The new Berlin presents itself to visitors as an open city again. Brandenburg Gate – once a symbol of the divided Germany – has again become the emblem of the German capital. Around it, the new centre of Berlin is rising up, a unique urban setting in which the old joins with the new, and the future of the city becomes visible. Ten years after the Gate was opened, the building site fences are gradually coming down and the barriers are being cleared away. The city’s calendar of events lists official opening ceremonies for government buildings, embassies, television studios, stations, residential and business areas and new transport routes. The signs of new beginnings, new buildings and modernisation can be seen throughout the city.

In an area of about 891 square kilometres – as large as Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt am Main together – Berlin unites a large number of urban districts, centres and boroughs which are completely different in character. In the inner part of the city, the buildings of the Kulturforum on the southern edge of the Tiergarten and the modern office and shopping complex on Potsdamer Platz link the western city around Kurfürstendamm with the eastern city in the historical centre of Berlin between Brandenburg Gate and Alexanderplatz. To the north of the Tiergarten, the government and parliament buildings are being built in the meander of the Spree.

The ring of the S-Bahn urban railway encloses the most densely developed area of the city. Green areas such as the Tiergarten, Treptow Park, Friedrichshain and numerous other parks and gardens, along with about 400,000 trees along the streets of the city, ensure a favourable climate in the central districts. Outside the ring of the S-Bahn urban railway, the density of urban development is significantly lower. The outlying boroughs are characterised by large areas of new development, villa districts, lakes, rivers and forests. These areas form a gentle transition to the less populated surrounding area with its idyllic woodland, its lake scenery and wide open agricultural spaces. For Berlin, which is enclosed by the federal state of Brandenburg, the newly regained surrounding area is a unique recreation area “outside the front door” which offers sport, leisure and recreation facilities and major tourist attractions.