A very large urban settlement usually with accompanying suburbs. No precise parameters of size or population density have been established. ‘Metropolises, are spaces of mobility. The growth of cities during the 20th century represented a constant increase in the mobility and in interconnections among places, regions, cities and countries around the world. In fact, it was precisely the development of communication and transportation technologies that made this growth possible’ (L. F. de Mello and E. Marandola 2005).

As with other metropolises, Berlin’s ‘wealth of facilities, as well as their scatter across the metropolis, can be understood only in the light of the city’s history and, paradoxically, its troubles’ (Grésillon (1999) Cult. Geog. 6). Soja, in G. Bridge and S. Watson (2012) believes the metropolis era to be at an end.