ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on several case studies that constitute outstanding and precious place-making in Berlin, although they manifest themselves in very different ways. These are respectively Berlin's oldest and newest open public spaces: Grober Tiergarten and Tempelhofer Feld, respectively. In these cases, public space is not only being re-claimed, but also, as practices that raise the question of spatial commoning, they further the idea of metropolitan commons. Models of spatial commons for a possible and joyful are necessarily biodiverse, allowing extended sharing not only by humans but comprising all species. The park is an ancient body, its space, use and users are interwoven to the extent of transgressing practices of heritage, ecology, humanism and urbanism on the same territory. The inclusive ecology of Tiergarten lies in its inherent commoning nature, and works with the sensibilities of accepting, managing and guaranteeing the juxtaposition of high biodiversity, multilayered use and heritage in the same landscape.
