What Makes Berlin’s Cultural Clusters Sing?

"Continuing my summer series on lessons learned from great cities, a recent trip to Berlin shone a light on the city’s three great cultural clusters, and what makes them sing. Or in one case, solitary. Of course inseparable from this conversation is the effectiveness of public space and what happens when the public takes ownership of a square or plaza and inhabit the space during most daylight hours."

"What you nurture becomes yours truly, whether an idea, a garden or a puppy. One reason babies and puppies are so lovable is to ensure their survival, because they require significant amounts of time, energy, and resources to grow and thrive. In a similar vein, if public spaces are to be nurtured by their surrounding inhabitants, they must be lovable."

Borys goes on to examine Berlin civic spaces in relation to some advice from the form-based SmartCode. And then gets into more detail on Berlin’s three cultural clusters: the Museum Island, Charlottenburg Schloss, and the Kulturforum. She wraps up with a quick look at some of the City's cycling network innovations.