Berlin’s plan for a car-free city prompts bitter war of words

This summer the German capital will roll out a controversial trial abolishing almost all parking spaces in the Gräfekiez neighbourhood

Many visitors to Gräfekiez, a lively cobbled-road neighbourhood just south of Berlin’s centre, come in search of something new: a tattoo from an authentic Japanese parlour, a rare print from an off-grid gallery, a dive-bar encounter over a 4am beer.

This summer, they can brace themselves for another novelty: for at least three months, local authorities are planning to scrap almost all of the neighbourhood’s parking spaces as part of a social experiment designed to chart the waters of the German capital’s car-free future.