Quote:
Originally Posted by kool maudit
Berlin also has the bones of a larger place.
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Yep.
Berlin had to overcome huge historical burdens. Keep in mind that the city was 50% destroyed in 1945. Then West-Berlin was a defacto geopolitically isolated enclave from 1961-1989. All elites and major companies fled from this place. The Eastern part, capital of the GDR, was economically mismanaged by a socialist regime.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, from 1990-2000, the city experienced a loss of 250.000 manufacturing jobs because Eastern German companies broke down. From 2000-2010 around 50.000 jobs in the city´s administration were cut, the unemployment rate in this time was 15- 20%. Only since then, after 2010, Berlin is re-emerging and growing, culturally, technologically, economically, demographically.
As a matter of fact: Some rail connections from Berlin are still not as fast than in pre-1933 levels. Berlin still has no competitive airport. A new one is set to be opened in 2020.
Although all these hardships had to be endured for around 70 years, Berlin in 2017 had the 4th largest city GDP in the EU after London, Paris and Madrid. So the potential for a prosperous future is there.