Boroughs and neighborhoods of Berlin

The boroughs and neighbourhoods of Berlin

Berlin is both a city and one of Germany’s federal states (See: City state). Since a 2001 administrative reform, it has been made up of twelve boroughs or districts (German: Bezirke, pronounced [bəˈtsɪʁkə]), each with its own local government, though all boroughs are subject to Berlin’s city and state government.

Each borough is governed by a council (Bezirksamt) with five councillors (Bezirksstadträte) and a borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The borough council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). The borough governments' power is limited, and subordinate to the Berlin Senate. The borough mayors form a council of mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister, led by the city's governing mayor), which advises the Senate.

History

Main article: Greater Berlin Act

Twenty-three former boroughs (1990–2000)

Each borough is made up of several officially recognized subdistricts or neighborhoods (Ortsteile in German, sometimes called quarters in English). These neighborhoods typically have a historical identity as former independent cities, villages, or rural municipalities that were united in 1920 as part of the Greater Berlin Act, forming the basis for the present-day city and state. The neighborhoods do not have their own governmental bodies, but are recognized by the city and the boroughs for planning and statistical purposes. Berliners often identify more with the neighborhood where they live than with the borough that governs them. The neighborhoods are further subdivided into statistical tracts, which are mainly used for planning and statistical purposes. The statistical tracts correspond roughly but not exactly with neighbourhoods recognized by residents.

When Greater Berlin was established in 1920, the city was organized into twenty boroughs, most of which were named after their largest component neighborhood, often a former city or municipality; others, such as Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg, were named for geographic features.

By 2000, Berlin comprised twenty-three boroughs, as three new boroughs had been created in East Berlin. Today Berlin is divided into twelve boroughs (Bezirke), reduced from twenty-three boroughs before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform.

Boroughs

An administrative reform in 2001 merged the existing boroughs into the current 12 boroughs, as listed below.

Borough	Population 31 March 2010	Area in km²	Density per km²	Map
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf	319,628	64.72	4,878
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg	268,225	20.16	13,187
Lichtenberg	259,881	52.29	4,952
Marzahn-Hellersdorf	248,264	61.74	4,046
Mitte	332,919	39.47	8,272
Neukölln	310,283	44.93	6,804
Pankow	366,441	103.01	3,476
Reinickendorf	240,454	89.46	2,712
Spandau	223,962	91.91	2,441
Steglitz-Zehlendorf	293,989	102.50	2,818
Tempelhof-Schöneberg	335,060	53.09	6,256
Treptow-Köpenick	241,335	168.42	1,406

Administration

The borough government is part of the two-stage administration of the Berlin city-state, whereby the Senate and its affiliated agencies, institutions and municipal enterprises form the first stage of the so-called Hauptverwaltung (central administration). On second position, the boroughs enjoy a certain grade of autonomy—though in no way comparable to the German Landkreise districts or independent cities, nor even to the local government of a common municipality as a legal entity, as according to the Berlin Constitution the legal status of the city as a German state itself is that of a unified municipality (Einheitsgemeinde). The power of the borough governments is limited and their performance of assigned tasks is subject to a regulatory supervision by the Senate.

Nevertheless, the twelve self-governing boroughs have constitutional status and are themselves subdivided into two administrative bodies: each is governed by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, BVV) and a full-time borough council (Bezirksamt), consisting of four councilors (Bezirksstadträte) and headed by a borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The BVV assembly is directly elected by the borough's population and therefore acts as a borough parliament, though it is officially part of the executive. It elects the members of the borough council, checks its daily administration and is able to make applications and recommendations. The twelve borough mayors regularly meet in the Council of Mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister), led by the city's Governing Mayor; the council answers to and advises the Senate.

The localities have no local government bodies, and the administrative duties of the former locality representative, the Ortsvorsteher, were taken over by the borough mayors.

