(Maximilian Popp’s article appeared in Der Spiegel, 10/24.)
Berlin used to be Germany's hippest city, but the once scruffy capital has long since succumbed
to gentrification. The latest city to attract the creative class is the former East German industrial seat of Leipzig. Moving in by the thousands, they are lured by the euphoric buzz of cheap rent and youthful ingenuity.
Before the sun sets, it pierces the clouds once again as a glowing red orb. People stream from turn-of-the-century villas and communist-era concrete apartment complexes and rush to the park. Adventurers and hedonists, painters, students, punks and Internet entrepreneurs come alone and in groups, on bicycles and skateboards, with guitars and cases of beer tucked under their arms.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/leipzig-is-the-new-berlin-a-863088.html