Berlin city center
The term Berlin city center is a geographically unspecific name for the Berlin city center. It serves as the opposite word after the term 'Berlin' was referred to the borders of Greater Berlin from the incorporation in 1920 .
The polycentric structure of Berlin does not allow a single city center to be defined as in other large cities. In the superordinate road network of Berlin there are two regional centers, to which all routes are broadly oriented:
- the historical center , also eastern inner city and
- the City-West , also the western inner city
These are about six kilometers away in the districts of Mitte (with old Berlin) or Charlottenburg , Schöneberg , Wilmersdorf and Tiergarten (in West Berlin). Street signs also indicate both areas as the center, with the directions in the eastern part pointing to the Alexanderplatz / Rotes Rathaus area and in the western part to the Zoo / Breitscheidplatz area .
In the central areas of Berlin, the ring structures around the areas and suburbs of old Berlin and Charlottenburg are often used today . The Hobrecht Plan of 1862 already included this and showed a development plan for a projected size of 1.5 to 2 million inhabitants. This roughly corresponds to the current population within the Berlin Ringbahn or the projected Berlin city ring . Since the inner city within the ring itself does not mean a center, it is also referred to in writing as the inner city .
The further development of Berlin took place along the radial on railway lines and trunk roads, which are aligned to the Berlin city center. Within the central areas of Berlin, on the other hand, there are numerous cross-connections between the districts included via the S-Bahn , U-Bahn , tram and street routes.
Wilhelmine ring
The Hobrecht Plan in 1862 identified a street structure along which new buildings were to be built in a closed structure. At that time, around half a million people lived in the area covered by the development plan. The population tripled in the following 30 years, with the majority living in the tenements of the Wilhelminischer Ring , which were built around the former areas of old Berlin and Charlottenburg.
In the eastern part, a new ring road was already laid out with the Hobrecht plan, which was later closed via the Tiergarten to the Berlin inner city ring . The Ringbahn also partially cuts through the development areas. The distance between the Frankfurter Tor and the Brandenburg Gate in the inner city ring is about five kilometers.
Ringbahn
The connecting line between the terminal stations in Old Berlin, which was built in 1851, soon no longer met the requirements, so that a ring line outside the city limits of that time began to be planned. The decision to build it took place in 1866, and the eastern ring was opened in 1871. At that time, the development of the Wilhelminischer Ring had not yet grown to the line. By 1877, the railway line was also closed on the western ring, where it was also outside the city limits of what was then the city of Charlottenburg.
Due to its location on embankments and in incisions, the Berlin Ringbahn represents a natural barrier between the inner central areas and the outlying districts. The distance between Ostkreuz and Westkreuz of the Ringbahn is about 14 kilometers.
Motorway ring
While the ring structures in the eastern part were completed in the 19th century, the upswing in the western part took place a little later. The general train was fortified around 1880, the Kurfürstendamm was fortified around 1885, Breitscheidplatz was established around 1890 , and from 1895 it developed into a city center that was called the 'New West' (as opposed to the 'Old West' at Potsdamer Platz ) . In the Roaring Twenties , the zoo was already an extensive entertainment district.
The reorganization of the city districts as part of the urban renewal of Berlin after 1945 changed some traffic routes. The main goal here is the car-friendly city with a motorway ring around the city center. In the course of the division of Berlin, this was only promoted in what was then West Berlin until 1990 . The area at Bahnhof Zoo developed during this time as the business center of the West. While the motorway ring in the south-western part lies parallel to the ring line, it has already been moved a little outwards in the north-western part. The extension of the Ringstrasse in the north-eastern part was planned along the borders of Berlin from 1920, again outside the Ringbahn. The resolution for a completely closed motorway ring took place in July 1955.
Western downtown
With the division of Berlin in 1958 ( Berlin crisis ) and 1961 ( construction of the Wall ), urban development in enclosed West Berlin changed . In the period since the 19th century, the development along the railway lines has been promoted. Now new residential areas could only be excavated in between. This applies not only to individual blocks, but also to large estates such as Gropiusstadt to the south (built 1962–1975), to the north the Märkisches Viertel (built 1963–1974) and to the west the Falkenhagener Feld (from 1962). The underground lines , which until then had only developed a little beyond the boundaries of the Ringbahn, were now continued up to the then city limits. Today's line U7 in the direction of Rudow , with its large distance between stations, has in part the function of a rapid transit system that otherwise falls under the Berlin S-Bahn .
