Urban Development Concept Berlin 2030: Status Report: Conclusions

Berlin’s cultural landscape is highly diversified, possessing outstanding cultural institutions with international renown, a very particular building culture marked by historical disruptions, and a creative scene with hardly a rival in terms of its diversity. It lives off the connection to new currents, both embracing Berlin’s cultural legacy and clashing with the unique history of the city. Berlin offered and offers ever more leeway for innovative and creative ideas. Art and culture have an important function for the integration and identity formation of its urban society. Berlin is a diverse national and international culture exchange. The following factors deserve particular emphasis.

Strengths

• comprehensive cultural offerings with outstanding museums and theatres; a wide array of cultural events in all fields and genres spanning the entire city (K1)
• Berlin is distinguished by the high quality of its spatial and structural design, which developed over its history; countless contemporary witnesses of various eras
• premium architecture; prestigious location for large-scale urban development projects
• tourist attractions (culture, architectural heritage) (K3)
• significant importance as a location for culture economy and media, a centre of gravity for the creative industries (K2)
• diverse urban community in terms of cultural backgrounds (nationalities, religions, lifestyles, etc.)
• cosmopolitanism and metropolitan aplomb
• Berlin as a mirror of the course of time (mixture of past and present), nationally and internationally renowned urban quarters
• pronounced public funding for art and culture

Weaknesses

• partially overwrought architectural heritage through extensive new investments
• insufficient financial security for local cultural offerings, challenging social situation for artists
• cutthroat competition also affects artists and art spaces
• strong dependence on public funding

Opportunities

• post-industrial open areas for creative uses
• image of the Berlin’s cultural wealth as a location factor, allure for creatives from the rest of Germany and abroad, diversity as a location factor
• cultural enrichment through international exchange
• culture as a contribution to education and social participation
• architectural renewal by virtue of renovation and new investment

Threats

• too little spatial differentiation in the development and promotion of cultural locations, lack of clear priorities
• Commercialisation/“eventisation” and overuse of the public space
• appreciation effects with losses of creative open spaces
• cultural offerings oriented too much towards visitors and too little towards residents, focus on the touristically exploitable inner city