Berlin ranks among top global cities

[Lear 315]

Press Review (Last Weekend)

 

Somber, hopeful ceremonies mark 25 years since the Berlin Wall fell

CNN

 

 

Berlin now shines as a crown jewel of central Europe. It's a far cry from the city and the country that were bombed to ruins during World War II. And Germany is now the world's fourth largest economy and the driving market in the European Union.

Vibrant, Timid Berlin

New York Times

 

 

A QUARTER-CENTURY ago today, the Berlin Wall fell, and since then this city has been on a roll. It’s one of the party capitals of the world and an affordable center for young artists and musicians, with enough layers of history to inspire a novelist for a few lifetimes. And its economy has benefited greatly from a growing start-up scene. In a country dominated by pleasant but boring cities, Berlin is Germany’s one truly cosmopolitan metropolis.

 

Many of these accomplishments are laid out in “Berlin Now: The City After the Wall,” a recent book by the German author Peter Schneider. He is right in saying that in recent decades no other city “has changed as much — and for the better — as Berlin,” lauding the sense of openness that has drawn immigrants, revived the shattered Jewish population and made the city a magnet for a creative class that is also luring cutting-edge businesses.

 

Berlin: a tale of two cities

Financial Times

 

 

Everyone talks about the global artists, clubbers and wannabes colonising the world’s cheapest cosmopolitan city, but tech yuppies and the government caravan are fast pricing out the artists. Current Berlin chatter about house prices recalls Ireland circa 2003. Moreover, tourist hordes have replaced the old occupying armies. The greatest miracle wrought by capitalism and depoliticisation: Berlin now has polite shop assistants and taxi drivers.

Berlin’s Fractious Unity

NYT

 

 

In short, Berlin is finding new ways to celebrate, to feel good about ourselves as Berliners, as Germans, no “east” or “west” or “foreigners” allowed. The fact that more and more people feel at home in Berlin today is more or less unwittingly supported by the diversity of our government, which was unthinkable in the years of the Cold War. For the past nine years, a woman from the former East Germany has been running the country from right here in Berlin; the federal president, also from the East, lives out of wedlock with his partner; the Ministry of Finance is overseen by a vigorous and highly respected man who happens to use a wheelchair; the Ministry of Defense by a woman with seven children; the longtime mayor of Berlin — now stepping down — is openly gay.

 

25 Years After the Wall Cracked Open, a New Berlin Is Emerging

National Geographic

 

 

Awash in reminders of Germany's tragic past, the city is reinventing itself with a "good karma" vibe.

&

But for all its grievous history, Berlin might actually be a model, in embryo, of how to get the modern world right. It's the most unlikely of outcomes. Berlin—the city of trauma, of savagery and sorrow, an island for 40 years, no more connected to the rest of the continent than a space station—now, potentially, leading Europe into a civilized, open, generous future.

Hipster King Klaus Wowereit Rebuilt Berlin on Champagne and Anarchy

Business Insider

 

 

Yet it serves as the perfect epigraph for modern Berlin, a city which has cast off the cloak of Cold War suspicion and reinvented itself as Europe's capital of cool.

 

In Berlin, life is a cabaret — again

Washington Post

 

 

Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall — an anniversary marked Sunday — this brooding metropolis has gone from being a Cold War capital to a magnet for untamed youth. Relatively cheap rents and a fiercely bohemian sensibility have transformed Berlin into what Prague was in the 1990s and Buenos Aires was in the 2000s — a beacon for penniless hipsters, international artists and merrymakers of every stripe.

&

And, surveys show, many are coming at least partly to party — or, better said, to partake in a spurt of decadence not seen since the cabaret days of the 1930s. The cathedral of cool is Berghain, a seething world of drugs and sex that boasts hours-long lines and a random door policy that strikes fear into the hearts of all who try to enter. But the city is overflowing with ever more new temples to youthful exuberance, liberation and counterculture.

