After WWI, the social cooperatives in Berlin were the major means to develop new housing policies destined for the working class. Called Soziale Bauhütten, they focused on the Siedlung as innovative housing settlement, expression of the new political and social system of the Weimar Republic. Their aim was to build affordable houses but also to fulfill social expectations, reified in specific design approaches. Bruno Taut, who contributed to the development of Berlin with more than ten thousand housing units, seemed to be the right ‘prophet’: in each Siedlung he persistently paid attention to the intrinsic human needs of the proletariat, whose aim was to claim a new social identity. The result defined an effective urban typology also in sociological terms, symbol of the workers’ cohesion. Taut addressed his efforts towards the accomplishment of a new idea of urbanism as democratic concept. The residents had a social engagement even before the construction initiated, sharing with the architect ideals and instances of a renewed social life. By means of self-identification, they epitomise the pioneers of a new dwelling type. Nevertheless, the real innovator was Taut, imbued of his preliminary utopian vision as necessary premise now translated into the real. The values Taut embedded in his design determined a strong identification and a collective imaginary, representing a legacy of democratic architecture. Hence, in 2008 four of the Berliner Taut projects were listed in the UNESCO World Heritage, witnessing a revolutionary idea of urbanism according to the working class experienced its new status with through activism and participation.