The capital is typically the richest city in a country. But income per head in Berlin trails far behind that in Hamburg or Munich. Berliners have worse schools and fewer hospital beds than other Germans
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskInstalled this month, the public toilet at Kottbusser Tor has prompted jeers. Some scoff at its ugliness—a Twitter post calls it “liverwurst-coloured”. Others bemoan the five years it took the district government to build it—far longer than it took German boffins to invent a covid vaccine. Others note that it lacks disabled access.
Berlin’s reputation for scruffy dysfunction is deserved. From letters that never arrive, to rubbish left uncollected, to months-long waiting times at government offices, the city’s services poke holes in Germany’s reputation for efficiency. Berlin’s government bungled last year’s state election so badly that courts told it to it redo the whole thing. The tangles of artless graffiti that mar many walls suggest the city is afraid to grow up.
Whereas in other countries the capital is typically the richest city, income per head in Berlin trails far behind that in Hamburg or Munich. Berliners have worse schools and fewer hospital beds than other Germans. They complain more to landlords too, with reason: in a Facebook advice group for new arrivals in Germany’s capital, a Kottbusser Tor resident asks what to do about the “50+” rats scampering in his building’s courtyard.
Berliners take a certain pride in their city’s gracelessness. At least it used to be cheap, and thus a magnet for misfits and creative minds. But demand has pushed up rents. Even Kottbusser Tor seems to be gentrifying: a full week into its life, the new toilet block bears not a smudge of graffiti.
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