LiMa – learning from history – Oswald Mathias Unger

The biography of a city –

With the division of Berlin into a western and eastern part, a situation arose – even if it only affects the plan – that is reminiscent of the equalization point 700 years ago, when the city was a community consisting of the alliance of two cities, Berlin and Kölln. Comparable to the historical precedent of the double city, all important urban functions are present twice in the second divided city. The respective institution in the west of the city corresponds to the same in the east.

The juxtaposition of theses and antitheses, of left and right, of city and country, of province and metropolis, of East and West – in short, the juxtaposition of opposites is not Berlin’s weakness, but its strength. From this it can also be concluded that Berlin’s future is not threatened because it is divided, but that Berlin’s future is precisely the concept of contrasts and diversity.

Oswald Mathias Ungers,

quoted from: Idea-Process-Result. The Repair and Reconstruction of the City, Berlin IBA 1987. p. 258