The Green IBA: A History of Renewal, Ecology and Solidarity

In architectural and urban history, the 1984/87 Internationale Bauausstellung Berlin (International Building Exhibition Berlin, or short IBA) with its numerous buildings by architects later celebrated as stars and its associated postmodern paradigm shift in urban planning towards the European city has long been the subject of historical consideration. Critical scholarship in recent years, primarily by international authors, has addressed the social problems of the time, such as the liberalization of the housing market, migration and integration, renovation of old buildings and participation. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that the IBA, with its primary mission of making West Berlin’s city center, ruined by a failed urban development and housing policy, a place worth living in once more, at the same time sought to create or upgrade living space not only on socially acceptable, but also radically ecological conditions.