The Daily Mail referred to Berlin’s successful approach to tackling the spread of coronavirus by exposing London’s death rate to be 15 times higher than Berlin [1]. Not only does this alarming fact expose the weakness of London’s approach, but it also conveys the effectiveness of Berlin’s responses to the pandemic. It also conveys the effectiveness of strict rules implemented both federally and centrally, which were criticised by other states for being too harsh and ‘draconian’ by the press [2].
Recognising the vulnerable population
Being the most densely populated city in Germany, it is understandable that Berlin requires a more specific federal approach that works in conjunction with the rules and policies implemented by central government. Most notably due to the fact that no one was able to predict the severity of the spread. Along with many other EU states, Germany closed their borders at a relatively early stage of the pandemic, while also enforcing a lockdown and banned events with more than 50 attendees [3]. However, exactly a week after the first case of coronavirus was identified in Berlin, the city opened ‘investigation points’ where citizens who feared they may have the disease are able to seek medical advice [4]. This highlights Berlin’s prompt action to protect its vulnerable population, most notably due to East Germany’s reputation for being ‘on the brink of demographic collapse’ because of their ageing population [5].
The city had also recognised the potential impact of the outbreak on the homeless due to their heightened chances of having pre-existing medical conditions, as well as their increased human contact compared to the rest of the city’s population. Berlin’s federal association responded by opening a hostel for the homeless at the end of March, and one of the leaders stated that ‘organisations helping the homeless need to be considered part of Germany’s critical infrastructure’ [6]. In this case, volunteers are one of the most important aspect of this infrastructure, and the capability for the city to organise this in such a timely manner highlights the strength of people in preventing a catastrophe.
Another notable action applied by Germany’s central government involved making masks a compulsory accessory when in public, where certain states imposed punishments in the form of fines. Berlin’s individual approach did not impose fines to those who didn’t wear masks, and instead relied on the goodwill of Berliners to respect each other harmoniously [7]. Interestingly, the city received demands by cyclists to create temporary cycle lanes to further improve distancing, and despite criticism from the Free Democratic Party, Berlin still went through with the plans [8]. Furthermore, residents in 133 other towns and cities across Germany have submitted applications for similar measures to be introduced in their neighborhoods [8]. Berlin have gone one step further however, and have allowed bike vendors to stay open in the capital.
At the time of writing this blog, Berlin is currently seeing a reduction in the number of new cases which shows the effectiveness of their approaches. Their next steps have been to focus on testing citizens which will permit the economy to soon restart itself. On the whole, it was a combination of the city’s response time, preparedness and identification of the vulnerable population which facilitated such outcome. Covid has proposed an ultimate challenge to all cities on how they manage the ongoing process of urbanization. The pandemic has highlighted the indispensable nature of clean air, something we all took for granted before. It urges them to consider a design approach to managing outbreaks in the future, and learn from this unexpected pandemic.
Here are the references used:
[1] – https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/london-coronavirus-capitals-death-rate-18174025
[2] – https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/18/merk-m18.html
[3] – https://www.ft.com/content/2f8967a2-66d6-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3
[5] – https://www.ft.com/content/05baa6ae-86dd-11e9-a028-86cea8523dc2
Urban Political Ecology UCL 