Take, for example, Potsdamer Platz, with its hypermodern architecture and, right alongside, the former 'Tresor', a club where Techno music was practically invented. Then there are the slender and historic Spree river, with its low, ancient bridges, and the Havel with its broad channel, its forested banks and its idyllic islands.

Berlin has culture and subculture. It has hundreds of elegant villas and still boasts a few occupied houses. Berlin has more than a dozen starred restaurants and is also the birthplace of the currywurst, which has been competing with the döner, another Berlin invention, for first place on the popularity scale ever since. Berlin is the city with the most square metres of retail space per population, but at the same time it has around seventy weekly markets that are enjoying increasing popularity.

Berlin has Sir Simon Rattle and the rapper Bushido. Berlin looks back fondly on such local celebrities as Brigitte Mira and Harald Juhnke, but it provides just as warm a welcome to Roger Moore and Angelina Jolie when they fly in for the Berlinale.

Berlin has countless bars and discotheques where you can party the whole night through, and it also has an endless number of often miniscule parks where you can while away your day.

Berlin's contrasts and its sub-centres have a strong pull. They each provide an authentic view of the city, making it into an entirely different metropolis.

Berlin and its contrasts – the best place to discuss the only apparent contrast between ecology and economics.