Coats of arms

The mural crown of the coats of arms of Berliner Bezirke

All the coats of arms of Berliner boroughs (the current as the ones in the period 1990-2001) have some common points: The shield has a Spanish form and the coronet is represented by a mural crown: 3 towers in red bricks with the coat of arms of Berlin in the middle.

Most of the coats of arms of current boroughs have changed some elements in their field: Some of them have created a "fusion" of themes of the merged Bezirke (Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Lichtenberg, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg); others have modified their themes taken from one of the two (or more) former merged boroughs (Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Mitte and Treptow-Köpenick). Only the unchanged boroughs of Neukölln, Reinickendorf and Spandau haven't changed their field. The coat of arms of Pankow was created with a new design in 2008, having been the only district without an emblem for 7 years.

Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg

Lichtenberg

Marzahn-Hellersdorf

Mitte

Neukölln

Pankow

Reinickendorf

Spandau

Steglitz-Zehlendorf

Tempelhof-Schöneberg

Treptow-Köpenick

Localities

As of 2012, the twelve boroughs are made up of a total of 96 officially recognized localities (Ortsteile). Almost all of them are further subdivided into several other zones (defined in German as Ortslagen, Teile, Stadtviertel, Orte etc.). The largest Ortsteil is Köpenick (34.9 km² or 13.5 sq mi), the smallest one is Hansaviertel (53 ha or 130 acres). The most populated is Neukölln (154,127 inhabitants in 2009), the least populated is Malchow (450 inhabitants in 2008).

(01) Mitte

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(0101) Mitte	10.70	79,582	7,445
(0102) Moabit	7.72	69,425	8,993
(0103) Hansaviertel	0.53	5,889	11,111
(0104) Tiergarten	5.17	12,486	2,415
(0105) Wedding	9.23	76,363	8,273
(0106) Gesundbrunnen	6.13	82,729	13,496

(02) Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(0201) Friedrichshain	9.78	114,050	11,662
(0202) Kreuzberg	10.40	147,227	14,184

(03) Pankow

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(0301) Prenzlauer Berg	11.00	142,319	12,991
(0302) Weißensee	7.93	45,485	5,736
(0303) Blankenburg	6.03	6,550	1,086
(0304) Heinersdorf	3.95	6,580	1,666
(0305) Karow	6.65	18,258	2,746
(0306) Stadtrandsiedlung Malchow	5.68	1,166	205
(0307) Pankow	5.66	55,854	9,868
(0308) Blankenfelde	13.40	1,917	144
(0309) Buch	18.20	13,188	727
(0310) Französisch Buchholz	12.00	18,766	1,560
(0311) Niederschönhausen	6.49	26,903	4,145
(0312) Rosenthal	4.90	8,933	1,823
(0313) Wilhelmsruh	1.37	7,216	5,267

(04) Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(0401) Charlottenburg	10.60	118,704	11,198
(0402) Wilmersdorf	7.16	92,815	12,963
(0403) Schmargendorf	3.59	19,750	5,501
(0404) Grunewald	22.30	10,014	448
(0405) Westend	13.50	37,883	2,800
(0406) Charlottenburg-Nord	6.20	17,327	2,795
(0407) Halensee	1.27	13,966	10,997

(05) Spandau

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(0501) Spandau	8.03	33,433	4,164
(0502) Haselhorst	4.73	13,668	2,891
(0503) Siemensstadt	5.66	11,388	2,012
(0504) Staaken	10.90	41,470	3,810
(0505) Gatow	10.10	3,908	386
(0506) Kladow	14.80	13,628	922
(0507) Hakenfelde	20.40	26,337	1,292
(0508) Falkenhagener Feld	6.88	34,778	5,056
(0509) Wilhelmstadt	10.40	37,080	3,558

