home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Multimedia Mania
/
abacus-multimedia-mania.iso
/
dp
/
0019
/
00190.txt
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-07-27
|
9KB
|
159 lines
$Unique_ID{bob00190}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Unified Germany
Millions in Investment are Still Required...}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{German Embassy, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{German Embassy, Washington DC}
$Subject{berlin
city
centre
federal
now
once
even
state
too
west}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Title: Unified Germany
Book: Scala
Author: German Embassy, Washington DC
Affiliation: German Embassy, Washington DC
Date: 1990
Millions in Investment are Still Required...
The decision on the capital city question is to be made by the new
Bundestag after the first all-German elections and it will probably go in
favour of Berlin. For Berlin itself this will involve: the restoration of the
government district, the replanning of the whole central area of the city with
its valuable and large unused spaces, dealing with increasing traffic volumes,
increases in house building, wider regional planning and the establishment of
new recreational areas. This will involve a lot of concentrated thought and a
great deal of controversial discussion. Highly detailed work will be required
and it is to be hoped that no bad decisions will be made that cannot then be
put right, as this task represents the most important duty to be carried out
by politicians and town planners this century. The solutions they find will
determine the future face of Berlin. However, even without the question of
whether Berlin should be the capital there are many, probably even more
problems to be solved. West Berlin was a prosperous city in the middle of the
GDR, even if this was also due to support from federal funds. In east Berlin,
on the other hand, most houses are in a state of decay, the roads uneven, the
hospitals old-fashioned and most factories uncompetitive. If the two halves of
Berlin are to become one city in December 1990, with one administration and
one budget, it will then be almost impossible to distribute the limited funds
available in an equitable way - so that the standards found in the western
part of the city can soon be achieved in the east without neglecting important
work which has to be done in the west. Berlin will remain dependent on federal
aid for many years. The city's income from taxation will only slowly grow when
new enterprises - mainly in the service sector - are established here. The
large investment project planned by Daimler-Benz at Potsdamer
Platz - controversial because of its position and the fact that it will
anticipate an overall urban development plan which has yet to be drawn up - is
a sign which should not be underestimated here.
Berlin will - it is to be expected - not only become a political centre,
but also the cultural metropolis for the surrounding region, the economic link
to the developing markets in Eastern Europe, a market place, congress centre,
leisure centre, perhaps media and film city once again, and by no means last
on the list, with its many universities, colleges and institutes an important
scientific, research and training centre. The city will attract the newly rich
and also the poor who wish to have a share in its wealth. This does not only
have advantages. Berlin will become more densely populated, narrower and
harsher. The volume of traffic will increase and rents rise. A building boom
will also be barely able to reduce the housing shortages.
... BUT THE CITY WILL ALSO ATTRACT THE RICH
Berlin is in a state of rapid transformation. Life is getting faster.
Much is unpredictable. In the eastern part of Berlin in particular, where
individual developments were bridled by the party and state for decades,
dozens of new bars, shops, galleries, fashion studios, workshops or taxi firms
are being established, but a large proportion of them will have taken on too
much and once again disappear from the scene. Between the Potsdamer Platz and
the Landwehrkanal, where a flea market is still held at weekends, soon the
bulldozers and building workers will arrive - after the area has once again
been searched for unexploded bombs left over from the Second World War so that
nothing can go seriously wrong. Where today you will still find the Turkish
bazaar at the disused Bulowstrasse railway station, soon the trains will be
rolling again as the old line is needed now that the border is open.
Museum experts are assessing the buildings on the Museum Island in
the city centre and considering how the collections which were divided by the
war can once again be brought together so that there are no longer two
Egyptian Museums, two National Galleries, and so on - so that Menzel's
"Eisenwalzwerk" joins Menzel's "Flotenkonzert" and Boticelli's "Paradise"
Boticelli's "Hell".
Thus, everything will come together: streets, railway lines, city
councils, authorities, police forces and fire brigades, the official and
fringe cultural scenes, above all, however, the people and their surroundings.
Old links are establishing themselves again. There is enough material here to
maintain for decades the joy of discovery experienced by art historians,
architects, tourists and those with a passion for nostalgia. Old structures
and traditions are once again coming to the surface after having so long been
covered by restricted zones, mismanagement and decay. There are more solid
foundations available than it might appear at first glance because a lot was
simply concealed in the shadow of the Wall, behind fencing and empty plots of
land or beneath the dust of past decades.
Now that the Wall is breached more and more streets are being made
passable and traffic is increasing. For example, the once isolated district of
Kreuzberg is next to the city centre and now it is suddenly at the very centre
of things. Yuppies are slowly moving into the "alternative scene", looking for
elegant old apartments which they can convert, and with their cars and
consumer habits they are changing the face of the district and its social
structure.
Thus on both sides there is demand which has to be satisfied, things
which have to be caught up on and which often complement one another in a
rather fortunate way.
Nevertheless, here too the words of Federal President Richard von
Weizsacker also apply - what belongs together should grow together, but it
should not be allowed to develop in an uncontrolled way. Strength, spontaneity
and even a certain amount of chaos are fitting in a metropolis, but it must
not be allowed to be suffocated by the fact that too many people want too
much, all on the same spot.
It is still too early to foresee what the city will draw into its centre
and what would be best left at its periphery. The provinces of the former GDR
will need Berlin as a motor, as a service centre, as a centre of innovation
and a central information exchange.
Unexpected opportunities are presenting themselves for lawyers,
accountants, tax consultants, management schools, brokers, investment firms,
company headquarters, the retail, wholesale and export trades, the computer
industry and not least the building industry and architects.
The record construction boom in the City of London during the eighties
will now repeat itself in Berlin, but hopefully this will not lead to the
uncontrolled and arbitrary architecture which pays no regard to the
neighbourhood, the surroundings and tradition, and which justifiably angered
Prince Charles so much. Many people in Berlin are highly concerned about
whether their politicians will have the foresight and courage to take the
right decisions and lay down standards which allow Berlin to regain its unique
identity - now that the chance really exists - rather than allowing it to be
disfigured as a result of rash and ill-considered action.
BERLIN
According to Berlin's constitution and the Basic Law of the Federal
Republic of Germany Berlin is one of the Federal Republic's federal states.
As a result of the illegal division of the city at the end of 1948,
however, previously only West Berlin was a federal state of the Federal
Republic of Germany. In contravention of the agreements the Allies had made
about Germany, East Berlin - the Soviet sector - was made part of the GDR and
its capital city. In 1949 the Western powers laid down that West Berlin could
not be ruled directly by the federal government, and its deputies in the
Bundestag and Bundesrat could not have full voting rights. They retained
sovereignty over West Berlin; Four Power Status continued to pertain to the
whole city, even though it could no longer be applied to East Berlin. Since
zero hour on 3 October Four Power rule no longer applies - Berlin is now one
city again and a federal state with the same rights as others. A city
parliament for the whole of Berlin is to be elected on 2 December.