Berlin, failed city?

The shortage of teachers in public schools is especially bleeding. It is very common for classes to be suspended because there are no substitutes. And the training of the students accuses him. A recent report by the Institute for the Development of Quality in Education (IQB) found that Berlin schoolchildren are below the national average in spelling and mathematics. Most of the buildings of schools and institutes need reforms and better means. Only 130 of 654 schools have fiber optic connections, according to the magazine focus.

Overcrowded classrooms and lack of housing – it is estimated that Berlin would need 125,000 more houses – are two sides of the challenge posed to the city by the constant arrival of new inhabitants, which also overloads public transport. In the last decade, the population has grown at a rate of between 50,000 and 100,000 a year, says Stefanie Remlinger, mayor of the Mitte district. “All big cities have problems, but the challenges in Berlin have been many these years: the arrival of thousands of refugees in 2015 and 2016, the pandemic, inflation, refugees again in 2022. In 2015 there was chaos, but this time no, and nobody recognizes it to us”, he laments in an interview with EL PAIS.

Criticism of the city’s poor governance dates back to the 1990s, when there were plenty of staff but little efficiency, recalls historian Ute Frevert. In the 2000s came cutbacks and a lack of teachers and police to prevent illegal activities. The city’s peculiar history, always attractive to immigrants, and its political past, as a city divided between east and west after 1945, explain part of its problems. “At the beginning of the 20th century, Berlin was known and admired throughout the world for its ultra-modern look,” she notes. It had grown very fast since the 1870s and had been planned accordingly with an innovative system of public transport, sanitation and urbanization that attracted urban planners from all over the world to learn from its experience.

“In a way, the union of East and West Berlin after 1989 poses as many problems as the union of East and West Germany. No other city had to face these challenges”, admits the historian, who believes that, in general, Berlin has done quite well. There are many data that prove him right.

The famous phrase of the mayor Klaus Wowereit, who described Berlin as “poor, but sexy”, is long out of date. The city, long considered Germany’s black hole of poverty, now ranks sixth among the 16 German Länder, with a gross domestic product (GDP) per inhabitant of 44,472 euros in 2021. The economy of the capital , based mainly on the service sector, is growing at a much higher rate than the rest of the regions.

Since 2015, GDP has increased by more than 30% compared to the 18% national average. And predictions such as that of the Ifo Institute suggest that it will follow that path in the next decade. The ICT and research sectors are pulling the bandwagon and already outnumber those of retail, tourism and hospitality, according to a recent analysis in the economic newspaper handelsblatt. Berlin attracts talent from all over the world. If in Germany on average 3.1 companies are created per 100,000 inhabitants, here it is 13.6. Venture capital flows to Berlin, where international investors put 4.9 billion euros last year for new companies, 50% of the total invested in Germany.

There are also many things that work in Berlin, services that are in short supply in other capitals. The historian Frevert comes up with, for example, the large number of public swimming pools or ice rinks. Despite the numerous cuts for works and repairs, public transport is fast and quite efficient. Garbage – scrupulously separated – is collected punctually. Berlin will be a disaster, but it is my disaster, think many in the capital, where speaking ill of her is not incompatible with adore her. Frevert sums it up well: “Those who choose to complain or point fingers still prefer to live in Berlin rather than in Stuttgart or Hamburg”.