Property Development Threatens Berlin Garden Colonies

BERLIN, GERMANY - AUGUST 29: Irmgard and Uli Schade, members of the Oeynhausen Small Garden Association garden colony, relax in the garden they have leased for the last 9 years in the colony on August 29, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. At the Oeynhausen colony about 300 of its 438 gardens are currently threatened by real estate development, as are about another 24 colonies across the city. Berlin has about 900 garden colonies that are owned by the city and that provide urban dwellers who don't have land of their own the opportunity to maintain a garden and escape the stress of urban life. Berlin is currently undergoing a housing squeeze and city authorities are beginning to sell some of the colonies to developers, which has caused outrage in a city where the colonies of small gardens are a deep-seated tradition going back over a century. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)