Literature & belonging07
Does the Good Life have to mean perfection?
Vincenzo Latronico discusses Perfection, the lives we imagine for ourselves, and what gentrification has changed in Berlin since the pandemic.
Listen to the episode ↗THE LISTENING ROOM / LATEST CONVERSATIONPut the conversation first. Press play.
Does the Good Life have to mean perfection?Episode & show notes ↗
An earlier difgl podcast series
Conversations on democracy, cities, and the good life.
Who gets to call a city home? Who has a say in what it becomes? And can a place change without losing what makes it itself? Across seven conversations, public-policy expert Dr. Robert Keeling and filmmaker Sabine Pusch put the idea of the good life to the test — against rising rents and citizens’ assemblies, refuge and belonging, literature and Berlin’s changing character.
The good life is not just an ideal. It takes shape in the details of everyday life.
A good
life in
question
life in
question
Original cover art · difglBerlin / London
Who gets to belong?✳Who gets to decide?✳What makes a city worth living in?
01 / THE LISTENING ROOM
The good life, up close.
Culture & character06
Berlin — ein Spielplatz für Erwachsene?
From Russendisko to the peculiarities of everyday German life: Wladimir Kaminer on arriving in Berlin, telling its stories and keeping a sense of humour.
Listen to the episode ↗Identity & change05
Is Berlin in Danger of Becoming a Normal City?
John Kampfner looks back on thirty years of Berlin: its singular character, its changing streets and the question of whether it is becoming just another big city.
Listen to the episode ↗AND FOUR MORE WAYS INTO THE QUESTIONAcross the archive / Episodes 01–04
04
Welcome & belonging
Cities Offering Sanctuary
How do Berlin and London welcome people seeking refuge? Sydney Sopher joins a conversation informed by Robert Keeling’s own years of volunteering in both cities.
03
The housing question
A Roof Over Our Heads
Dr. Tim White on rents, land and the furnished-temporary rental loophole in Berlin — in a conversation recorded at London’s Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
02
Power & participation
Citizens’ Assemblies
With Dr. Timothy Hall and Dr. Kerstin Lücker: when does participation give people real influence, and when does it merely create the appearance of a say?
01
The opening question
The Good Life
Robert Keeling and Sabine Pusch begin with a deceptively simple question: what does it mean to live well in a democratic city?
THE THREAD THROUGH IT ALLThese are not seven separate debates. Together, they ask what cities promise, what people actually experience, and how democratic life can bring the two closer.
02 / AN OPEN QUESTION
What does a good life ask of a city?
A home you can afford. A real say in public decisions. Somewhere safe to arrive, and room to feel you belong. These are not abstract ambitions: they are the conditions that shape daily life.
And then there is the city’s character — its humour, literature and stubborn individuality. Can a place change and still feel like itself? The series leaves room for the question.
03 / ABOUT THE SERIES
Democracy is lived.
So is the good life.
The series moves between what is decided in public and what is experienced in private: a rental contract, the welcome offered to a newcomer, the promise of a citizens’ assembly, or the quiet shock of watching a familiar city become unfamiliar.
Hosted by public-policy expert and physicist Dr. Robert Keeling and filmmaker Sabine Pusch, this earlier difgl podcast series brings researchers, writers and lived experience into a conversation that is thoughtful without losing its sense of humour.
Ein Gedanke auf Deutsch
Was macht ein gutes Leben aus?
Wie bezahlbar ist eine Stadt? Wer findet Zuflucht, wer entscheidet mit – und was bleibt von ihrem eigenen Charakter, wenn sie sich verändert? Robert Keeling und Sabine Pusch verbinden Fragen der demokratischen Teilhabe mit Wohnungspolitik, persönlichen Erfahrungen und literarischen Blicken auf Berlin und London. Nicht als fertige Antworten, sondern als Gespräche, die genauer hinsehen.
Production: Christoph Henseler & Katja Anclam · Editorial: Dr. Kerstin Lücker
Sound: Sasha Polivanov · Music: Sebastian Winter · Graphics: Ralf Henning & Greta Laux
Sound: Sasha Polivanov · Music: Sebastian Winter · Graphics: Ralf Henning & Greta Laux
BERLIN × LONDONUrban voices
on democracy.THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES ↗Another chapter.
Explore Urban Voices ↗
on democracy.THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES ↗
04 / THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES
Another chapter.
The same curiosity.
The dialogue continues in Berlin x London im Dialog: Urban Voices on Democracy — a live series making room for new voices, new questions and perspectives still to come.