O2 World

O2 World review

O2 World, Berlin's latest glitzy multi-purpose arena, and just gearing up to open as we went to press, is part of the city's controversial development plans for the banks of the Spree river. Accordingly, it got the locals' backs up long before the foundation stone was even laid.

Built next to the Ostbahnhof, it has a capacity of 17,000 and state-of-the-art technology that allows it to be converted from sports arena to rock venue in just a few hours. As befits a house of fun on this scale, it has over 60 entertainment, party and conference suites, as well as numerous restaurants, concession stands and shops. It boasts one of the world's largest outdoor LED displays; inside, there's an eight-screen LED video cube and a 360-degree full-colour ticker.

It's the new sporting headquarters of the Eisbären Ice Hockey Team. Bundesliga basketball champions ALBA are setting up shop here too, abandoning the Max-Schmeling-Halle, which now seems dowdy in comparison. At press time, the schedule also included an NBA basketball match, Olympic handball, WWE wrestling, and performances by Elton John, Alicia Keys and the Dalai Lama.

Even the time capsule buried with the foundation stone boasts some big names: the future-bound booty includes a football shirt signed by Ju.rgen Klinsmann, a tennis ball signed by Boris Becker, a shellac recording of Marlene Dietrich, and a Californian flag signed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Government and promoters see the arena as a 'key investment' that will bring jobs and money to a run-down district. Locals, however, are having nightmares about their quaintly dilapidated neighbourhood being invaded by 17,000 strangers. Two thousand parking spaces next to the arena have done nothing to dispel those fears, nor did plans by the development consortium, known as Mediaspree and backed by local government, to build a new bridge across the river.

The Mediaspree controversy came to a head in July 2008 when a citizens' action group forced and won a referendum on the plans. The campaign wants any new bridge to be for cyclists and pedestrians only, a wider reserve for a promenade on both sides of the river, and no new high-rises. The original project foresaw just a narrow walkway along the river, a high-rise office block and a new bridge for buses and trams (which suspicious minds say would soon be opened up to cars and trucks). The referendum was not binding for the local mayor: it remains to be seen whether he stays true to his promise to go back to the drawing board. Either way, O2 World is here to stay, even if its operators and the neighbours remain forever worlds apart.