Berlin: The End

Visiting Berlin quickly became the highlight of our trip to Germany. The amount of history, multiculturalism, and cohesion between the different parts of the city shone through at every turn. I was particularly surprised by how Berliners manage to balance the past and the present challenges of their country.

The tour of the East Berlin with Matti was eye opening as it revealed just how closely Berliners lived with the memory of World War II and the Cold War. Before the trip I thought East Berlin would be noticeably underdeveloped or the soviet architecture would dominate all the views. However, the opposite was true. East Berlin seemed like a thriving area and even the Soviet-style apartment blocks were not overly domineering or grim.

In fact, many of the East Berlin apartments and residential areas were an example of the lively diversity of Berlin. Whether it was visiting a small Vietnamese owned cafe or an urban garden in a cemetery, Berlin felt like it tied together the quaint vibes of Freiburg and Stuttgart with the metropolitan vibes of Hamburg.

However, I still felt like some of the tensions of sustainable development were not addressed in a particularly satisfying way. I greatly appreciated our chat with Thomas Lutze member of the German Bundestag. However, being close to the political heart of Germany reminded me of the German adverseness to risk and change that we have studied in terms of auto manufacturing, the war in Ukraine, and even migration. Despite this, Berlin reminded me that even large cities could foster cohesive and supportive environments in a sustainable manner.