Zirkus Mond, an alternative circus troupe led by director Max Mohr, is leaving vacant land in northeast Berlin after eight years because the developer that permitted its use wants the site back. The troupe is relocating with its jugglers, dancers and acrobats. Over the past decade, Zirkus Mond and groups including Kollage Kollektiv, Jonny Knueppel and Mucha transformed the no-man’s-land known as die Greife into a cluster of bars, open-air discos and performance spaces. Berlin’s alternative culture has long developed in response to economic and property-market upheaval, from the Weimar Republic and the Cold War through the post-1989 use of cheap warehouses and industrial sites. Residential property prices have more than tripled in the past 15 years, while a far-left party that won a Berlin state election last month campaigned on taking housing from corporate landlords and capping rents. Interim usage rules enabled diskoBabel to operate die Greife without running water, using generators for electricity. Participants say Berlin remains tolerant and that its rules can allow alternative groups to operate in a legal grey area when they comply with regulations.