Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
is divided into boroughs or administrative districts (). In Berlin, the term is officially shortened to (districts). The boroughs are further divided into quarters (). These smaller localities are officially recognised, but have no administrative bodies of their own. Quarters and many of their subunits, the neighborhoods (), typically have strong identities that sometimes predate their inclusion into the modern boundaries of Berlin. Both the boroughs and the quarters function differently to other subdivisions in Germany due to
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
's dual status as an
independent city
An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province).
Historical precursors
In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...
() as well as a federated
state of Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...
() in its own right.
Since 2001, Berlin has been made up of twelve boroughs, each with its own administrative body. However, because Berlin is a single municipality (), its boroughs have limited power, acting only as agencies of Berlin's state and city governments as laid out in the
Greater Berlin Act of 1920. The boroughs are financially dependent on state donations, as they neither possess any taxation power nor own any property. This is in contrast to municipalities and counties in other German states, which are territorial corporations () with autonomous functions and property.
Each borough is administered by an assembly of borough representatives (), directly elected by proportional representation, and a district office () led by a borough mayor (), elected by the borough representatives. The district office is in charge of most administrative matters affecting its borough's residents, but its decisions can be revoked by the
Berlin Senate. The borough mayors form a council of mayors (), led by the city's governing mayor, and the council advises the Berlin Senate.
History
Each borough is made up of several officially recognized smaller districts or quarters (). The number of quarters that form a borough varies considerably, ranging from two (
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg () is the second Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former East Berlin borough of Friedrichshain and the former West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg. The historic Oberbaum Bridge, formerly ...
) to fifteen (
Treptow-Köpenick
Treptow-Köpenick () is the ninth Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, Germany, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Treptow and Köpenick.
The borough was formerly part of East Berlin. Overview
Among ...
). Most of Berlin's quarters are further composed of even smaller so-called (neighborhoods), officially called . The number of officially recognized neighborhoods in Berlin's quarters also varies greatly, ranging from two (
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Berlin-Mitte, Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in ...
) to many more in older quarters, for example nine in
Mitte
Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.
It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...
, with many more unofficial neighborhoods and neighborships having formed over the decades. The quarters of Berlin and many of their 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
The Greater Berlin Act (), officially Law Regarding the Creation of the New Municipality of Berlin (), was a law passed by the Prussian state government in 1920, which greatly expanded the size of the Prussian and German capital of Berlin.
Hist ...
, forming the basis for the present-day city and state. Berliners often identify more with the quarter where they live than with the borough that governs them, and in larger or older quarters, the smaller neighborhoods have often become the defining social spheres for their residents. The quarters do not have their own governmental bodies, but for urban planning and statistical purposes, the quarters are officially recognized and further subdivided into statistical zones and (lifeworld-oriented regions). These areas correspond roughly, but not exactly, with the official and unofficial social and historical neighborhoods 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 quarter, often a former city or municipality; others, such as
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Berlin-Mitte, Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in ...
and
Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right ...
, were named for geographic features. Minor changes to borough boundaries were made in 1938. After World War II, Berlin was divided into four sectors, with the Western sectors controlled by the United States, Britain, and France, and the Eastern sector controlled by the Soviet Union.
In 1961, the
SED built the Berlin Wall to divide the city, effectively separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany. Three new boroughs were created in East Berlin:
Marzahn
Marzahn () is a locality within the boroughs and localities of Berlin, borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform led to the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf fusing into a single new borough. In the ...
was split off from
Lichtenberg Lichtenberg may refer to:
Places
* Lichtenberg, Austria
* Lichtenberg, Bas-Rhin, France
* Lichtenberg, Bavaria, Germany
* Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany
* Lichtenberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany
* Lichtenberg (Lausitz), Saxony, Germany
* Lichte ...
in 1979,
Hohenschönhausen from
Weißensee in 1985, and
Hellersdorf
Hellersdorf () is a locality in the borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin. Between 1986 and Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was a borough in its own right, consisting of the current area of Hellersdorf as well as Kaulsdorf and Mahls ...
from Marzahn in 1986. In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and the city was reunified. This marked the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a new era in Berlin's history.
After reunification, Berlin underwent a process of rapid transformation, as the city worked to rebuild and modernize its infrastructure and economy. Many new businesses and cultural institutions were established, and the city became a center of creativity and innovation.
By 2000, Berlin comprised twenty-three boroughs, as three new boroughs had been created in
East Berlin
East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
. Today Berlin is divided into twelve boroughs, reduced from twenty-three boroughs by Berlin's 2001 administrative reform.
Boroughs
An administrative reform in 2001 merged all but three of the existing boroughs into the current 12 boroughs, as listed below. The three boroughs that were not affected were
Spandau
Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs of Berlin, boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence (geography), confluence of the Havel and Spree (river), Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smalle ...
,
Reinickendorf and
Neukölln
Neukölln (), officially abbreviated Neuk, is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located south-east of Berlin's center and stretches from the inner city southward to the border with Brandenburg, encompassing the eponymous quarter of Neu ...
, as the population of each was already exceeding 200,000.
