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I'm surprised you mentioned Berlin (where I live now) - I think most Germans consider it one of the less pleasant German cities (compared to say Munich, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, etc or other German speaking cities like Vienna or Zurich).

Prenzlauerberg is a fancy/hip neighborhood and not representative of how the average Berliner lives.

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What Berlin got right is that they tried to get all of society into the same building. As in the well-off into the 1st floor (Belle Etage) the poor under the roof, but the idea was to have the doctor living in the same building as the plumber. I think that idea is key to having livable cities.

Of course a lotbof happened between these ideas and the situation now.

Heidelberg is of course pittoresque but not a city in the same league in size. Maybe Mannheim could be taken as a town planning model.

And most of us in Berlin would say living in any other German city is unimaginable.

I like living in Berlin but not because of its beauty or pleasantness :)

Although I guess one feature mentioned by OP that is relatively unique (in the German speaking countries) to Berlin how wide so many of the streets/sidewalks are.

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