25 Sep 24 // Symposium

Living in urban space

The future of Berlin's squares (Part 1)

Squares are places where traffic stops and urban life gathers. Berlin has more than 200 of these squares, many of which are splendid and regularly rank high in online polls of Berliners. Others are less successful, partly because they are characterised by street clashes and the excesses of the car-friendly city. And some, like Walther-Schreiber-Platz, are no longer recognisable.

Many of these public urban spaces in the metropolis will be renovated over the next few years, including Gendarmenmarkt and Europaplatz. The development programme for the open spaces around the Humboldt Forum was taken up again by the Senate Building Department in order to generate further developments.

This raises many questions: Which design concepts will be utilised? How should the quality of the respective areas be improved? What attention will be paid to accessibility? What role does rainwater management play? What are the effects on road traffic?

The event was organised in cooperation with the Architects‘ and Engineers’ Association of Berlin-Brandenburg and the Humboldt Forum.