Project Description
Dissertation research was an ethnography of Rostock, a Hanseatic city on the Baltic coast, examining the process of revitalizing historic neighborhoods in the aftermath of unification. We looked at the challenges that face Rostock as it transforms its environment after decades of neglect. Ultimately, this was an exercise in ethnography of the planners themselves, because despite the rapid pace and good intentions accompanying the historic preservation and urban revitalization efforts in Rostock, deep, structural obstacles remain. These include unfamiliarity with the everyday assumptions of capitalism; lack of true working knowledge of English as the lingua franca of supranational institutions like the European Union; and a lack of integration and cooperation among major stakeholders, reflecting complex and unresolved conflicts (e.g. the roles of Church and State) dating back several centuries.