&

But in recent years, Berlin has seen an explosion in so-called creative industries — ranging from art spaces to tech start-ups to advertising firms — that have capitalized on its status as a beacon for youth.

 

‘No one in Berlin at that time will ever forget those days’

Gulfnews

 

 

 

The city of Berlin has a combative spirit. A never-say-die attitude, coupled with the will to prevail against the sternest of odds. These characteristics have been represented through various moments in European and world history, ancient and contemporary.

Berlin showcases the essence of the German spirit — ambition, progress, discovery and an ability to constantly rise above the limits set by others and by itself.

 

[murphaph 6,815]

That first NY Times article is a load of rubbish. Stuff like:

 

 

BUT when the city took concrete action, the results were usually closer to the agony of Berlin’s new airport. It is not only decades overdue, but like the central train station, it was built on the cheap. It has no subway connection, no dedicated light-rail line

Erm yeah it's way overdue and yeah it will have no light rail line or U-Bahn BUT the author fails to mention it WILL have S-Bahn, Regio AND IC/E trains stopping directly under the terminal.

[Lear 315]

Well, I guess these news fit in here as well….

 

Germany tops USA as world's favorite country

Nation Brand Index

 

1. Germany

2. USA

3. UK

4. France

5. Canada

6. Japan

7. Italy

8. Switzerland

9. Australia

10.Sweden

 

 

The pollsters asked 20,000 people in 20 countries their opinion of 50 leading nations across six categories: exports , government, culture, people, tourism, and immigration and investment.

 

Germany's biggest gain over 2013 was in the “Top sporting performance“ category, as people had become familiar with the grinning faces of the World Cup-winning football team over the summer.

 

But GfK found other key factors helped put Germany on top, including its leading role in European politics, strong economic performance and high-profile international engagement.

 

Germany boosted its score in the “honest and competent government“ category and topped the table for investment climate and social equality categories.

 

[kludgie 3,098]

Berlin named most fun city in the world to visit

 

* the authors possibly never tried the local version of Indian cuisine. ;)

[El Jeffo 39,697]

Well, y'all are welcome to come visit, but please don't forget to leave again.

 

And if really must stay, make sure you bring some marketable skills with you and learn to speak some German, FFS.

[Lear 315]

The seven most popular DW articles of 2014

Deutsche Welle

 

1. How Berlin has ruined living anywhere else

Berlin is becoming ever more popular with tourists and young professionals.

No wonder DW reporter Anne-Sophie Brändlin's account of her passionate love story with the German capital was our most-read article this year.

[fraufruit 36,222]

Lear The Linker strikes again.

[Lear 315]

:D

 

Will Berlin Out-Innovate Silicon Valley?

Forbes

 

 

The latest high-tech buzz out of Europe has Berlin emerging as the next Silicon Valley. Attracted by Berlin’s relatively cheap office space and affordable lifestyle, entrepreneurs from around the world are settling in and cranking out innovations including big data, cloud, e-commerce, and business-to-consumer solutions. Some experts say Berlin’s diverse startup community has a unique blend of creative talent well-aligned to the next generation of technology that focuses on people first.

 

 

[El Jeffo 39,697]

 

Will Berlin Out-Innovate Silicon Valley?

 

No.

 

Want to know why? Guess what the first thing every Berlin startup that gets VC funding does.

 

Did you guess "open a branch office in Silicon Valley"? There's your answer.

[Guest]

Except studivz

[Lear 315]

Hub Culture 2015 Zeitgeist Ranking

 

Hub Culture has revealed its 9th Annual Zeitgeist Ranking - an annual snapshot of the world’s leading hubs and the cultural references resonating at the moment.

 

For years, this ranking has taken the subjective views of members, combined with a finger on the pulse and various bits of data to identify a magical list marking of-the-moment power, attention and influence around the world.

 

 

 

7. Berlin (2014 Rank: 12)

The city of two faces continues to impress. One of the only places in the world to consistently place in our top 10, its been amazing watching the evolution of Germany’s capital.

