Der Wettbewerb Gross-Berlin 1910

That the competition represented a central event in urban planning on the threshold of the 20th century and a milestone in the development of the discipline of urban planning was already recognized by its contemporaries. Accordingly, it is surprising how much it has been forgotten in the meantime and only hesitantly rediscovered. Above all, however, it is surprising that until now there has been no comprehensive monograph on this key competition.
Markus Tubbesing’s publication closes this gap and in doing so works out how significantly the Groß-Berlin competition stood out through its unusually multi-layered and integral approach to the planning of the modern metropolis: with its international orientation, scientific integration, the call for a planning synthesis of building areas, green space, and traffic lines, its demand for an overview that transcends scale and location, and an architectural synthesis of center, residential quarter, and suburb.
Today, just before the 100th anniversary of the municipality of “Greater Berlin” in 2020, the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region is once again facing major challenges. Due to the growth of population as well as commuter and goods flows, an expanding local transport system, a new long-distance railroad system and a new airport system, the question of how to approach the design of the metropolis arises once again. The urban planning visions of 1910 provide a rich theoretical and practical foundation for this.