Governing “Zombieland”: Territorial Stigma and the Reorganization of Urban Action through Local Businesses

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: Governance

Abstract

In 2024, Frankfurt’s main train station district (Bahnhofsviertel) received international attention when it was described as “zombieland,” intensifying tensions in a district that is economically central yet socially contested. While public discourse frames the area as a geographically fixed problem, everyday life unfolds within a complex urban setting marked by overlapping economic interests, informal regulatory arrangements, and differentiated criminal structures. Amid longstanding struggles among municipal authorities, investors, residents, and other actors, small local businesses have increasingly taken on a central role by initiating and coordinating practical measures within the quarter.

This paper analyzes territorial stigma from an urban governance perspective by examining how intensified stigmatization restructures local micro-governing capacity in the quarter. Conceptualizing the neighborhood as a field of negotiated relations among formal organizations and informal groupings, the study traces how reputational crisis reshapes governing dynamics on the ground.

The analysis draws on an ongoing grounded theory study based on semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, participant observation, and documentary evidence. The findings show that escalating stigma generates broad agreement that change is necessary while fragmenting collective coordination. Within this context, small, capital-poor businesses emerge as key governing actors. Through materially grounded and incrementally coordinated measures, they mobilize municipal departments and corporate actors without producing comprehensive redevelopment. Territorial stigma thus operates as a structuring condition that redistributes governing capacity toward embedded actors, demonstrating how governance in stigmatized districts unfolds through practice-based coordination rather than consolidated authority.

Author

• Elisabeth Busch, EBS University für Wirtschaft und Recht