Berlin's plan for a car-free city prompts a bitter war of words

Many visitors to Graefekiez, a lively cobbled-road neighbourhood just - south of Berlin's centre, come in search of something new: a tattoo from an authentic Japanese parlour, a rare print from an off-grid gallery, a 4 am dive-bar beer.

- Philip Oltermann 

This summer, they can brace themselves for another novelty: for at least three months, local authorities are planning to scrap almost all of the neighbourhood's parking spaces as part of a social experiment to gauge the German capital's car-free future.

Exactly how long the trial will last, how many roads it will include, and whether the vacant parking spaces will be filled with ping-pong tables, plant pots or dining tables instead, the council will not reveal, with an impact expected from this month's Berlin state elections, a repeat of the September 2021 vote that was marred by delays and logistical errors.

The decision to hold back information may well be politically motivated: the business of getting from A to B has become the subject of a bitter culture war between car lovers and car haters in the runup to the vote. And Berlin's experimental approach to ushering out cars isn't only alienating petrolheads.

The city on the River Spree used to be feted for its public transport links, with its densely woven web of underground and overground trains, trams, buses and ferries. Wide roads make cycling popular and relatively safe.