Research projects

The growing social polarization in cities increasingly challenges local governments to protect existing residential environments and to detect social displacement at an early stage. A sound understanding of local upgrading and displacement dynamics is a key prerequisite for socially balanced urban development.

The aim of the project, commissioned by the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development, Construction and Housing Berlin, is the small-scale monitoring of urban transformation processes in Berlin. Using an indicator-based approach, potentials for structural upgrading, increasing gentrification pressure, and social displacement risks are systematically identified and assessed. The analysis is conducted at the level of planning areas and combines various indicators relevant to social and urban development, such as land value trends, asking rents and social data on welfare dependency (SGB II) and old-age poverty.

The result is a broad-based early warning system that provides a data-supported basis for the introduction of planning measures. It is updated every two years and thus contributes to the continuous monitoring of urban transformation processes in Berlin.