Neukölln (), formerly Rixdorf (), from 1899 to 1920 an independent city, is a large inner-city quarter of Berlin in the homonymous borough of Neukölln, and evolved around the historic village of Rixdorf. With 163,184 inhabitants (2026) the quarter has the second-largest population of Berlin after Prenzlauer Berg. Since the early 13th century, the local settlements, villages and cities down to the present day have always been a popular destination for colonists and immigrants. In modern times, it was originally shaped by the working class and gastarbeiters, but western immigration since the turn of the millennium has led to gentrification and a rejuvenation of the quarter's culture and nightlife.
Geography
Neukölln is on the North European Plain, which is typically characterized by low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography. The quarter lies on the geological border between the shallow Weichselian Warsaw-Berlin Urstromtal glacial valley and the northernmost edge of the Teltow young drift ground moraine plateau, specifically the Rollberge,Lit. rollende Berge, i.e. sanft geschwungene Berge ("rolling hills") in the figurative meaning of rollen as fließen ("to flow") or wogen ("to wave"); one of Neukölln's neighborhoods was named after the Rollberge range (see below). See also the Kreuzberg, Berlin's most prominent glacial (and highest natural inner-city) hill which, together with the Rollberge and the slopes near the former Mühlenberg in Schöneberg, forms the larger northern Teltow range called Tempelhofer Berge. a small range of glacial hills rising to the south of Hermannplatz and the street Hasenheide, and to the west of Rixdorf and the street Karl-Marx-Straße. Neukölln's average natural elevation is above NHN, ranging from to ,Neukölln's highest point is on the Teltow in the central Schillerkiez approximately at Schillerpromenade 27/28; the quarter's lowest point is in the glacial valley near the eastern border to Plänterwald along the Heidekampgraben near Kiefholzstraße (Köllnische Heide); cf. i.a. "Geoportal Berlin" s.v. "Karten → Fachkarten → INSPIRE-transformiert → II 01 Höhe → Höhenlage im INSPIRE-Datenmodell (Digitales Geländemodell)", Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung, Bauen und Wohnen, Berlin. with the highest man-made elevation at achieved by the Rixdorfer Höhe, a schuttberg in the Volkspark Hasenheide.The Rixdorfer Höhe has the highest elevation in the southern part of Berlin's inner city within the Ringbahn, surpassed only by a few schuttberg deposits in the north near the Barnim like the Humboldthöhe in the Volkspark Humboldthain (Gesundbrunnen); see also Liste von Erhebungen in Berlin. Neukölln's tallest building structure, on the other hand, is the Estrel Tower at , which is Berlin's tallest skyscraper and Germany's tallest hotel tower; see also List of tallest buildings in Berlin. Neukölln's geographical center, based on a minimum bounding plane, is located east of Richardstraße 101 near Kirchgasse at a linear distance of approximately to the river Spree with an elevation of .
Location Neukölln forms the lower east side of Berlin's city center within the Ringbahn, and is the northernmost quarter in the homonymous borough of Neukölln, with the borough stretching all the way to Berlin's southern border with Brandenburg. The quarter, administratively abbreviated Neukö, is officially an Ortsteil, and the borough a Verwaltungsbezirk (administrative district), in Berlin designated Bezirk (district).The use of the shortened term Bezirk has legal reasons, because Berlin's boroughs are only partially administrative districts: Berlin is a single municipality (Einheitsgemeinde), so its boroughs have limited power, acting only as agencies of Berlin's state and city governments, as laid out in the 1920 Greater Berlin Act; the boroughs are financially dependent on state donations, as they neither possess any taxation power nor own any property. (This is in contrast to municipalities and counties in other German states, which are territorial corporations, so-called Gebietskörperschaften, with autonomous functions and property.) Furthermore, a borough's district office, while in charge of most administrative matters affecting its borough's residents, can be overruled by the Berlin Senate, which is the agent of Berlin's Hauptverwaltung (central administration); see also Boroughs and quarters of Berlin § Administration and politics. Different from the borough, the smaller quarter of Neukölln has no mayor or representative assembly of its own. To distinguish the quarter from the borough, the latter is sometimes informally called Groß-Neukölln ("Greater Neukölln"), while the quarter is also called Berlin-NeuköllnOver the years there have been several petitions to reestablish the historical name Rixdorf; Kai Ritzmann, "Aus (Nord-)Neukölln soll wieder Rixdorf werden", 1 July 2019, B.Z.. or Nord-Neukölln.Other alternative toponyms for the quarter are Neukölln-Nord, Nordneukölln and Neukölln 44. The number 44 had been part of the quarter's old postal code (1000 Berlin 44, Neukölln 1) and is still in informal cultural use after the introduction of the new postal codes in Germany on 1 July 1993. (Neukölln's modern postal codes, which range from 12043 to 12059, therefore still include the local number 44; however, only the codes with odd terminating numbers are currently in use.) Aside from its use to distinguish the quarter from the borough, the old postal code 44 has i.a. become part of local music and youth culture, adopted e.g. by clubs like the venue Hole44, and by native hip hop musicians such as Nashi44, Doni44, 44Grad or Kalazh44.