In the city center, the streets and trams were not consistently aligned with the existing business district in the triangle of Bahnhof Zoo , Wittenbergplatz and Ku'damm-Eck . This would only have led to heavy traffic jams, so bypasses were set up, some of which are reflected in the cityscape as ring structures. For example, Lietzenburger Strasse was widened and completed with Olivaer Platz in 1961, which is already over 1.5 kilometers west of Ku'damm-Eck on Kurfürstenstrasse , and a few hundred meters further, Adenauerplatz was tunneled under (1974). To the north of this, Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse allows the further bypass, which runs parallel to the Wilmersdorfer Strasse shopping street in the immediate vicinity . This was declared a pedestrian zone in 1978 and, with an extension of the U7 line, it was also opened up for public transport .
The inner city of West Berlin developed far west from the zoo. The entire Kurfürstendamm up to the Berlin Exhibition Center at the radio tower is lined with shops, and the adjacent residential areas are criss-crossed by smaller businesses and restaurants. With the reunification of Germany, part of the city center functions of the new Berlin was again transferred to more eastern areas, so that the western city center shrank somewhat, but continues to exist as an independent center ' City-West '. The historical alignment of roadways and railway lines in the former West Berlin means that this inner city is still the easiest to reach from the western districts.
Berlin center
With the division of Berlin, the historical center was in East Berlin , but the business center at Potsdamer Platz was destroyed and was in no man's land. The traditional seat of government at the Reichstag also fell to West Berlin. The area between Friedrichstrasse station and Alexanderplatz station remained as the eastern inner city. The Palace of the Republic with the seat of the People's Chamber , the parliament of the GDR , was later built into the area (1973–1976). To the south of this, Leipziger Strasse was also redesigned (from 1969).
Even before the central fallow land to the west of Alexanderplatz was built, work began in the 1950s to redesign the areas east of Alexanderplatz . The magnificent buildings on what was then Stalinallee are particularly well-known as showcases of real-life socialism . In the later years the new buildings gave way to simpler forms of the prefabricated housing estates. Overall, the inner city shifted to the east, and the Ostbahnhof was redesigned to become the main train station of Berlin as the capital of the GDR.
When developing the city center of East Berlin, it should be noted that the buildings in the Wilhelminischer Ring around the Mitte district continued to fall into disrepair. The disregarded Wilhelminian style buildings in the neighboring districts of Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain were to have a decisive effect around the turn of the millennium. In the area around the Ostbahnhof, however, the Wilhelminian-style buildings have been almost completely removed.
Historic center
With German reunification , the district of Mitte experienced a significant reorientation. The Potsdamer Platz was rebuilt as a business center, Friedrichstrasse transformed with new buildings, and so began an urban development that penetrated west again. The area at the Ostbahnhof and the former Stalinallee shrank accordingly. In a multiple reassessment of the urban development, the term City-Ost was followed by the term Historic Center of Berlin , which is located entirely in the Mitte district. The main influx of residents and institutions into the re-emerging German capital was concentrated in this area around the turn of the millennium.
The historical center was formally defined in 2002 as the district of the medieval fortress Berlin together with the western suburbs Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt , which were incorporated in 1710 and border the Tiergarten . The historical center extends roughly from the Brandenburg Gate to Alexanderplatz.
Downtown plan 1999
When defining the city center plan from 1999, the Berlin Senate was guided by the areas of the regional centers of Berlin. In the eastern part the borders closely follow the location of the historical excise wall of the 19th century. In the western part, the borders tightly enclose the historically developed areas of the general train in the south-west, including the zoo, and adjacent to the north-west, the location of the Technical University of Charlottenburg. In the northern area, a planned development area is also included at the main train station, which was still under construction in 1999. The zoo with the planned seat of the federal government at the Reichstag, and the area of the rebuilt business center at Potsdamer Platz are included in this plan.
Historically, the plan was created in view of the shrinking processes in the eastern and western inner city as a result of reunification in 1990. The cores of the business centers East and West are connected via areas in between. This hinge extends from Potsdamer Platz via the government district to the new central station . In the 1990s, Berlin also shrank economically, so that the concentration on a smaller area offered the expectation that investments here will remain in the long term even with a reduced base. The 2001 Berlin banking scandal further restricted urban development initiatives. However, the upswing in Berlin that followed soon overtook these plans.
