Gentrification Is Turning Berlin Into a Generic Hipsterville

Last Sunday, 13,000 people took to the streets of Berlin carrying signs like "Renters Aren't Lemons." Despite Germany's tenant-friendly laws, a tide of gentrification is gradually turning Berlin from the "poor but sexy" capital of cool into another generic hipsterville. The city calls it "rent madness."

The smallest increase in rents between 2007 and 2016 was 34 percent in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, an area of Berlin known for its grim Communist-era high-rises. In Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, the famed center of nightlife that also serves as the long-term home to much of the city's poorer population, growth reached 71 percent. In my borough, Charlottenburg, rents have increased by 48 percent, close to London's 45 percent average for the same 10 years.