Recreating an Urban Center Without Big Business

"A speculative construction boom in the 1990s, based on expectations that Berlin would become the new center of Europe, turned some areas into towering galleries of architectural chic. But it did little to address fundamental economic problems left behind by the Cold War division: Berlin hasn't learned how to live without the huge West and East German subsidies that no longer flow. And big employers have little reason to undertake the huge cost of moving here, beyond answering sentimental calls to recreate the Berlin of a century ago -- a proud national focus not only of government but also business, finance and industry."