Hamburg has always been important for Germany, famous for its free port. Other than that, its just  a lovely city be in. When the old docks became too small for the big ships and the increasing amount of goods that go through the harbour, it moved to the other part of the city. The old dock quarter was left abandoned for a while, until the government announces number of plans to completely redevelop the whole area. Compare to other similar redevelopment projects this is a huge success. With the backing of government and private investors, it attracts some of the world's biggest name in the architectural field such as Rem Koolhaas, David Chipperfield and so on. One major feature of this project is that the whole are is floor proof, none of the flat is located on the ground floor, garage doors are also use as flood gate and a whole series of footbridge network to ensure that people does not get trap. The whole project is not schedule to finish in the next 10 - 20 years but the first phrase was already complete when I was there. For me it was quite a good place to chill out after spending a day in the area around Jungfernstieg. The list of things to do is constantly adding up as more and more projects are being complete, is you want a good panoramic view of the Hafen city and the harbour, you should head to the bright orange observation tower called View Point. For more information, go to hafencity.com