The “Blueberry” is a newly built multi-purpose facility in the disadvantaged inner-city area “Flughafenkiez” in Berlin’s Neukölln district, which was inaugurated in September 2024. It was initiated by the neighbourhood management and combines in a unique way youth work, community development and library work. There is a 20-year long trustful cooperation between the neighborhood management and the public Helene-Nathan-Library, which resulted in this new building to experiment with new approaches of library work and outreach programmes for communities, which normally do not visit a public library. The “Blueberry” is also a test case to change the public library work in the district of Neukölln, which is currently setting up a new strategy for its four public libraries.

Presenter

Thomas Helfen, founder and CEO of Stadtkümmerei GmbH/Berlin; 20 years of experience in cooperation projects between public libraries and neighbourhood management; currently supporting Berlin’s Neukölln district to set up a development strategy for its public libraries.