Berlin, a mecca of culture and creativity

[pesto]

All right, Dr. Cosmo, the jig is up. A small entrepreneur and investor called me today and mentioned that he wanted to do a "Berlin deal", only in Brazil. I didn't know the expression so he said, that's where you take a US website and do a knockoff: kluge together some software, register names and put up a site in some country outside the US quickly before the US company has time to register its tradenames, etc. Apparently even some very large companies have found it easier to payoff these pirates rather than litigate and lose time.

This explains why I have never seen VC's funding Berlin based start-ups. The legit ones wouldn't get involved in this.

He pointed me toward several articles about how Berlin is the world capital for doing this. Some of these are pay-access, but there are quite a few articles on the subject if you Google "samwer brothers".

Interestingly, two Americans are trying to change Berlin's image as the "copycat capital of the world" and bring legitimate business development techniques, creativity and market analysis to the huge number of unemployed in Berlin.

For those who would like to get into this racket, he tells me that Brazil is the new place for this kind of thing since government enforcement is lax if you create jobs.

[Dr_Cosmo]

Yo pesto,
I didn´t really get the point of your post. What is the statement you are making ....?

[Anderson Geimz]

Originally Posted by pesto

All right, Dr. Cosmo, the jig is up. A small entrepreneur and investor called me today and mentioned that he wanted to do a "Berlin deal", only in Brazil. I didn't know the expression so he said, that's where you take a US website and do a knockoff: kluge together some software, register names and put up a site in some country outside the US quickly before the US company has time to register its tradenames, etc. Apparently even some very large companies have found it easier to payoff these pirates rather than litigate and lose time.

This explains why I have never seen VC's funding Berlin based start-ups. The legit ones wouldn't get involved in this.

He pointed me toward several articles about how Berlin is the world capital for doing this. Some of these are pay-access, but there are quite a few articles on the subject if you Google "samwer brothers".

Interestingly, two Americans are trying to change Berlin's image as the "copycat capital of the world" and bring legitimate business development techniques, creativity and market analysis to the huge number of unemployed in Berlin.

For those who would like to get into this racket, he tells me that Brazil is the new place for this kind of thing since government enforcement is lax if you create jobs.

You're truly one of the biggest morons on this forum...

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by pesto

All right, Dr. Cosmo, the jig is up. A small entrepreneur and investor called me today and mentioned that he wanted to do a "Berlin deal", only in Brazil. I didn't know the expression so he said, that's where you take a US website and do a knockoff: kluge together some software, register names and put up a site in some country outside the US quickly before the US company has time to register its tradenames, etc. Apparently even some very large companies have found it easier to payoff these pirates rather than litigate and lose time.

This explains why I have never seen VC's funding Berlin based start-ups. The legit ones wouldn't get involved in this.

He pointed me toward several articles about how Berlin is the world capital for doing this. Some of these are pay-access, but there are quite a few articles on the subject if you Google "samwer brothers".

Interestingly, two Americans are trying to change Berlin's image as the "copycat capital of the world" and bring legitimate business development techniques, creativity and market analysis to the huge number of unemployed in Berlin.

For those who would like to get into this racket, he tells me that Brazil is the new place for this kind of thing since government enforcement is lax if you create jobs.

???? What does this have to do with anything? Do you think this is a major part of the Berlin economy or something?

[Dr_Cosmo]

"Berlin 2000-2011: Playing among the Ruins," showing at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo provides a glimpse of the German capital's current scene.

Playful imagery born out of Berlin's ruins - Japan Times

Quote: Berlin is a place that artists want to be. It attracts them from all over the globe

image hosted on flickr

[Metro007]

I should once again go back to Berlin since i've heard only nice things about it!

It really seems to be one of the hottest cities in Europe! How did they say? Poor but sexy? ;-)

[Dr_Cosmo]

Once a year.

The largest adult entertainment fair in the world, the Venus Berlin....

[Suburbanist]

I just went to Berlin for a short visit. It looks a better city than 4 years ago, but it surely needs to keep the clean-up and removing all the glitter and becoming a more flashy place, to say so.

Retail looks somehow run-down as a whole, maybe they are needing some market shake-up.

I was quite happy to see gentrification ins former trashy areas, but there is a lot to be done in that area, tearing down some no-longer-in-use communist era industrial buildings and cracking down on graffiti and illegal street vendors. Because there are so much areas to be regenerated, gentrification happens at a slower pace, but it is going, which is important. First time I went to Berlin I felt like I were in some 3rd World city's poor district in some areas that now looks more up-to-the-ranks of a modern metropolis.

But there are signs of progress, that is the important thing.

Also, I love cheap parking in Berlin. Parking in the Postdamplatz at 1/4 of the price I pay in Amsterdam is reason for joy on my wallet.

Hopefully, they will speed up completion of the A110, helping to organize the traffic flow that doesn't have to pass in central areas of Berlin.

And they gave some refreshing face lift to some boulevards, leaving them even nicer. Just hope they ditch some ill-placed street names that evoke politicians and militants of communism, who should have their names wiped out from any street in Europe IMO. But it is a minor detail.

[SkyBridge]

So basically you want to replace everything that makes Berlin what it is with a clean city like all others?

[Suburbanist]

Originally Posted by SkyBridge

So basically you want to replace everything that makes Berlin what it is with a clean city like all others?

