At the “Building the City of the Future” salon organized by Club of Rome Germany and Arts & Nature Social Club in the Data Space Berlin, the Expo idea was discussed as a lever for infrastructure, climate neutrality and urban participation.
A prelude of rhythm rather than rhetoric
The evening began not with politics, but with rhythm. A world music group sounded like Berlin itself: multilingual, restless, curious. Their bandleader, Alfred Mehnert, head of Berlin Metropol Music, offered a definition that sounded more like urban sociology than genre: "We play social music." The phrase stuck in the mind because it unintentionally foreshadowed the evening's theme: cities don't function solely through concrete, data, and rules, but through relationships—and through the feeling of sharing an everyday life.
So it was fitting that the Club of Rome Salon ““Building the City of the Future: Cities, World Expos, and Stakeholders Driving Sustainability” Art was treated not as decoration, but as a method. The event, a collaboration between Club of Rome Germany and the Arts & Nature Social Club (ANSC), found in Data Space Berlin It took place instead. It was moderated and curated by Jörg Geier, a Club of Rome member and co-founder and board member of the ANSC, who consciously creates spaces where politics, nature, and culture intersect. His fundamental premise: sustainability often fails not due to a lack of knowledge, but due to a lack of emotional connection. People protect what they can feel.
Source & Copyright by Luk Marx
Why the city of the future is not abstract
The panel included people who viewed the city from different perspectives. Franziska Giffey, Mayor of Berlin and Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises, spoke from the perspective of an administration balancing ambition with day-to-day operations: housing pressure, investments, economic transformation, and climate neutrality. Dimitri Kerkentzes, Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), represented the institution that awards and oversees world expositions. Prof. Dr. Eckart Würzner, Mayor of Heidelberg, Chair of the UN Forum of Mayors, and Vice President of the German Association of Cities, brought together municipal practice and international urban perspectives.
Dr. Hinrich Thölken, member of the supervisory board of the Expo 2035 Berlin initiative, executive at Capgemini, and former climate ambassador, provided context for the current situation. His figures were striking: in 1851, at the time of the first World's Fair, around ten percent of the world's population lived in cities; today it is about half the population, and by 2050 it is expected to be around seventy percent. Sustainability is therefore no longer an abstract strategy. It is being decided locally in the cities where people live, work, and spend their time.
The Expo as a blank canvas
Dimitri Kerkentzes' most powerful contribution was an image that resonates instantly in Berlin: the Expo is a "blank canvas." Unlike many other major events, it doesn't come with a rigid list of requirements that later becomes a "white elephant." Its true impact lies not in the six-month spectacle itself, but in what happens before and after: what infrastructure is built, what collaborations are fostered, what learning spaces are opened. Precisely because there is no rulebook, a host city must convince not only the world, but first and foremost itself. Citizens are "the hardest to convince" because they bear the costs, the construction noise, and the test of patience, and ultimately need a clear answer about what will remain.
Source & Copyright by Matthias Gottwald (Der Gottwald)
From Expo Osaka to Berlin: When wonder becomes infrastructure
Franziska Giffey then explained how skepticism can shift through direct observation. In Osaka, she reported, she had witnessed not just architecture, but an orderly mass ritual: people waited for hours, with small stools and provisions, without the irritable aggression one associates with European queues. What impressed her was less the technology than the behavior and a mobility system that absorbed the flow of visitors without breaking down. For her, "seeing is believing" became a political observation: agreement becomes more likely when the future emerges as experience, not merely as a backdrop.
If Berlin hosts an Expo, Giffey said, at least one piece of infrastructure must remain that improves everyday life. Her example was concrete: a direct subway connection, the U7, from the city center to Berlin Airport. Not as a detour, but as a reliable route that continues to function even after the pavilions are dismantled. In this way, the event becomes a tool, creating a window of opportunity in which projects that are otherwise bogged down by jurisdictional issues and election cycles suddenly become imperative.
Heidelberg as a counter-model: Participation instead of blueprint
Professor Würzner added a lesson from Heidelberg to the debate: Legitimacy arises not from glossy presentation, but from participation and clear standards. Following crises and the availability of large areas, he reported, Heidelberg did not rely on a top-down vision, but rather on a dialogue-based process. What should be built, for whom, and under which climate goals? Then came the decisive step towards climate-neutral development as the standard, which was implemented in an entire neighborhood using passive house principles. Initially, the market hesitated, but later it became economically logical because quality and operating costs matter.
Junctions, neighborhoods, meaning
The discussion with the audience broadened the debate. Katrin Habenschaden, Head of Sustainability at Deutsche Bahn, argued against reducing mobility to just railway tracks: crucial are hubs, conceived as "mobility hubs," where modes of transport are truly connected. Another contribution from Heskel Nathaniel, real estate developer and founder of Trockland, reminded the audience that urban quality is not solely determined by emissions figures, but that cities gain lasting value when they foster relationships – community, trust, the feeling that a city is more than just its layout.
Amidst all this lay the unspoken counter-question that Berlin always carries: How do you prevent large projects from merely polishing the city instead of healing it? Jörg Geier closed the evening with words that sounded more like literature than administration: dreams, grassroots empowerment, and the "soul" of the city—as something that cannot be mandated, but can certainly be built: through affordable housing, through mobility that connects lives, through public spaces that not only function but also create a sense of belonging.
Source & Copyright by Matthias Gottwald (Der Gottwald)
An optimistic look ahead
In the end, the Expo 2035 Berlin initiative felt less like a bid for prestige and more like a test of seriousness. Rightly conceived, an Expo helps to plan backward, starting with what residents will need in 2040 and 2050. Only then does the question arise of which global platform can accelerate this work without distorting it. For Berlin, this would be the real challenge: translating diversity into creativity and creativity into infrastructure. If the "blank canvas" is used wisely, it creates not just an event, but a lasting promise.
