Archive: The Capital City of Berlin - Documentation

This paved the way politically for the realisation of the urban development necessary for the relocation. The most important goals, which planning was now to be based on, were specified:

• Berlin should become an tolerant, forward-looking capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, which remaining able to respect historical references is also capable of responding to ever-changing challenges;
• Foreign missions - as well as organisations and media - should be able to locate themselves in Berlin-Mitte;
• The cultural and academic institutions located in Berlin-Mitte are, together with their urban environment, to be retained and fostered. Berlin-Mitte should acquire a new ambient as a place of politics, learning and culture;
• Alongside the reservation of the available locations for the Federal Government, Berlin-Mitte should also remain a socially balanced residential location.

The State of Berlin laid down six developmental aims in its urban structure concept of February 1992, which served as the basis for land use planning:

1. Parliament and Government are ranked on a par with the important cultural, scientific and economic institutions in the centre of Berlin. The functions of the state capital are to be integrated into the structure of the city under consideration of security requirements and should be sealed off from the public as little as possible - mono-functional areas are to be avoided.
2. The most important institutions are to be divided into spatial centres:
   1. The Parliamentary Quarter (with complimentary functions) is envisaged in the area of the Spreebogen, around the Reichstag and on the north bank of the Spree in an attractive situation at the edge of the historical city centre.
   2. Ministries will be located on both sides of the Otto-Grotewohl-Straße (Wilhelmstraße), with a focus south of the Leipziger Straße. Government functions could also be located in the historical city centre around Marx-Engels-Platz, in particular on its south side. Here it should be noted that the City Hall, as political centre of the City of Berlin, will require an environment appropriate to this function.
   3. Diplomatic and state missions have been designated the area around the Tiergarten.
3. Commuter and long-distance rail transport will both be given a higher priority through the resolution to modernise and raise the capacity of the Stadtbahn line as well as the construction of a high-capacity north-south rail connection.
4. Green spaces are to be retained, restored and linked.
5. Reference should be made to historical structures when relocating the government and parliamentary functions and the characteristic diverse appearance re-established. There should be no "dead areas" in any part of the inner city. Unilateral usage neither corresponds with the historical structures nor the intention of developing a vital centre.
6. The development of the state capital may not be carried out at the cost of those living in the area. Residential areas should be stabilised and extended by the construction of new accommodation in the inner city area.

The specification of these aims allowed the development areas and their subdivisions to be determined. Both contractual partners, the Federation and the State of Berlin, agreed that the federal constitutional bodies, foreign missions as well as parlia mentary and governmental facilities were to be accommodated in these areas. On the 17 June 1993, the State of Berlin formally set out the development measure necessary for the new state capital in the agreement, which regulated the procedure for planning and development of the infrastructure required by the state capital. The financing of these development measure could be stipulated in an administrative agreement between the Federation and State in May 1994.

Further and subsequent agreements specify the funding of the state capital in areas outside those covered in the main state capital development measure: the construction of three transport projects (underground and suburban railways and the road tunnel under the Tiergarten); the promotion of the arts and the extraordinary burdens the State incurs in carrying out functions "in the area in which the nation as a whole is represented". In particular, this last area includes the requirements for security, e.g. for high-ranking persons and official guests, which the State of Berlin meets for the State Capital.