How will the Berlin City West around Kurfürstendamm become Germany's number one experience boulevard? By positioning it as a leisure destination with unique, luxurious quality of stay under the umbrella of the new brand BLVD KU'DAMM.
Berlin’s City West, surrounding Kurfürstendamm, is renowned beyond the capital’s borders. With the repositioning of Kurfürstendamm and its adjacent streets, the brand and destination development experts at dan pearlman have created a flagship placemaking project in Berlin’s City West. Placemaking is about giving new meaning to public places and urban quarters, fostering social interaction, and actively enhancing a community’s quality of life.
This repositioning was made possible through the efficient engagement of local stakeholders, resulting in a community of dedicated actors who have formed over many years and strongly advocated for the development of the City West within a BID. BID stands for Business Improvement District, an internationally recognized designation. The BID Ku’damm-Tauentzien GmbH emerged in 2016 from an initiative of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft City as a real estate and site community (ISG) for the City West. The BID’s commitment optimally promotes the positive development towards greater quality of stay at Kurfürstendamm and Tauentzienstraße.
Looking back, Nicole Srock.Stanley, CEO of dan pearlman, summarizes her experience working with the BID from the client side: “Those seeking efficient solutions for urban quarters cannot overlook a BID, as here private real estate owners finance all activities targetedly, instead of municipalities. For the Berlin City West, the BID Ku’damm Tauentzien, as a consortium of local stakeholders, has driven numerous measures in recent years to create a sustainable, vibrant quarter. It is evident to all the valuable groundwork done by the BID Ku’damm Tauentzien for urban development in Berlin’s City West.”
A milestone of this work is the BLVD KU’DAMM (Boulevard Ku’damm) project. BLVD KU’DAMM aims for a revival and reinterpretation of the grand shopping street as a “New Leisure District,” ending as an exclusive shopping and leisure destination. The goal was to transform Ku’damm and Tauentzienstraße into a brand that stands for urban shopping worldwide – comparable to the Champs Elysées, Oxford Street, or 5th Avenue. The core brand “World Flair Berlin” reflects this claim and positions the City West as a vibrant place where Berlin becomes a metropolis.
The path to realizing this vision began in 2019 with the “Dream Your City” concept developed by dan pearlman, inviting diverse groups to articulate their visions and wishes for the area around Breitscheidplatz, Ku’damm, and Tauentzien. These ideas were discussed and further developed in various workshops in a specially designed multifunctional Tiny House, together with members of the Business Improvement District (BID).
Through an in-depth target group and competitive analysis, a clear positioning for the destination was worked out. In the subsequent creative process, with Design Thinking sprints and co-creative workshops with stakeholders from real estate, trade, culture, and tourism, the brand identity was gradually developed and finalized and later brought to life through a detailed communication concept and a suitable corporate design. This concept includes specific measures for placemaking, events, and communication, parts of which have already been successfully implemented, turning the boulevard into a transformable stage – a place where new things emerge and old ones find their place. An example is the so-called “Urban Stage,” a stage for live events at the Memorial Church.
With BLVD KU’DAMM, more than just a destination is created: it is the manifestation of a vision that repositions Berlin on the global stage of urban shopping. A project that shows how creativity, community, and strategic thinking can create a place with genuine world flair and lasting value. The boulevard combines exclusivity and proximity to citizens, haute couture and everyday fashion, tradition, and modernity. This balancing act is effortlessly achieved by Ku’damm, as the mix of restaurants, cafes, entertainment, hospitality, and shopping not only attracts Berliners but also guests from all over the world. The boulevard spans 3.6 kilometers from Rathenauplatz in the west to Breitscheidplatz at the Memorial Church, with Tauentzienstraße extending the promenade further to Wittenbergplatz.
Here’s the link to the new website: https://blvd-kudamm.de
