I travel the world exploring high tech low life places. Most of these places are in Asia, but what about Europe? Wikipedia Cyberpunk page mentioned Sony Center in Berlin as an example of cyberpunk-influenced cityscape. Modern incarnations of cyberpunk are exact focus of this blog, so we’re going to Germany!
Potsdamer Platz
First place we’ll visit is Potsdamer Platz in Berlin’s central borough called Mitte.
This place is awesome and looks more like Manhattan than a German city.
Being a kid in late 90s I loved a TV show called Total Recall 2070. It was loosely based on Philip K. Dick works. Plots of most episodes are quite cheesy, but its futuristic atmosphere was so damn dark and sinister! And you know what? Potsdamer Platz looks and feels exactly like Total Recall 2070.
Looks cinematic, isn’t it?
As I know, no cyberpunk books or movies are based in Berlin, but they definitely should! Following two pictures look “Deus Ex meets Total Recall 2070”.
Berlin is worth visiting just for Potsdamer Platz, but let’s proceed to the Sony Center, which is nearby.
Sony Center
It is easy to approach Sony Center from Potsdamer Platz, just go where all the neon lights are.
This area consists mostly of shopping malls, offices, restaurants. But who cares? For me it looks exactly like William Gibson’s 80s vision of the future.
Large shining dome reminds me of Highlander 2 movie. By the way, the movie was very much high tech and low life.
Offices on the sides of Sony Center looks super futuristic even without glowing neon lights.
City Center
The area of Sony Center and nearby office buildings is quite crowded and noisy. Walk couple of minutes westward and suddenly the streets become empty.
Approaching Tiergarten, Berlin’s central park. It is completely empty at 8pm.
Going to Unter den Linden street, which passes Mitte horizontally. Westernmost part of the street is a place of famous Brandenburg Gate and different government building.
But let’s go east, where Berlin looks more hi tech and noire.
Probably low life is not what you’ll find here, but central Berlin still has its dark vibe at night with techno clubs and dark cold streets.
Mitte reminds me both Manhattan and Moscow, but feels darker than each of them.
Alexanderplatz
Speaking of Moscow, we’re approaching Alexanderplatz which looks a lot like large soviet city, rather than Western Europe.
Which is quite obvious, since this district was a part of Eastern Germany. This Railway station for example.
When it is foggy, Alexanderplatz feels like a vampire movie.
Visiting Berlin is definitely a good idea for dark future fans. Other districts look less dark, but still interesting to explore. Berlin is easy to reach via major airlines (sometimes with connection in Frankfurt or Munich) and its relatively cheap, comparing to other Western Europe capital cities.
