Book review: Metropolitan preoccupations: the spatial politics of squatting in Berlin

Abstract

While reading Alexander Vasudevan’s monograph on squatting in Berlin, the Rigaer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain has again exploded into violence. First occupied during the second wave of squatting in 1990, Rigaer 94 has been both an important cultural centre for the autonomist Left and a menace for city officials for decades. Authorities have repeatedly tried to clear the building only to be met with violence such as in January and June 2016.