nday s, but some
bakeries, flower store s, and kiosks al so open on Su ndays in Neukölln an d Berlin.

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