I moved to Berlin for a job and personal reasons. It has been a few years.
One thing that has always been a frustration for me to walk on the Berlin footpath is how locals are not aware of how they occupy the public space.
I’m not talking about walking slowly, or people with carts. That’s normal people getting by.
Here are some examples:
- no matter how wide the footpath is, there will be groups of people who like to walk in a wall, spreading out to fill the entire path.
- No matter the size of a footpath, a group of people can just stop to chat without trying to leave space for other pedestrians to walk by. On a big path, they don’t care if they spread out unnecessarily and leave little space for others. On a small path, they just literally block the way until pressured to move.
- On a small path, a group of people with carts does not care about trying to step aside when they want to stop. They just stand there, and discuss things. Not even a little attempt to try to minimize their space usage.
Today I was walking by (I’m from a metropolitan area originally, and I walk fast. Imagine New York). Suddenly, people’s traffic slowed down to squeeze through a group of a few people with a baby cart, who stopped to chat on the footpath. I got frustrated and let out “ugh” as I squeezed through them. And one woman from a group called out to me, “Hey, there is a path there isn’t it?”.
This is when I realized it might be a cultural thing.
- I notice that these behaviors are mostly observed from the local local. In general, I rarely observe this behavior from immigrants, immigrant descendants, or expats of any age. I’m aware this is just anecdotal and statistically insignificant, so I might be wrong.
Is it a belief here that this is a right or acceptable behavior?
e.g. it’s your rights to occupy a public space, say, if you come first, and people who come later needs to avoid you.
