Winterzauber - the light pollution market
Every evening when the sun goes down, I see the spotlights and bright glow of the Christmas market near Frankfurter Allee. It feels like a foreign object that’s suddenly materialized, distorting the whole area. I wonder if they chose extra spotlights just because cultural events and folk festivals have an exemption in the EnSikuMaV1. I can totally understand why people living directly in front of the market might be upset2 - especially on cold, foggy nights when the light is just eerie and overwhelmingly bright.
At least the spectacle is over by 9pm, and the lights vanish again. It’s a strange scene, and I took the opportunity to snap some photos of the fair set between the Plattenbauten.
It’s strange how something meant to bring cheer can feel so out of place - almost alien - when it’s dropped into the middle of everyday life. I guess that’s the paradox of city living: celebration and disruption, side by side.
The local residents surely don’t live in a funhouse right now Honestly, i am wondering if the Umwelt- und Naturschutzamt, which gave the approval, considered light pollution at all. During freezing temperatures and fog, you have a layer of aerosols that thickens with the decreasing temperature and additionally scatters the artificial light. No one can tell me that this has no effect on the enviroment. Maybe it was okayish because the lights switch off at 9pm?
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https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ensikumav/BJNR144600022.html. Or maybe the CDU had a blind eye because they are worried about the christmas lights (https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1168421.landeshaushalt-licht-an-fuer-den-nachtragshaushalt.html)? ↩︎
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On that area is also some interesting story with the Lichtenberger CDU and the upcoming “Van-Caem-Park”, an office complex with around 110,000 square meters of floor space (https://www.kocher-architekten.com/van-caem-park and https://www.vancaem-projects.com/van-caem-park-berlin-lichtenberg.html). Van Caem himself made headlines in 2019 with a donation of 60,000 euros to the CDU Lichtenberg (https://www.abgeordnetenwatch.de/recherchen/parteispenden/dubiose-firmenspenden-aus-den-niederlanden-bringen-cdu-in-erklaerungsnot) and the CDU Lichtenberg pledged for immediate building rights during the BVV. Another burn: the complex was named “Coppi-Park” but the descendant asked the rightfully question why “the name of two murdered resistance fighters should decorate a modern office complex” (https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1111837.hans-coppi-kein-kommerz-mit-dem-widerstand.html). I can imagine the local residents are and will not be that happy about it either, but at least there will be no more spotlights that shine into the windows. ↩︎