Germany’s capital struggles to clean up its act

In a city stuffed with awkward monuments, this might have been one more. Plonked in the muddy middle of a large roundabout, the big cube boasts a tin top, plywood-covered sides and a front with three metal doors. But this is no conceptual artwork to inspire or irritate passersby. A closer look reveals neat labels: , , .Installed this month, the public toilet at Kottbusser Tor has prompted jeers. Some scoff at its ugliness—a Twitter post calls it “liverwurst-coloured”. Others bemoan the five years it took the district government to build it—far longer than it took German boffins to invent a covid vaccine. Others note that it lacks disabled access. But the typical response seems to be eye-rolling over a doomed effort to gentrify a notoriously seedy spot. “Thanks for giving drug-pushers a new place to do business,” smirked one post.