Inner City Planning 2010
In contrast to the definition of the inner city plan in 1999 , the Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing named the following area under consideration as the Inner City 2010 plan . The definition simply adopts the location of the Berlin Ringbahn, but defines some special development areas in it, and marks some areas outside the Ringbahn as part of the plan: the trade fair location in the west, the area of the Rummelsburger Bucht in the east and the Schöneberger Linse at the Südkreuz train station.
The motivation for moving away from the 1999 plan lies in the development of areas outside the inner city outlined there. For example, the business center on Wilmersdorfer Strasse did not break away. The City-West was therefore again shown almost in its entirety as the “observation area” of the inner city. In addition, there are Heidestrasse / Europacity and the area around the Humboldthafen , Tempelhofer Freiheit , the area at Schöneberger Südkreuz and the Obere Stadtspree (eastern Spree area). The latter developed as an entertainment district near Warschauer Straße , including the RAW site (since 1999).
While the 1999 plan showed a gapless area of the city center, the 2010 revision did not connect the viewing areas with transitions. They only have the inner city as a point of reference, in which the individual viewing areas are only connected in terms of traffic, but exist within their boundaries independently of one another.
Inner city ring
When reunification took place in 1990, the Prenzlauer Berg district presented itself as the largest contiguous redevelopment area. Beginning near Berlin-Mitte, public funds were also invested here in order to achieve a minimum standard. The vacancy and the investments made it easier for cultural institutions and small companies to settle here - little by little, the area from Berlin-Mitte to the Ringbahn was criss-crossed by numerous shops.
As a result of the onset of gentrification , a number of facilities moved to neighboring districts and in particular followed the existing infrastructure of the transport rings that were already laid out in the Hobrecht Plan. In the 2000s and 2010s, the areas south to Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg in particular experienced an appreciation, which is then also reflected in the area under consideration of the 2010 plan. Numerous influx of workers and the settlement of companies took place in this area, so that it can be seen as part of the eastern inner city. This takes on the size of Berlin again in 1920 and goes even further with upgrading to Neukölln.
With the completion of the Tiergarten Spreebogen tunnel in 2006, the traffic ring structure already envisaged in the Hobrecht plan was given the opportunity to close it into a complete inner city ring of Berlin . The bottleneck in the northern part along Invalidenstrasse was widened from 2011 to 2015.
Districts
Even before 1920 the following districts belonged to the city of Berlin:
- center
- Zoo
- Wedding
- Prenzlauer Berg (then: Prenzlauer Tor)
- Friedrichshain
- Kreuzberg (then: Hallesches Tor)
- Moabit
The Ringbahn, which was already built at that time, still completely or largely surrounded the following districts:
The districts were subsequently restructured so that today, in addition to the districts mentioned, the following are also within the Ringbahn:
- Halensee (formerly: Wilmersdorf)
- Hansaviertel (formerly: Tiergarten)
- Gesundbrunnen (formerly: Wedding)
Comparison with other metropolises
The built sections of the autobahn and the Berlin Ringbahn are only slightly larger than the Boulevard Périphérique , which forms the city limits of Paris - in an east-west direction, the distance from Porte de St Cloud to Porte de Montreuil is around 13 kilometers. The 14 kilometers in Berlin in the east-west direction is opposed to a somewhat smaller north-south expansion in Berlin - the distance from Südkreuz to Nordkreuz (today: Gesundbrunnen ) in Berlin is about 10 kilometers and is therefore about the same as the North-south extension of Paris between Porte d'Italie and Porte de Clignancourt .
The Middle Ring of Munich , on the other hand, is only slightly larger than the inner city ring of Berlin - the distance from Donnersbergbrücke to Leuchtenbergring in Munich is almost 7 kilometers and is therefore just as far as the distance from the Brandenburg Gate to Ostkreuz in Berlin. The dense development in Munich, however, extends further - the length of the main S-Bahn line from Munich (in east-west direction) between the endpoints Pasing via Ostbahnhof on to Berg am Laim is already 14 kilometers. In Munich, these are the end points to which the lines branch, very similar to the lines from Ostkreuz and Westkreuz in Berlin, which lead over the traversing Stadtbahn route .
The dense development in Berlin extends beyond the boundaries of the Ringbahn. In the business areas of the car sharing providers, for example, some areas that have spread along the railway lines of Berlin from the city center have been included to varying degrees. In addition to Westend , this includes in particular Grunewald , Frohnau and parts of Steglitz in the southwest, parts of Lichtenberg in the east, parts of Pankow in the northeast and parts of Reinickendorf in the north.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Inner City plan - spatial expansion . In: Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing . Retrieved October 27, 2017.