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Immovielien versus state and market failure in land policy

On 18 June 2018, almost 50 members from all over Germany founded the association Netzwerk Immovielien e. V. at the ufaFabrik in Berlin-Tempelhof. Since 2017, actors from civil society, the public sector, business, welfare, and academia have been working closely together in the network to promote a stronger focus on the common good in real estate and neighborhood development. The common good-oriented view of urban development issues and the heterogeneous composition of the members are the special features of the Immovielien network: the diversity of attitudes, discourses and formats makes it credible within the professional world, effective in the cause and attractive for new and old members.
"The interest in exchanging ideas and working together was enormous right from the start," says Jörn Luft from the Bonn-based Montag Stiftung Urbane Räume, which currently holds the coordinating position for the network. "Immovielien-Macher*innen and their partners want to become even more involved in the public discussion in the future through their educational and networking work".

Immovielien - real estate by many for many - are real estate and neighbourhood projects that create lasting added value for society and the neighbourhood. They are created in a participatory and interdisciplinary development process, mostly driven by civil society. They are to be strengthened by the network's activities, which range from events and publications to information and networking formats to concrete cooperations for real estate and urban development oriented towards the common good.

In the new association, the Immovielien network can now continue to grow structurally and financially independently. "We are extremely pleased that we were able to launch the association with almost 50 founding members. The same number of members is already in the starting blocks and wants to fill out the membership application in the next few days," says Rolf Novy-Huy from the Hattingen-based trias Foundation, who will take over the honorary board of directors together with Benedikt Altrogge from GLS Gemeinschaftsbank eG in Bochum.
"Now we want to co-ordinate as fast as possible over our work emphasis and take up then with a new co-ordination place in Berlin speed , announce Benedikt Altrogge. Proposals for possible focal points of work were already collected at the founding event. In addition to public and networking events, educational and public relations work, as well as cooperation between and for community-oriented actors in urban development, should continue to play an important role.

The network also wants to continue to advocate for the fundamental improvement of framework conditions for real estate and urban development oriented towards the common good. In view of the tense situation in many municipalities, savings dictates in the wrong place and a lack of will to reform would be tantamount to a failure on the part of the state, said both Florian Schmidt, a city councillor for construction in Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, and Caren Lay, deputy parliamentary group leader and spokeswoman on construction policy for The Left Party in the German Bundestag.

The network had already started a critical monitoring of the federal political discussions before its foundation. The network wants to continue this in the future. It remains important not to play each other off, noted founding member Thomas Bestgen from UTB Projektmanagement GmbH in Berlin, referring to the successful Immovielien projects in Switzerland. Much more decisive than the arguments about the most suitable legal form is the visible result of the real estate development for the people in the neighbourhood. Jörn Luft, who will be managing the transition of the existing network into the association until the summer, announced that the Immovieliensammlung, which will be available on the network's website, is one example of what this can look like.

Board of Directors: Rolf Novy-Huy (Hattingen) and Benedikt Altrogge (Bochum)
Coordination Office Immovielien Network
At the brewhouse 2
12053 Berlin

For more information on the network, click here:
www.netzwerk-immovielien.de

Keywords:
Stakeholders, DE-News, News Blog Berlin, Social / Culture, Housing policy, Housing projects, eG