In the south, the quarter Neukölln is adjacent to the quarter Britz, which is also part of greater Neukölln, and to Späthsfelde in the quarter Baumschulenweg east of Britz. In the north and north-west, it borders on the quarter Kreuzberg in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, namely the southern part of the historical Luisenstadt district in the SO 36 neighborhood, and the Graefekiez and Bergmannkiez in the Kreuzberg 61 neighborhood, which were once part of the historical Tempelhofer Vorstadt district. Neukölln's northernmost tip is also adjacent to Kreuzberg's neighborhood Wassertorplatz in the southern part of the historical Friedrichstadt district. In the west and south-west, Neukölln borders on the quarter Tempelhof in the Tempelhof-Schöneberg borough. In the north-east to south-east, Neukölln borders on the quarters Alt-Treptow, Plänterwald and western Baumschulenweg, which, together with Späthsfelde, are all part of the Treptow-Köpenick borough in former East Berlin.
Neukölln is separated from Kreuzberg by the park Volkspark Hasenheide, the Landwehr Canal, and the streets Kottbusser Damm and Hasenheide as far as the city square Südstern, which conforms to Berlin's historical Weichbildgrenze (1861–1919). With Tempelhof, Neukölln shares the Tempelhofer Feld, the vast field of the former Tempelhof Airport, now a popular recreation area. The Britz Canal, the green corridor Heidekamppark with the trench Heidekampgraben, the Kiefholzstraße and several urban streets in the Harzer Kiez separate Neukölln from the quarters of Treptow-Köpenick in former East Berlin. Finally, the Stadtring motorway with the Carl-Weder-Park, streets like Britzkestraße, Juliushof and Grenzallee, as well as the southern end of the Neukölln Ship Canal, form the administrative border with the Britz quarter.
The Teltow Canal, on the other hand, forms the geographical and demographic border within the borough Neukölln. The canal separates the dense urban areas of Neukölln and northern Britz with their higher share of immigrants and lower-income citizenry from the borough's southern residential areas, which, with the exception of Gropiusstadt, are mainly characterized by a larger number of family homes and middle-class households.The continuing growth of Neukölln's urbanized and gentrified sphere, however, is slowly expanding the northern demographics southward, for example into Britz' neighborhood Hufeisensiedlung, or into the Buschkrugkiez, e.g. some city blocks north of Blaschkoallee like the Ideal-Siedlung.
Subdivisions Neighborhoods
Neukölln has nine primary neighborhoods (Kieze), administratively called Ortslagen,Cf. i.a. "Neukölln", Berlin.de – Das offizielle Stadtportal, 5 September 2023. among them the historical sites of Neukölln's foundation south-east of the quarters's geographical center, Richardplatz-SüdAlso known as Richardkiez; the original Richarsdorp, later Ricksdorf, Rixdorf and Deutsch-Rixdorf; named after an unknown historical Richard, probably in the 13th century, and possibly after a local knight or administrator, or after a prominent historical person like Richard of Cornwall or Richard de Bures (see History of Neukölln); in Berlin's LOR framework (see below), Richardplatz-Süd is part of both the planning areas Alt-Rixdorf and Braunschweiger Straße. to the south and south-east of the central plaza Richardplatz, and Böhmisch-RixdorfAlso known as Böhmisches Dorf (Bohemian Village); among the Bohemian settlers, it was called Český Rixdorf (Czech Rixdorf) until the early 20th century; in Berlin's LOR framework, Böhmisch-Rixdorf is part of the planning area Alt-Rixdorf. to the north and north-west, which together are commonly referred to as Rixdorf or Alt-Rixdorf ("Old Rixdorf").In Berlin's LOR framework, the Rixdorf region is much larger and comprises many additional planning areas to the north, east and south of the historical village center Alt-Rixdorf. The other primary neighborhoods are (from north to south): Reuterkiez,Also known as Reuterquartier; named after the central localities Reuterstraße and Reuterplatz, themselves named after novelist Fritz Reuter; in Berlin's LOR framework, the Reuterkiez is part of a larger region called Reuterstraße, which also includes the secondary neighborhoods Donaukiez and Harzer Straße. Flughafenkiez,Often called Flughafenstraße, seldomly Flughafenstraßenkiez; the name derives from the central street Flughafenstraße, which refers to the former Tempelhof airport nearby. Schillerkiez,Also called Schillerpromenade; named after the neighborhood's main street, the Schillerpromenade, itself named after Friedrich Schiller; in Berlin's LOR framework, Schillerpromenade is the name of a much larger region that also includes three additional secondary neighborhoods to the north and south of the actual Schillerkiez. Rollberg,Also called Rollbergkiez, Rollbergviertel or Rollbergsiedlung; named after the Rollberge, a range of glacial hills (see above); not to be confused with the Rollberge estates, which is the alternative name for the Schwarzwaldsiedlung in Berlin Reinickendorf. Weiße Siedlung,Lit. "white estates"; named after the white faces of most of the neighborhood's high-rise buildings; not to be confused with the World Heritage Site Weiße Stadt in Berlin Reinickendorf; the Weiße Siedlung is often lumped together with (and even called) the Dammwegsiedlung, even though the latter is a distinct 1920s settlement further south (see below); in Berlin's LOR framework, the two neighborhoods are combined as the planning area Weiße Siedlung, which additionally comprises the eastern Neukölln docklands, the Treptow freight yards, which, despite their name, are part of Neukölln (see below), and major recreational spaces at the eastern outskirts, mostly a large area of privately leased garden allotments at the site of the former Cölln Heath. Körnerpark,Sometimes referred to as Körnerkiez; named after the Körnerpark, itself named after Franz Körner, the former owner of the gravel quarry, in which the park was created; Körner gifted the quarry to the city of Rixdorf under the condition that the planned park would bear his name. and