Explore Berlin’s Urban Transformation

Are you part of a public or private organization working in mobility, urban planning, or climate change? Are you seeking inspiration from other cities to shape your urban strategies or projects, while engaging in meaningful discussions about urban transformation with your colleagues?

Now is your chance! Starting this year, Berlin on Bike is proud to offer customized study tours designed specifically for professionals like you.

For over 20 years, Berlin on Bike has been offering tailor-made bike tours. Topics such as urban development, transportation planning, and sustainable mobility have become an increasing focus. Our guides bring diverse expertise, including urban planners and architects, who provide practical insights and in-depth knowledge.

With more than two decades of experience, we not only know the stories behind Berlin’s neighborhood transformations but also understand the details of its evolving infrastructure, changing business landscapes, and social transitions. These insights make us a unique partner for addressing the challenges and opportunities of urban development.

For us, the bicycle is more than just a means of transportation – it’s a tool to experience urban spaces firsthand. Our tours enable participants to gain a direct understanding of Berlin’s projects and urban transformations.

Our workshops and tours combine professional expertise with practical examples that can be experienced directly on-site. We tailor the content to the specific focus areas of your company or team.

Experience the transformation and future of Berlin with us – sustainable, mobile, and inspiring!

Berlin is a city in constant motion, renowned for one of the world’s most extensive public transport networks. Its transit system has evolved through a complex history, shaped by the aftermath of two world wars and the Cold War. Today, Berlin is taking ambitious steps to expand its network, also embracing forward-looking concepts like Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to integrate shared mobility solutions into the total mobility offer.

However, Berlin’s mobility story extends beyond public transport. Following World War II, traffic planning in both East and West Berlin prioritized the “car-oriented city” (Autogerechte Stadt), transforming public spaces into roads and parking lots. This focus on cars has left a legacy of noise, pollution, and traffic accidents. Yet, with the lowest car ownership rate in Germany, Berlin is seeing growing public resistance to car-centric projects, such as the controversial A100 highway extension.

This shift toward sustainable mobility gained momentum in 2018, when Berlin adopted a pioneering mobility law. Developed through a citizen-led process, the law aims to prioritize walking and cycling infrastructure while reimagining streets for people, not just vehicles. Still, its implementation faces significant challenges, including Berlin’s decentralized governmental structure and resistance from citizens, stakeholders and politicians.
To understand these dynamics, the study tour will explore Berlin’s mobility evolution—from its historical development before, during, and after the Berlin Wall, to its present-day policies and projects. Participants will engage in discussions about the city’s challenges and opportunities, drawing lessons that can inspire innovative solutions in their own cities.

The impact of climate change poses significant challenges for Berlin: urban heat islands, drought periods, and extreme rainfall events. To address these issues, it is crucial to reduce CO₂ emissions, for example by promoting sustainable construction methods like timber. At the same time, measures for adapting to climate change are essential,.

In this workshop and bike tour, we explore projects that aim to make Berlin more resilient to the effects of climate change. We visit innovative initiatives that demonstrate how the city is adapting to these new environmental realities. How can the preservation of the “Haus der Statistik” save significant amounts of embodied carbon and energy? How is the Spreekanal, a previously underused public space, being transformed into a recreational area and cooling zone for hot summer days?

We will also explore how urban gardening and green roofs can enhance biodiversity and mitigate the urban heat island effect. How can we redesign urban spaces to give more room to pedestrians and cyclists, while converting former parking lots into permeable surfaces that help with stormwater absorption or contribute to cooling through evaporation on hot days?

We’ll take a closer look at how local initiatives, from small urban gardening projects to large-scale green infrastructure plans, are contributing to a more sustainable and livable city.

This workshop invites you to discover how Berlin is responding to the challenges of climate change with innovative and adaptive solutions. We’ll examine how green urban spaces, sustainable building practices, and community initiatives are making the city more resilient, and how we can ensure Berlin remains a livable, climate-adapted city.

The late Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin from a bunch of sleepy old villages into one of Europe’s largest and most densely populated metropolises. Distances were short, and streets often served as vibrant public spaces. After the city’s division into East and West, two distinct urban planning paradigms emerged, both focusing on increasing division of urban functions and space for private cars. Particularly in the West, residents resisted many unsustainable developments, taking urban transformation into their own hands.

This bottom-up culture remains vibrant today. As Berlin continues to densify and attract investment, NGOs, researchers and many other organizations are advocating for accessible services and inclusive public spaces. Also, the government has been taken the 15-minute city as a source of inspiration aiming for similar goals. Inspired by Barcelona’s superblocks, Berlin is currently creating its own version—Kiezblocks.

This study tour highlights both positive and negative historical practices of urban densification and provide insights into what makes a successful 15-minute city and Superblock.

For a long time, Berlin was one of the most affordable capital cities in Europe, making it a magnet for creative minds and cultural professionals. However, today the city faces major challenges: rising rents and increasing gentrification are transforming the urban landscape. Who can still afford to live in Berlin? Who has access, and how much space remains for what the city is globally known for—art, culture, and creative diversity?

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city was marked by vacant buildings and unused spaces. But today, Berlin has been caught up in global processes like gentrification. Urban spaces are becoming scarce, and the battle for affordable housing has intensified. So, what solutions can we find to counter this trend? How can we preserve the social mix in neighborhoods while also providing space for art and culture? In this workshop, we’ll look at concrete examples of how Berlin neighborhoods remain vibrant and diverse despite gentrification.

In addition to affordable housing, we’ll also explore alternative living models that have a long history in Berlin: squatted houses, trailer communities, and cooperatives. These models not only promote social cohesion but also offer sustainable solutions for a growing city. We’ll examine projects that have successfully implemented these approaches and explore the opportunities they present for more inclusive urban development.

A distinctive feature of Berlin is its “bottom-up” approach to urban planning, which has deep roots in the city’s history. We’ll take a look at community-driven projects and show how they shape the urban landscape and contribute to a more sustainable, livable city for everyone.

This workshop invites you to discover Berlin from a new perspective: a city that, even in times of rising rents and gentrification, can maintain its creative and open culture. We’ll explore innovative projects and community-driven approaches that can make Berlin a more inclusive and equitable city for all.

Every study tour takes about 6 hours and contains of the following parts: