Der Stadtverkehr als Kriterium der Strukturwandlungen Berlins

Abstract

A comparison of the routes and frequencies of Berlin's public transport before and after World War II (maps 1 and 2) facilitates an insight into the greatly changed geographical structure of the former German capital. The great reduction in the city core of both density of lines and frequency mirrors clearly the far-reaching decline of the functional importance of the former business and administrative centre which followed the destruction of the war, the considerable loss of capital-city functions, and the political administrative division. The post-war shift of numerous functions of the former 'city' to certain parts of the pre-1914 residential belt becomes as a corollary apparent in relatively, sometimes even absolutely, higher line densities and frequencies; the importance of the little damaged outer parts which is almost exclusively based on their residential function, finds its expression largely in a dense network of public transport lines. The sector boundary between West and East Berlin shows up as a fringe of little public transport and thus demonstrates the low intensity of urban life along this boundary and the small degree to which the two parts of the city are linked. On the basis of the changes in the structure of its public transport, the nature and extent of the changes of Berlin's geographical structure, known so far only in rough outlines, can be illustrated.