Berlin’s Urban Development & Bicycle Network

Berlin’s Urban Development History

To understand the location of Radbahn in the urban context of Berlin, you need to look into the history of urban development in the German capital. At the beginning of the 19th century, Berlin had 200,000 inhabitants, but with increasing industrialization there was huge population growth. Within a short space of time, Berlin grew out of its medieval walls into a city of millions, appropriating communities, and, from then on, having to deal with problems of hygiene, supply and waste disposal, as well as traffic.

In the 1860s, along the lines of Haussmann's plan for Paris, the so-called Hobrecht plan was adopted: the train from the Südstern to Breitscheidplatz; the ring roads and radial arterial roads; sewage treatment plants for wastewater on the urban periphery, as well as the typical densely built Berlin tenements go back to this plan. The first Berlin subway was built between 1896 and 1902: the U1.

The architect Alfred Grenander developed the design for the viaduct pillars, which have shaped the the city from then on. The adornments in the Art Nouveau style are still present today on a few pillars and elevated platforms, making the U1, together with its particular orientation, diagonal to all the arterial roads that intersect it, a catalyst for urban life.