During last week’s excursion to U Kottbusser Tor, I witnessed a familiar cultural phenomenon after walking out of the station: a pair of shoes hanging from power lines down the bridge. This familiarity struck me because, while studying in New York, I had often noticed the same practice on traffic lights as well. From this, my first conclusion is that the phenomenon is not confined to a single region and does not seem to follow a clear ethnic boundary. According to my preliminary research, this phenomenon appears mostly in North American and European countries.
Then the question goes how this is “cultural.” If we view cityscapes as a second natural order that we may encounter every day – the city infrastructures, traffic lights, subways, parks, etc. – these spontaneous, oddly appeared shoes hanging practices includes not in it. Besides, we can also view the city as political. The way everything is designed represents a certain political belief. If cities are designed by a relational order whose overarching system, then this practice of shoe hanging is an opposing voice of such. It breaks the original photoscape and adds a new layer of meaning to the surrounding community. The fact that I record such cultural phenomenon may also deliver a political message of which I believe the existence of this “surplus” is legitimate and people shall accept whatever these shoes represent.
There are several theories surrounding this peculiar practice. Various online sources suggest it may serve as a gang symbol, a rite of passage, or a commemorative gesture. Ultimately, the meaning appears to be fluid, shifting with context and depending largely on the intentions of those who throw the shoes. I would warn that to focus only on plurality is mere formalism, ignoring the power dynamics behind it. U Kottbusser Tor magnifies Berlin’s urban contradictions: a historic immigrant hub now caught between poverty, diversity, and gentrification. It is once a multicultural meeting ground and a contested site where communities, crimes, and politics collide. With this cultural background in mind, the sight of shoes hanging outside the Kottbusser Tor subway station can be read as a possible marker of criminal activity. Such an interpretation aligns with local anxieties about drugs and gangs in the area, even if it represents only one among several competing explanations for the practice.