Divided City, Divided Infrastructures: Securing Energy and Water Services in Postwar Berlin

Abstract

The division of Berlin’s infrastructure systems following the blockade of 1948—1949 posed an enormous challenge to the city’s infrastructure planners on both sides of the political divide.This article is a study of the destabilization of apparently highly durable technical systems precipitated by the Berlin blockade and the subsequent efforts of those responsible to restabilize the systems. It investigates the different experiences of division in the electricity, gas, water, and wastewater sectors with a view to raising scholars’ understanding of the durability and adaptability of urban technical networks in the face of major upheaval. In the immediate aftermath of the blockade, the article argues, the prime concern of network managers in both West and East Berlin was to maintain essential services in the face of interventions and reprisals from the other side. As prospects for reunification diminished, the strategy shifted toward reducing the vulnerability and advancing the territorial cohesion of each side by reordering their technical networks physically, spatially, and organizationally.