Showing posts with label Mitte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mitte. Show all posts
30.3.15
23.3.15
Independent mobility
The Statue of Liberty is welcoming all cosmopolitans. In the background, the Berlin TV Tower (Fernsehturm/ Alex Tower). Viewed from the mobility hub of the Berlin main station (Hauptbahnhof).
Kids in the 60s peeping over the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) using the kick scooter (tretroller) for children’s independent mobility.
2.3.15
Being in a car-centric environment - Unter den Linden
Being in a car-centric environment dwarfs the human. Unmotorised people walking or cycling have to move with the dictate of the machines moving. They are forced to breathe the exhaust and the dust of the asphalt. They run for their lives to not be squashed by the ever bigger cars.
Unter den Linden ("under the linden trees") is a large boulevard in the Mitte (middle) of Berlin. There was a time when flâneur wandered in the shady place. At other times it was a playground for military machines and parades. Today, many trees have disappeared and the place is studded with building sites and pipes.
Despite all the obstacles of this car-centric city 'design', one can dodge most hassles with a bike on this multi-lane parade. There is always time for a cup at Café Einstein Unter den Linden.
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1.3.15
Glitter Illusions for Babies in Berlin Mitte
This bike stands in the not yet 'developed' Postfuhramt. A beautiful 19th century post office that could house many horse-drawn postal wagons. Occasionally one can still hear the clip clop of (tourist) horse-drawn carriages on the cobbled streets of Mitte.
After 1989 a space-time of creativity arose. Bicycles were the dominant mode of transport in the area.
Once the old houses of the East where made trendy, people came from everywhere to live the life of a permanent party. The parties led to a lot of offspring and money flowed from the West to boost the project. With an influx of families and the associated capital the streets and footpaths were populated with inner city SUVs and family vans to cart the family and all its gear around the inner city. Many areas are like a big 24/7 creche now. A lot of cars are squeezing into the small streets and footpaths. The rest of the streetscape seems an endless row of child care, child speech therapist, child psychologist and child psychiatrist.
"Childhood" is a modern development: Philippe Ariès, Centuries of Childhood (1962)
23.2.15
22.2.15
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