The Berlin economy

Reference has already been made to the economic transformation of ‘Old Berlin’ (the historic inner city plus the Electoral ‘new towns’ of the Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichstadt, see section 1.3) which began after mid-century but particularly gathered pace from 1871 onwards, with the creation of a specialist urban core. The fuller pattern of functional differentiation within this core will be examined below (section 6.2). Of relevance to the present chapter is that, alongside the specialist political, cultural, and social institutions of the capital of Prussia and of the German Empire area there developed parallel specializations of an economic nature.