Berlin Colors
If “city of light” has been coined as Paris’ most famous nickname, Berlin could probably be dubbed the “city of color”. From the bright saffron of Berlin’s subway trains to the pale blue of Kreuzberg’s and Neukölln’s Spätis, from the Tschitscheringrün of the disaffected buildings along the S-Bahn tracks to the vivid orange of the ubiquitous, Berlinesque public bins, the entire city is filled with peculiar hues of which it alone holds the secret. Yet all these colors also stem from its specific historical heritage—between Symbol der Teilung and interstice of infinite freedom, economic boom town and fragments torn by sociocultural inequalities, village spirit and spreading gentrification. Previously a “poor, but sexy” metropolis, what remains of the past in today’s sprawling urban fabric? How do Berlin’s residents navigate their city’s constant momentum of mutation and invention?
