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Regeneration of shrinking cities - the case of East Germany
Presentation download (PDF)
International Symposium "Coping with City Shrinkage and Demographic Change - Lessons from around the Globe"
30.-31.03.2006 Dresden, Germany
Heike Liebmann, IRS Erkner (Germany) / Dr. Tobias Robischon, Schader Foundation (Germany)
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Dr. Tobias Robischon |
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Abstract |
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Regeneration of shrinking cities - the case of East Germany
Almost all cities in East Germany have lost significant shares of their population since reunification in 1990, some of them more than 25 percent. This is due to three processes:
1.
a decline in population because of much fewer births than deaths
2.
suburbanization
3.
migration from peripheral, declining regions to better-off places in east and west Germany. As mostly the young and better educated leave, this is leading to a brain-drain and accelerated regional aging.
Even though a post-reunification economic collapse has left whole regions in Eastern Germany de-industrialized, public discussion on city shrinkage started only a few years ago after massive housing vacancies (more than 1 million) became evident. Ever since, discussion and urban regeneration activities focuses on the most visible part of shrinkage - the housing vacancies. A federal programme for urban renewal, "Stadtumbau Ost", has been laid out, subsidizing the demolition of up to 350.000 flats by 2009.
Nearly all eastern cities are participating.
As cities are facing complex problems caused by city shrinkage and demographic change, it is necessary to recognize this complexity and tackle it with comprehensive and multi-dimensional approaches. But today, East German cities focus almost exclusively on "Stadtumbau Ost", which means mostly demolition of vacant buildings. Even though this is an important part of the regeneration of shrinking cities, it will clearly not suffice. The popular philosophies of doing things "one-by-one" and "to mitigate the problems" will not automatically generate a change to the better.
To generate positive perspectives for the future, it will also be necessary for East German cities to "strengthen their strengths". As conventional methods of attracting businesses are failing, it is becoming increasingly hard to develop specific, comparative strengths of a city. Some small and medium towns have done so by promoting themselves with a very specialized profile, e.g. City of Homeopathy or City of Sports. Essentially, an alignment of a citiy’s urban development strategy, these "new" profiles are typically embedded in local traditions and culture.
The regeneration of shrinking cities requires new perspectives in many ways: economic, social, cultural, societal, structural and in the housing market. These could come from a culture of urban creativity, fostering the open exchange of ideas and people. |
© 2001 - 2010 Schader-Stiftung. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Letzte Änderung: 03.05.2006 |
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