Berlin

29.06.2020 German Politics

How to find a flat in Berlin – the sequel

When I moved to Berlin in 2013 I needed to find a flat. I used a blog entry to help with my search, and wrote up my search experiences in the blog post “How To Find a Flat In Berlin”

19.03.2020 Technology

Specification: coordination of delivery of groceries to a building or a neighbourhood to better manage demand

OK, next up in Jon tries to solve Coronavirus social problems… what about grocery deliveries? My first specification was for a WordPress plugin to coordinate local food deliveries in my building and neighbourhood, which – when coming up with a

04.05.2016 Technology

re-publica is broken, but I hope not beyond repair

The German tech and politics conference re-publica has been going a decade now, and the tenth edition (in its third and final day today as I write this) is supposed to be about reflection. I’ve been to eight editions of

27.01.2016 German Politics

Does Berlin need a cycling policy referendum?

Yesterday one of the initiators of the “Volksentscheid Fahrrad” in Berlin came to make a presentation at my local Grüne party meeting. The campaign initiators want to use Berlin’s direct democracy systems to put 10 major changes to Berlin cycle

19.12.2015 German Politics

In this world, a guy can build a self-driving car in a month in his garage, but it takes a city three years to plan to paint a cycle lane

Back in 2009 Tom Steinberg wrote this: The most scary thing about the Internet for your government is not pedophiles, terrorists or viruses, whatever you may have read in the papers. It is the danger of your administration being silently

13.12.2015 German Politics

Why [insert your city] is not the new Berlin

So the New York Times was at it this week, stating “Why Brussels is the New Berlin“. The NYT is a bit slow with that actually, as Deutsche Welle asked the same question back in August – at least their

01.10.2015 Technology

How to win a Quadriga Digital Communication Award

I have been a jury member for Quadriga’s Digital Communication Awards in 2014 and 2015 and, prompted by fellow jury member Aurélie’s post about this year’s awards, here are a few thoughts about the awards this year, and what projects

17.08.2015 German Politics

Berlin: startup city, technological backwater

Today I sent a fax. Yes, on 17th August 2015 this is still necessary. Because I had received a letter on paper from the administration of the city of Berlin and my reply had to be sent either on paper

11.08.2015 German Politics

Radweg Bergmannstraße to Jannowitzbrücke (Kreuzberg and Mitte)

My first cycle path film documented the dangers of Skalitzer Straße. Now here is the second episode – going north through Kreuzberg from Bergmannstraße, via Baerwaldstraße, Prinzenstraße, Moritzplatz and Heinrich-Heine-Straße to Jannowitzbrücke. This one is characterised by narrow and very

01.08.2015 German Politics

Radweg Skalitzer Straße, Kreuzberg

Berlin has cycle lanes on most of its main streets, but many of these lanes are poorly designed or in bad condition. One of the worst is along Skalitzer Straße through Kreuzberg – it is an important east-west route between

10.05.2015 Brexit

Why I am not going back to the UK to campaign in the EU referendum

David Cameron’s victory in the UK election presents me with a personal problem: he promises to hold an in-or-out of the EU referendum. If the UK leaves the EU I have a major headache – I live in Germany and