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Abstract: Hans Stimmann has been, between 1990 and 2006, responsible town planning within the Berlin local government. This paper is an attempt to confront the personal trajectory of this important figure, at the heart of all decision making processes pertaining to urbanism and architecture during the crucial season that followed the fall of wall, with the IBA 1987 intellectual and methodological heritage, of which the concept of critical reconstruction is the most important feature. Stimmann, a member of the social-democratic party (SPD) was, during the 1980’s, in a marginal position within the IBA: as a West-Berlin specialist of East-Berlin, his work remained for long the object of a scarce attention. But when the wall came down, he suddenly became a pivotal figure and was called by his party to take over the immense task of inventing new planning instruments for Berlin reunited. The article analyzes this process, its conditions and its ambiguities, with a specific focus on issues like the evolution of the concepts of critical reconstruction and soft urban renewal, the role of West-Berlin planners in defining the policies to be applied in the Eastern part of the city, the aesthetics of architecture and the general political economy of the planning and architecture in post-1990 Berlin.