Coats of arms

All coats of arms of Berlin's boroughs (the current as of the ones in the period 1990 to 2001) have some common attributes: the
shield
A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...
has a
Spanish form, and the
coronet
In British heraldry, a coronet is a type of crown that is a mark of rank of non-reigning members of the royal family and peers. In other languages, this distinction is not made, and usually the same word for ''crown'' is used irrespective of ra ...
is represented by a
mural crown
A mural crown () is a Crown (headgear), crown or headpiece representing city walls, fortified tower, towers, or fortresses. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the ancient Rome, Romans ...
, three towers in red bricks with the
Berlin's coat of arms in the middle.
Most of the boroughs' current coats of arms have changed some elements in their
fields. Some display a fusion of themes of the merged (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 have not changed their fields. Pankow's coat of arms was created with a new design in 2008, having been the only borough without a coat of arms for seven years.
Administration and politics
The borough government is part of the two-tier administration of the Berlin
city-state
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...
, whereby the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and its affiliated agencies, institutions, and municipal enterprises form the first tier of the so-called (central administration). In the second tier, the boroughs enjoy a certain degree of autonomy, although in no way comparable to the German districts or
independent cities, nor even to the local government of a common
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''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 (). The power of the borough governments is limited, and their performance of assigned tasks is subject to regulatory supervision by the Senate.
Nevertheless, the twelve
self-governing
Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any ...
boroughs have constitutional status, and are themselves subdivided into two administrative bodies. Each is governed by the assembly of borough representatives (, BVV) and a full-time council at the borough's district office (), consisting of five councilors () and headed by a borough mayor (). The BVV is directly
elected by the borough's population and therefore acts as a borough
parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, though it is officially part of the
executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
. 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 (), led by the city's
Governing Mayor; the council answers to and advises the Senate.
The boroughs' quarters have no local government bodies, and the administrative duties of their former representatives, the , were taken over by the borough mayors.
State election party votes by constituency
People who live in the former
West Berlin
West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
tend to vote for the CDU and the SPD, While voters in the former
East Berlin
East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
tend to vote for Linke and the AfD.
Quarters
As of 2012, the twelve boroughs are made up of a total of 97 officially recognized quarters (). Most of these smaller localities are further subdivided into officially recognized neighborhoods (), but often amalgamated or extended by the populace with other inofficial
zones and areas, in
German usually called or . The largest quarter () is
Köpenick (), the smallest one is
Hansaviertel
The Hansaviertel () is the smallest ''Ortsteil'' (district) of Berlin and is between Großer Tiergarten and the Spree River, within the central Mitte borough of Berlin.
The district was almost completely destroyed during World War II but was re ...
(). The most populated quarter is
Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right ...
(168,947 inhabitants in 2024), the least populated is
Malchow (450 inhabitants in 2008).
[Statistics for Berliner ]
/ref>
Note that the coats of arms shown for quarters in the tables below are historical and no longer in official use, having lost their validity upon incorporation into Greater Berlin or new boroughs.
;(01) Mitte
Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.
It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...
;(02) Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg () is the second Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former East Berlin borough of Friedrichshain and the former West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg. The historic Oberbaum Bridge, formerly ...
;(03) Pankow
Pankow () is the second largest and most populous Boroughs and quarters of Berlin, borough of the German capital Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weissensee (Berlin), W ...
;(04) Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf () is the fourth borough of Berlin, formed in an administrative reform with effect from 1 January 2001, by merging the former boroughs of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf.
Overview
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf covers the ...
;(05) Spandau
Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs of Berlin, boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence (geography), confluence of the Havel and Spree (river), Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smalle ...
;(06) Steglitz-Zehlendorf
Steglitz-Zehlendorf () is the sixth Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Steglitz and Zehlendorf, Berlin, Zehlendorf.
Home to the Free University of Berlin, the Be ...
;(07) Tempelhof-Schöneberg
Tempelhof-Schöneberg () is the seventh borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Tempelhof and Schöneberg. Situated in the south of the city it shares borders with the boroughs of Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in ...
;(08) Neukölln
Neukölln (), officially abbreviated Neuk, is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located south-east of Berlin's center and stretches from the inner city southward to the border with Brandenburg, encompassing the eponymous quarter of Neu ...
;(09) Treptow-Köpenick
Treptow-Köpenick () is the ninth Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, Germany, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Treptow and Köpenick.
The borough was formerly part of East Berlin. Overview
Among ...
;(10) Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Marzahn-Hellersdorf () is the tenth Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf.
The borough was formerly part of East Berlin. Geography
It ...
;(11) Lichtenberg Lichtenberg may refer to:
Places
* Lichtenberg, Austria
* Lichtenberg, Bas-Rhin, France
* Lichtenberg, Bavaria, Germany
* Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany
* Lichtenberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany
* Lichtenberg (Lausitz), Saxony, Germany
* Lichte ...
* Codes 1105 and 1108 (this one to former Hohenschönhausen locality) are not assigned
;(12) Reinickendorf
See also
* Politics of Berlin
* Berlin Police
References
Notes
External links
*
*
{{Berlin
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
Geography of Berlin
Boroughs and localities