It ’s been a fourth of a one C since the Berlin Wall was torn down , and the metropolis is still mark by the architectural remains from a coevals of Soviet occupation . A new study of the city ’s occupant suggest that east and west Berlin remain culturally shared too — though they are still happy with their life overall .
Photo byDebbie Buisson
Over on Atlantic ’s CityLab , Feargus O’Sullivan reports ona monumental survey of Berlin resident , bring out last hebdomad . One of the most interesting findings from the study was that 46 percent of citizenry surveyed said that east and west Berlin residential area “ have little to do with each other . ” Easterners were slightly more likely to call attention to this cultural partitioning . plainly the division is n’t as keenly palpate as it was in 1990 , when 76 percent of Berlin ’s universe consider there were potent social division two groups .
Despite a sense of separation that still subsist between the two sides of a urban center that was once cut down the middle by a massive , fortified wall , today ’s Berlin is full of people who say they ’re glad .
O’Sullivan writes :
Asked on a scale leaf of one to five how satisfied they were , no district of the metropolis reported middling resolution below a healthy 3.76 . Interestingly , Berlin ’s happiness map let out a different side to the metropolis from the one usually impersonate when charting its rise as Europe ’s majuscule of cool . The glad area ( with a satisfaction score of 4.15 ) was the suburban working and lower in-between social class western borough ofSpandau , far off the tourist rhythm and arguably the area of Berlin that has changed least in the past 25 years . Meanwhile , the least slaked Berliners were in centrally locatedFriedrichshain - Kreuzberg , the metropolis ’s youngest borough and a place that ’s home to both newcomers to the city and a long - standing Turkish German population . It ’s easy enough to hypothecate reasons for lowly levels of satisfaction here . Many living in the area are inadequate and , being new , less well rooted , while the expanse is under general accent from speedy , supplanting - inducing rent ascent .
The with child picture nonetheless is that , compared to 2009 , atonement is up across the instrument panel , in all probability thanks to the metropolis ’s better economic system . This pollyannaish trend retain when look at the future . Asked how they run across Berlin ’s way of life over the next five long time , 58 pct were affirmative and 11 percent very optimistic .
Despite the fact that people in Berlin still struggle with the social division imposed on them by the Soviets , they ’re still able-bodied to reckon to the future with hope . The city is also get somewhat young , and has a gamy - than - average bit of people describing themselves as “ hedonists ” ( which really is n’t too surprising in a city long know for its radical artist , as well as a very in the lead - of - its - timegay rights movement in the 1920s ) .
Even as they continue ghost by history , cities can still convert and look to the future . Though one has to adopt that Berlin ’s sunny position is at least partly a result of its upright economic fortunes .
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