In drawing a list of the major world cities in 1900, you would have to include this wonderful city in the top 5. I would maintain that it lived the 20th century more than any other city, practically everything that could realistically have happened it, did, except an A-Bombing, which could well eventually have happened, had the war went another way!
Yet it just narrowly became the capital of the newly reunified Germany, many would say it's not the most significant city in the country at all Hamburg is the media centre, Frankfurt is the Financial centre and Munich is the beer and soccer capital. So if Berlin does not become the capital city what are the implications apart from those for Norman Foster, Does the 'capital village', Bonn remain the seat of government?
I heard Berlin once described as a city in permanent recession where the only constant is change, yeah it's my kind of city allright!