Maximizing the potential of vacant spaces within shrinking cities, a German approach

Abstract

During the GDR, some cities in East Germany were already impacted by demographic decline. After reunification, however, the situation was particularly problematic because of the administrative dismantling of the GDR, the rising number of ownership-transfers of property, and a “de-economization” (Hannemann, 2003). Many cities in the former GDR were shrinking cities in terms of demography, economy and social difficulties and this had a particular consequence on spaces.Firstly we will critically evaluate the literature regarding a pragmatic tool for vacant spaces called “Zwischennutzungen”. This term which can be translated as “temporary or interim uses” emerged from the approaches of different federal programs to shrinkage, such as Stadtumbau Ost or IBA 2010. We can consider it as a heritage from the first debates on shrinkage in Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, which claims access to land for residents according to a new and irreversible phenomenon. Today, it could be a solution for politicians and city planners looking to maximize both the uses and the duration of the vacancy of spaces. This strategy can be very conflictual and raises some fundamental questions about shrinkage: the link between formalization and informality, the definition of a city with its open spaces, and the question of temporality in these cities with or without regrowth perspectives. The transition from wasteland to open spaces, in effect creating something out of what was previously considered to be worthless and useless, can be very significant.To explore the different aspects of this strategy we will use two cases studies, one in Berlin and the other in Leipzig, cities which are nowadays re-growing. Based on fifty interviews with city planners, users, associations, and city bureaucrats we will see that vacant spaces and interim uses reveal tensions about former and present shrinkage considerations amongst researchers and urban policy makers, and about possibilities for managing shrinkage.