 

It’s startup and technology credentials, increasingly with an environmental flair, maintain momentum, while its bureaucratic insistence of unwavering policies toward the rest of Europe continue to roil the blood of many.

 

This year, an added emphasis to the east emerges as Berlin negotiates the fragile egg that is Urkaine. Berlin also seeks to prevent the Baltics from cracking, and its more assertive international role has not gone unnoticed by the US.

 

The city rusts and gleams, both at once.

 

 

[Lear 315]

Two Cities, Two Europes

National Geographic

 

 

The Teutonic capital buzzes with the surge of postcommunist freedom, thriving on its reputation as the turbulent dance capital of Europe

 

&

 

Berlin, loose, post-authoritarian, the most open and absorbent of European cities, troubled, if at all, only by the problems of success—and almost careless about what the future might bring.

 

&

 

“In Berlin,” the poet and journalist Kostas Kanavouris said to me through the cigarette smoke as we sat talking in an Athens café, “everyone thinks they are a Berliner—whoever they are, wherever they have come from, however long they have been there.

 

 

[Lear 315]

The world's most hipster destinations

Stuff.co.nz (New Zealand)

 

 

Berlin is cool because it doesn't even appear to be trying. And yet it's still the coolest place you've ever been.

 

Every disused warehouse has been turned into a music venue or an indie art gallery.

 

Every spare building wall seems to be covered in high-quality street art. There are clubs and venues catering to every fetish and whim.

 

The politics are progressive, the food is cosmopolitan, and the fashion is on point. Hence the influx of tourists who want to be cool by association.

Berlin cuisine B)

[Moondancer 5,720]

Man, I thought that was going to be an article about those "delicious" curry wursts.

[Lear 315]

The Youthful Cities index

rated cities across the globe using 101 different indicators.

 

 

 

1. New York

2. London

3. Berlin

4. San Francisco

5. Paris

6. Toronto

7. Chicago

8. Los Angeles

9. Mexico City

10. Amsterdam

 

 

[Lear 315]

More cities aim to establish start-up clusters
Financial Times

 

Successful clusters tend to be in attractive cities. 

“There is at this moment no more vibrant metropole in the world with a better life standard in quality and price than Berlin,” 

says Lenard Krawinkel, founder and chief executive of Zoobe, developer of an animated mobile phone messaging app.

Eastharborsunset by Nelofee-Foto, en Flickr

[Lear 315]

Berlin roars up 'best city' rankings
&
2015  City  2014  2013

1.Tokyo…2.. .4
2.Vienna…6.. .5
3.Berlin…14.. 20
4.Melbourne.3.. .2
5.Sydney.11.. .9

While Hamburg and Munich slipped back one place each to 21 and 9 respectively, 

Berlin once again rocketed up the charts to come in as the 3rd most liveable city in the world.

[Lear 315]

Creative young Brits are quitting London for affordable Berlin
The Guardian

Berlin Trafficlights Colorkey by Marcus Klepper, on Flickr

[Lear 315]

Berlin beats London (in tech)
Politico

The city has never had trouble attracting digital workers. First they came from Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, but more recently also from countries such as Spain, Italy, France and the U.K.

Because of its isolation during the Cold War and the fact that West Berliners were exempted from the military draft, the city has long been a magnet for artists and counter-culture types. It’s a cheap place to live and work (though less so), and offers a vibrant nightlife for young techies.

[Lear 315]

In a United Germany, the Scars of
the East-West Divide Have Faded
New York Times

 

Yet against all expectations, Berlin — once the epitome of a divided Germany — 

has become a city beloved by the young, a chaotic, sprawling crucible for the creative and a magnet for millions of visitors.

[/QUOTE]

 

The sun is hiding by PhoenixArtPhotography, en Flickr

Latesummer - Morning over Berlin by Marcello Zerletti, on Flickr