Berlin is a city of reinvention on every level – people come here to reinvent themselves and the city itself is always reinventing itself. With a constant influx of people coming to Berlin every year to experience its rich history, its many festivals or just its political security, the future of the city could go in many directions. Will housing become even more competitive? Will the city find ways to become more environmentally friendly? Will the coronavirus force the city to stagnate or will creativity continue to flourish? Right now, Berlin seems to be on the verge of another phase of reinvention.
100 Years Berlin – Unfinished Metropolis, a free exhibition at the Kronprinzenpalais that is still open until February 2021 but currently closed due to the November lockdown, seeks to answer some of these questions by examining the past century. Unfinished Metropolis celebrates the centenary of the greater Berlin area and asks the visitor to examine the past to look to the future. The exhibition reviews the successes and failures of urban planning over the past 100 years in Berlin and also presents the winning entries of the International Urban Design Ideas Competition for Berlin-Brandenburg 2070. These entries give an idea of what to what the city could look like in 50 years. Here’s what these winning entries have to offer.
Berlin and Brandenburg grow together
The first-place proposal provides for the areas of Berlin and Brandenburg to develop within their borders. With sustainability in mind, cities would then be connected not by highways, but by public transport networks to increase mobility between these internally expanding areas. In addition to developing from within, the proposal suggests that the city is developing around new railway lines. The two examples of areas proposed by the proposal lie between Südkreuz and Tempelhofer Feld (in Berlin) and Bernau (in Brandenburg). Going forward, we can expect to see both of these areas grow and become trending new real estate by 2070.
Bernd Albers Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH, Vogt Landschaft GmbH, Arup Deutschland GmbH
Old space, new use
Berlin already has a tendency to reuse old buildings: factories are turning into clubs, Tempelhof is now a park, even Badeschiff was once a huge shipping container. This trend will probably continue in the years to come, the winning proposal also foresees a “special densification and optimization”, that is to say, to give new life to the spaces already available. In line with the previous plan, the proposal calls for the development of vacant land and brownfield sites in the city instead of outward expansion. We can expect to see fewer demolitions and more renovations in the years to come. Do you know that you pass an empty spot to get to the train every morning? It won’t be empty by 2070.
Jordi & Keller Architekten / Pellnitz Architektur und Städtebau (Berlin), Christina Kautz Landschaftsarchitektur, Ludwig Krause Stadtplaner
Brandenburg will be cool
Dorfkinder, rejoice! Most of the winning proposals include plans to develop Brandenburg to connect it to Berlin. This not only includes the construction of new housing complexes and maybe some outdoor gardens, but also the ecological development of land to produce a productive environment to increase sustainability and economic value. The project proposes a “transition zone” between urban and rural areas of sustainably developed land. This means that in 2070 we will head to Brandenburg for day trips or evenings and pass through green areas on the way.
Kopperroth / SMAQ / Alex Wall (Berlin und Cambridge, USA), Dipl.-Ing. Stefan Tischer, freischaffender Landschaftsarchitekt, Office MMK – Urban technologies
More water!
While it is impossible to predict the future in social, cultural or economic terms, science can tell us very clearly that our planet is warming. In the coming years, Berlin and Brandenburg will get hotter due to global climate change. The fourth place proposal is to extend the waterways, canals and lakes of Berlin and Brandenburg to keep the region cool and preserve the high quality of life. One of these specific proposals is to create a new district between the Spree and Landwehr Canal (the area encompassing Heinrich-Heine Straße and Kotti) and even to link the two waterways. This area would be completely car free and full of parks and canals – that sounds like prime real estate to me.
Thomas Stellmach Planning and architecture / fabulism GbR (Berlin), Lysann Schmidt Landschaftsarchitektur, Melissa Gómez (Beraterin für nachhaltige Mobilität und urbane Innovation), Marcus Andreas (Berater für Nachhaltigkeit), Florian Strange (Berater für Urbanismus) & Design Prozesse
Even more city centers
Berlin is already known for its plethora of “city centers” (is it Alexanderplatz? Kuddam? Mitte?), But the fifth place proposal foresees even more city centers. The “Urban Islands” project suggests that we build cities within cities – to relieve competition and tensions between city centers and surrounding areas. Each district would have its own small town center constituting an “urban archipelago”.
Pedro Pitarch (Madrid)
While it’s impossible to imagine where we’ll be in 50 years, both individually and societally, the International Urban Design Ideas Competition gives us a pretty good idea of where our city is going. We can expect to see innovative companies popping up in old buildings, more parks, green spaces and waterways, and maybe even we will all want to move to Brandenburg. By 2070 Berlin will have reinvented itself again – a whole new city awaits us.
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through Adri
November 4, 2020
in the stories