Bowie, Laura ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9084-2142 (2025) ‘Earth-writing’ and the shudder of the eerie: lessons from Berlin. Design Ecologies, 14. pp. 67-90. ISSN 2043-068X (Print), 2043-0698 (Online) (doi:10.1386/des_00029_1)

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Abstract

This article explores the agency within a city’s topography haunted by the past – specifically the latent (hi)stories ever-present in Berlin. Berlin has long been the focus of attention for those interested in the relationship between urban space and politics; the events and consternations of global politics were, and are, etched into the very surface of the city, often threatening to break through any attempts to clarify or contain its past. Using Fischer’s (2016) concept of the ‘eerie’ and the ‘weird’, this article explores the residue of trauma in the built, fragmentary, and ‘empty’ spaces of Berlin. The analysis posits the individual and the city as haunted (see philosopher Jacques Derrida’s Specters of Marx, 1993 in which he posits that the present is haunted by the ghosts of lost futures) entities and considers the role of the individual in translating the past in the present moment – what, then, does this mean for the designer, historian, resident and visitor? How can we acknowledge the complexity of possible pasts, presents and futures, within our cities, whilst negotiating identity, need, and the continually changing nature of urban life?

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Issue Horror Geography (Jun 2025).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	haunted, topography, urban space, Germany, post-war, ruins,l voids, reconstruction
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) N Fine Arts > NA Architecture
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Design and Creative Industries
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2025 12:39
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/51474

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