Transnational Spaces

How is Berlin from an asylum seeker's point of view? Why has the Laleli district of Istanbul become a centre of Russian suitcase trade? How do American call centres influence daily life in Kolkata? Is one still in German territory in Frankfurt airport? At a time of economic globalisation, multimedia communication and cross-border migration, cities are coming to consist increasingly of transnational spaces whose cultural, economic and social dynamics are often more signif-icantly influenced by distant places than by their immediate surroundings. What characterises these urban places in which the realities of different social and geographic spaces mingle? The Bauhaus Kolleg VI 2004/2005 took Berlin, Istanbul, Kolkata and Frankfurt as examples on which to examine how transnational relations alter perceptions and faces of cities. Tension and conflicts in the transnational city were identified and exemplary strategies developed to give shape to this rapid development.