What attracts me in Berlin are the wiiiide boulevards, the Reichstag, the TV tower, the abundant greenery and the overall sensation, save for the overrated Mitte district, that it is a place with room to breath and should it need plenty of farmland to expand over as well!

Removing the grit, the graffiti, the run-down districts would improve Berlin's profile as a city for people who, on top of all the other stuff, value law, organization, order and neatness. The Kreuzberg, for instance, is a disgrace for Berlin as a district, a mix of everything that is wrong in major European cities. It should be pretty much renewed like they renewed other areas of the city, with glass, steel, open-plan streets etc. The Friedrichshain area, OTOH, has improved vastly over the last 4 years or so was my impression. The Prenzlauer Berg area impressed my somehow as well.


=-========================================

Talking of Berlin, I've got two questions:

1) what is planned for the former Tempelhof Airport and soon to be former Texel Airport sites? Some business district with cool towers?

2) I've seen in different places of the city some pipes running overground, like 2m high. One of them, colored in pink, along the esplanade south of Postdamlplatz. What are these pipes for?

[SkyBridge]

Wow, must be a boring city you have in sight then. I would at least never come back and this also goes for the majority of the young tourists.
I always book a hotel in Kreuzberg because this, alongside Friedrichshain, is my favourite area of the entire city! And I know of many people who do the same.
And why rebuild? There is BEAUTIFUL architecture in these neighborhoods that is far more timeproof than glass and steel.

[Xorcist]

well...i LOVE the "bergmannkiez" in kreuzberg, a beautiful area, great buildings and at bergmannstrasse you have great cafés, bars, restaurants and nice liddle shops...so...kreuzberg offers a lot...even "kottbusser tor" area (which looks quite rundown) is very interessting...oranienstrasse with all the bars, restaurants...hell there is even a gay muslim party once a month ("gayhane" at SO36)...so...it´s a cultural melting pot...and at "engelbecken" you have very new, quite posh residential projects...so...XBERG is one of the most interessting districts of berlin...multikulti, gay, posh, eco, alternativ, party....a vibrant "kiez"

[Blackpool88]

Kreuzberg is my favorite part of Berlin... Suburbanist; It sounds like you have got the complete wrong end of the stick about what attracts people to Berlin, the grit, the rough edges are what give it an energy and character, bollocks to gentrification!

[Wunderknabe]

Blackpool: no, Berlin (just like most other mayor cities) attracts people for various reasons. Suburbanist's reasons are just as legit as yours.
The clean, impressive "prussian" image of Berlin is also a part of its soul and I must say, I also adore those parts.

Suburbanist:
1) This pdf contains various ideas of how the Tegel-Airport area could be developed.

2) I think those pipes contain all the pipes and wires of the infrastructure bypassing the regular ones while construction work is done in them.

[Blackpool88]

Originally Posted by Wunderknabe

Blackpool: no, Berlin (just like most other mayor cities) attracts people for various reasons. Suburbanist's reasons are just as legit as yours.
The clean, impressive "prussian" image of Berlin is also a part of its soul and I must say, I also adore those parts.

Suburbanist:
1) This pdf contains various ideas of how the Tegel-Airport area could be developed.

2) I think those pipes contain all the pipes and wires of the infrastructure bypassing the regular ones while construction work is done in them.

Exactly, that's why I said "rough edges" I know it's not all like that but is the contrast that lends it a certain vibrancy in my eyes.

[SkyBridge]

And let's not forget: gentrified areas drive away creative people more than the rundown areas do.

[Suburbanist]

Originally Posted by SkyBridge

And let's not forget: gentrified areas drive away creative people more than the rundown areas do.

Only the creative who didn't got a payout for their creativity. Who needs a district full of unemployed, poor, low-earners but awesome creative people? A place full of ill-adjusted and socially outcasts that seem to be attracted to the worst parts of a city. Those places must be brought up to standards, that they are dominated by creative instead of merely low skilled ppl doesn't make a quasi-slum right. And parts of Berlin, unfortunately, are still run on the logic that clean streets, clean buildings and conformity to law are not basic things in a developed country city.

[SkyBridge]

Wow. Your vision of the world is very limited.
Being a creative worker myself, I know how long it takes until you can earn a living with your talent. Also, I choose to live in these areas as they are vibrant, cheap and offer a lot of space for your money.

[Suburbanist]

Originally Posted by SkyBridge

Wow. Your vision of the world is very limited.
Being a creative worker myself, I know how long it takes until you can earn a living with your talent. Also, I choose to live in these areas as they are vibrant, cheap and offer a lot of space for your money.

Sure, and that is ok.

But because a person is in a creative field, doesn't mean graffiti, run-down stores, litter, trash, crumbling buildings, stores looking like they were from Weimar Republic are acceptable things in a modern city.

[Chrissib]

Some districts of Berlin truly are a shame for the city and the country, but I am glad that rents and prices explode all over Berlin, driving out undesireable elements. My hope for Berlin is that it gets rid of that poor and sexy image and starts getting the most advanced, cleanest and richest city in Germany once again.

Berlin should start to get rid of it's communist rubbish buildings and replace them with dense and packed residential and office areas. Narrowing the streets and building on unnecessary green space on wide streets will give life back to Berlin, after it was raped by the Nazis, the WWII bombings and then the communists in the east and leftist urban renewers in the west, who replaced good buildings of the 1871-1914 period with commieblocks and unnecessary greenery.