(06) Steglitz-Zehlendorf

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(0601) Steglitz	6.79	70,555	10,391
(0602) Lichterfelde	18.20	78,338	4,300
(0603) Lankwitz	6.99	40,385	5,778
(0604) Zehlendorf	18.80	57,902	3,075
(0605) Dahlem	8.39	14,966	1,784
(0606) Nikolassee	19.60	15,899	811
(0607) Wannsee	23.70	9,044	382

(07) Tempelhof-Schöneberg

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(0701) Schöneberg	10.60	116,743	11,003
(0702) Friedenau	1.65	26,736	16,204
(0703) Tempelhof	12.20	54,382	4,458
(0704) Mariendorf	9.38	48,882	5,211
(0705) Marienfelde	9.15	30,151	3,295
(0706) Lichtenrade	10.10	49,451	4,896

(08) Neukölln

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(0801) Neukölln	11.70	154,127	13,173
(0802) Britz	12.40	38,334	3,091
(0803) Buckow	6.35	38,018	5,987
(0804) Rudow	11.80	41,040	3,478
(0805) Gropiusstadt	2.66	35,844	13,475

(09) Treptow-Köpenick

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(0901) Alt-Treptow	2.31	10,426	4,513
(0902) Plänterwald	3.01	10,618	3,528
(0903) Baumschulenweg	4.82	16,780	3,481
(0904) Johannisthal	6.54	17,650	2,699
(0905) Niederschöneweide	3.49	10,043	2,878
(0906) Altglienicke	7.89	26,101	3,308
(0907) Adlershof	6.11	15,112	2,473
(0908) Bohnsdorf	6.52	10,751	1,649
(0909) Oberschöneweide	6.18	17,094	2,766
(0910) Köpenick	34.90	59,201	1,695
(0911) Friedrichshagen	14.00	17,285	1,233
(0912) Rahnsdorf	21.50	8,891	414
(0913) Grünau	9.13	5,482	600
(0914) Müggelheim	22.20	6,350	286
(0915) Schmöckwitz	17.10	4,117	240

(10) Marzahn-Hellersdorf

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(1001) Marzahn	19.50	102,398	5,240
(1002) Biesdorf	12.40	24,543	1,973
(1003) Kaulsdorf	8.81	18,732	2,126
(1004) Mahlsdorf	12.90	26,852	2,075
(1005) Hellersdorf	8.10	72,602	8,963

(11) Lichtenberg

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(1101) Friedrichsfelde	5.55	50,010	9,011
(1102) Karlshorst	6.60	21,329	3,232
(1103) Lichtenberg	7.22	32,295	4,473
(1104) Falkenberg	3.06	1,164	380
(1106) Malchow	1.54	450	292
(1107) Wartenberg	6.92	2,433	352
(1109) Neu-Hohenschönhausen	5.16	53,698	10,407
(1110) Alt-Hohenschönhausen	9.33	41,780	4,478
(1111) Fennpfuhl	2.12	30,932	14,591
(1112) Rummelsburg	4.52	17,567	3,887

• Codes 1105 and 1108 (this one to former Hohenschönhausen locality) are not assigned

(12) Reinickendorf

Locality	Area in km²	Population as of 2008	Density inhabitants per km²	Map
(1201) Reinickendorf	10.50	72,859	6,939
(1202) Tegel	33.70	33,417	992
(1203) Konradshöhe	2.20	5,997	2,726
(1204) Heiligensee	10.70	17,641	1,649
(1205) Frohnau	7.80	17,025	2,183
(1206) Hermsdorf	6.10	16,503	2,705
(1207) Waidmannslust	2.30	10,022	4,357
(1208) Lübars	5.00	4,915	983
(1209) Wittenau	5.87	22,696	3,866
(1210) Märkisches Viertel	3.20	35,206	11,002
(1211) Borsigwalde	2.03	6,432	3,168

See also

• Politics of Berlin
• Berlin Police

External links

• Media related to Boroughs of Berlin at Wikimedia Commons
• Media related to Localities of Berlin at Wikimedia Commons