1| Introduction At the end of the World War II most countries were divided between two political and economical

systems. These two systems, capitalism and socialism, were represented by two superpowers United States on one side and Soviet Union on the other side. The division in Europe resulted in the division of Germany as east and west parts. After bombing of Berlin in 1945, the East and West parts of the city based their reconstruction policies on the fact that architecture and urban planning were the main tools for imposing the new governmental system into the daily life of citizens, as Lefebvre stated: New social relationships call for a new space and

vice versa. The influence of Soviet Union on East Berlin was systematically applied in the period
of reconstruction after World War II through transformation of physical environment according to socialist lifestyle and erasure of the traces of the previous system from the urban space. 2| The Sixteen Principles of Urban Planning Before the reconstruction began the Ministry of Construction decided to send six delegates to Moscow to reeducate for designing a socialist city according to Soviet Realism principles. They produced the paper called The Sixteen Principles of Urban Planning with aim of achieving the single concept of planning and reconstruction for all East German cities. According to these principles the city has been thought as the primary tool to propagate a socialist way of life and impose people this lifestyle by designing the urban space they live in. The city should provide: working space, accommodation, recreational areas and services. Socialist cities were supposed to be planned according to the industry, the basic economic activity of the socialist countries. However, in East Berlin, as it was the capital of the GDR, the determining factor was the administrative institutions. The main squares and streets housed governmental buildings that were representing the political power of socialism. City limit was another concern for the socialist cities. Cities were first planned according to the capacity of the industrial facilities and population and then the other activities were arranged. These aspects of planning prevented the suburbanization, which was seen as the reason for weakening of the urban life. Instead of single, privately owned building there would be blocks of socially owned establishments, designed according to a single concept, which represented team spirit of the socialist community. According to these principles, the residential areas were hierarchically structured as residential neighborhoods with its servicing facilities, residential complexes and residential quarters. Residential neighborhoods and industry were separated from each other by green isolating belts, but they were still close enough to minimize the journey to work. Service facilities were distributed rationally too, with daily needs met by local facilities within each residential neighborhood, weekly requirements were satisfied by establishments sited in a district service

center (usually located to serve between four to ten neighborhoods) and less frequent needs were provided by specializing services in the city center. The premise for this kind of hierarchy was providing equal opportunities for comfortable living for all citizens with minimal journey time and effort, whether on foot or by public transportation. 3| Square, Parade Street, Tower Three important urban elements that shaped the image of the socialist city were: squares, major streets and significant buildings in the city center. East Berlin contained two main axes having different functions around them. Unter den Linden was the first axis housing the governmental institutions in the east-west direction, while Stalinallee was the second axis, in the north-south direction, mainly containing the residential buildings. These axes were horizontal symbols of government political power. In the intersection of these two main axes there was the main square of East Berlin, the Alexanderplatz. Transportation, as a former function of the Alexanderplatz, has been changed to more symbolizing and monumental function in socialist East Berlin. The decision was to construct the governmental facilities around Alexanderplatz and the square was thought as a space for demonstrations and parades, which symbolized the power of the government. The socialist city center was designed as a focal point in dominant and artistic way. It was for public life, so there was no space neither for private ownership nor a land for profit. The public facilities, the cultural and administrative units were located here. Stalinallee Boulevard was one of the first projects designed by the sixteen principles of urban planning. The name of the boulevard refers to the Soviet influence on East Berlin. The design competition of Stalinallee was announced in 1951 as the first competition of GDR. As the result of this competition six architects were charged with the design of the housing units along the boulevard. It was constructed in respect to its leading examples in Moscow. Besides the role of providing the necessary traffic, it had also the function of acting as the parade street in certain days. There were six lanes of pavement providing access in and out of the city center. During the political holidays, the street carried ideological traffic instead of vehicular one.

The third urban element of socialist city was a tower. In 1959, GDR announced a competition for high governmental building in Alexanderplatz. It had the aim to symbolize the power of government in vertical direction, beside the horizontal symbols like axes. The result of the competition was not a high government building, but 365m high TV Tower building. It was constructed in 1964 by Fritz Dreter and Gnter Franker as designers and Hermann Henselmann as the artistic consultant. At that time, the government of West Berlin had also aim to construct a TV tower in West Berlin and achievement of East Berlin constructing this project was seen as a success that was gained by socialism against capitalism. After the competition in 1959, other constructions began in Alexanderplatz. Hermann Henselmann began the construction of the first building specifically designed for political representation. After its completion in 1964, it functioned as an indicator of turn of Stalinallee (renamed Karl-Marx-Allee in 1957) onto the square and guide for pedestrians towards the axis of Marx-Engles-Platz. In 1964 the second competition was held for the redesign of Alexanderplatz. At that time, East Berlin Minister President Otto Grotewohl announced the opening of a route leading from East Berlins Alexanderplatz to Moscow. In this point of view, Alexanderplatz gained importance not only as a city center, but also as the socialist icon of East Germany and the world of socialism. 4| Conclusion In conclusion, the urban spaces of East Berlin were designed and created following the rules from Soviet planners, which focused on the production on spaces for a socialist way of life. The main concerns of urban planning and architecture were governmental institutions, since East Berlin was the capital of GDR. Alexanderplatz, Stalinallee and TV Tower were designed as three important urban elements of socialist city: square, parade street and tower. These elements created a strong symbolic image of the city of East Berlin, which was recognized socialist world. among the