By Sara Orlos Fernandes and Boris Dombrowski
Life in the capital – just anonymous living next door? No, quite the opposite: Because harmonious coexistence among neighbors is very important in Berlin!
And so big that this year, in a nationwide analysis, Berlin took third place behind Munich and Dresden in the list of most neighborly cities! This was the result of the representative study “Edeka Neighborhood Barometer 2022”, from which the BZ exclusively had the detailed Berlin data evaluated.
Here are the most important results:
►Living together: Two thirds (66.3%) of Berliners feel that living together in their neighborhood is good to very good, while 7 percent rate it as bad to very bad. This puts the capital just behind Munich, where 68.5% gave positive and 5.4% negative ratings.
►feel good: 63.4 percent of Berliners feel they are in good hands in their neighborhood. In Munich, only 57.7 percent say so. At the same time, one in five Munich residents feels uncomfortable in their living environment. In Berlin it is just under every tenth.
►To greet: More than three quarters (77.3%) of Berliners greet their neighbors. Only 2.9% walk by without a word. Significantly fewer than in Munich, where almost every twelfth person leaves without saying hello.
Ingrid Müller (84) from Schöneberg: “I’ve only been living in Berlin for three years and at first it was difficult to make contacts. A good relationship with my neighbors is important to me. I’m often not in the apartment and give my neighbor the key to the mailbox.” Photo: Ralf Gunther
►Small talk: More than a third (38.4%) Berliners often or very often have small talk with their neighbors. This puts Berlin in the middle of the big cities. Chatting is most common in Rostock (42.9%), least in Stuttgart (34.7%).
►Support: “In my neighborhood people help each other” confirmed less than half (44.8%) of the capital city dwellers – the worst value of all large cities! Incidentally, neighborly help is most pronounced in Dresden (58%). Accordingly, 56 percent of the capital city would be happy about future support in everyday life, such as doing the shopping and looking after children or pets.
►Anonymity: Only 1.7 percent of Berliners do not know their neighbors. In Cologne, this rate is almost twice as high.
Margrit Borchert (74) from Schöneberg: “Today my neighbor helped me to clear out the basement. I have osteoarthritis and can no longer do many things on my own. It’s important to me to have someone who cares.” Maik K. (59) regularly walks the neighbor’s dog Sissi: “Since 2017 I’ve been looking after my neighbor and regularly walking the dog, helping her with shopping or in the Front yard” Photo: Ralf Gunther
►Lonliness: One in ten (9.9%) residents of the capital often feel lonely in their neighborhood. In Munich, at 19.2%, there are almost twice as many – the worst value among the cities. At the same time, more than two thirds (69.2%) of Berliners have no sign of neighborly loneliness – the best value behind Frankfurt am Main (71.9%) and Dresden (71.8%).
►Friendship: Every twentieth (5.2%) capital city dweller is friends with their neighbors – the lowest value among all large cities. The friendship rate is highest in Frankfurt am Main (12.5%).
►Activities: Every tenth (9.9%) Berliner regularly does something with their neighbors. In Munich there are twice as many (20%).
Susanne Pillau (85): “I have a good relationship with my neighbors. Here we take care of each other. They were there for me when my husband passed away. From time to time we also drink a coffee together” Photo: Ralf Gunther
►Advices: One in five (19.2%) residents of the capital has asked their neighbors for advice on cooking, almost one in three (28.5%) on gardening and balcony issues and about one in six (16.3%) sought advice from Children and family theme.
►To lend: The Berliners don’t have it that way. 61 percent say they rarely if ever borrow from each other in the neighborhood. More than in any other big city.
►Good Neighborhood: Being a good neighbor means a lot to six out of ten (58.1%) Berliners, while it is not important to almost one in seven (15.1%). Incidentally, good neighborliness has the highest priority in Munich (63.8%), and it is least important for the people of Hamburg (15.7%).
How good is your neighborhood? Write us!
And how is it in your neighborhood – harmonious coexistence or anonymous coexistence? What makes a good neighborhood for you? What’s going great, should change? What improvement wishes do you have in terms of neighborhood?
Please send us an e-mail (keyword: neighbors) with your name, address and telephone number to: [email protected]