In order to understand the development in Leipzig since the 1990s, the local circumstances prior to the 1990s need to be explained. Leipzig was part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and with the change to the socialist system of government after the Second World War Leipzig lost its important role in the German city network (Rink and Grahl, 1993). Between 1949 and 1990 the majority of the financial resources of the GDR were used for the development of Berlin or primary production (Rink and Grahl, 1993, Werner, 1981). The other cities and municipalities were characterised by
insufficient retail facilities and transport infrastructure. Although retail facilities were mostly well connected to the public transport network, they were less accessible by car (Eckart, 1989).
In 1990 Leipzig had a sales area of 160,000m² (0.3m² per capita) what planners described as very small for a city of its size (Stadt Leipzig, 2009c). Additionally, a high percentage of retail spaces needed rehabilitation due to a lack of investment in the previous years (Stadt Leipzig, 2009c). The accessibility of most retail facilities by all modes of transport was also not adequate. The result of these two issues meant that there was high investment pressure within the city in 1990 (Stadt Leipzig, 2009c). However, due to restitution claims of former owners of property prior to 1949 investments and developments within the administrative area of Leipzig started very slowly (Schmidt and Fliege, 1997, Stadt Leipzig, 2009c).
Retailer 2 highlighted why greenfield rather than brownfield development became the preference for new retail development in Leipzig: ‘It was not that someone had forgotten to develop the city centre in 1990. It was just not possible, with the problems of property rights. Greenfield development was easier. There was a complete chaos, reassignment claims and that all hindered a development in the city centre9’. So, at that
time the development of greenfield sites in municipalities around Leipzig was easier and faster compared to inner city development. Agricultural properties had predominantly been expropriated before 1949, so restoration was not applicable, in contrast to the city centre properties. Furthermore, in the months before the reunification of Germany on the 3rd October 1990 planning in the GDR more or less took place in a ‘lawless space’. Building laws of the GDR were no longer applicable and the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany were not yet in force (Kegler, 2010). ‘The basis for shopping centres on greenfield sites had been laid before the 3rd October 1990. All the big
shopping centres around Leipzig received planning permission before that day.’10
(Planner 2 on the circumstances in 1990)
9 „Also das ist ja nicht so, dass das 90 jemand verschlafen hätte, mit der Innenstadt. Das ist nur einfach Eigentumsrechtlich
nicht in die Reihe zu kriegen gewesen. Grüne Wiese funktioniert immer viel einfacher. Es war ein heilloses Durcheinander, Rückübertragungsansprüche, also das hemmte komplett alle Entwicklungen.“ – Retail 2
10 „Die Grundlagen für die Einkaufszentren auf der grünen Wiese sind alle vor dem 03. Oktober 1990 gelegt worden.
Also Saalepark, Sachsenpark, Rückmarsdorf-Burghausen, Pösnapark, alles bis zum 02. Oktober 1990 genehmigt gewesen.“ – Planner 2
As a result, within these months of little control around 400,000m² of sales area were approved around Leipzig by local planning authorities of the surrounding municipalities (Stadt Leipzig, 2009c). This process of greenfield retail development continued after the reunification. Small municipalities around Leipzig and planning authorities at higher levels, who obtained planning powers over night, were totally overwhelmed in autumn 1990 by the high number of building applications. As a result the majority of developments that received approval in that time were contradictory to the aims of spatial planning (Kegler, 2010, Stadt Leipzig, 2009c). Table 5.2 presents the size and accessibility of the main five shopping centres that had been built around Leipzig in the early 1990s. Map 5.1 illustrates the location in relation to the city centre. It shows that the shopping centres are all build next to a motorway or a major road and therefore are clearly reliant on people using motor vehicles to get there.
Name of shopping centre Year of opening Sales area Accessible via
Nova Eventis (former
name: Saalepark) 1991 77,937m² Motorway A9
Löwen Center 1993 41,191m² Motorway A9
Paunsdorf Center 1994 105,964m² Motorway A14
Sachsenpark 1992 34,596m² Motorway A14
Pösna-Park 1993 41,650m² Motorway A38
Table 5. 2: Examples of greenfield shopping centres around Leipzig that got planning permission in the time of the reunification (Kubis and Hartmann, 2007)
Map 5. 1: Examples of greenfield shopping centres around Leipzig and the location of the city centre (map basis: Microsoft, 2014b)
One direct effect of these greenfield developments had been a shift towards purchasing goods away from urban to suburban centres. In response to this trend, in 1993 a first development strategy for spatial planning was published by local spatial planners. The work on this “Conceptual Framework for Retail Development in Leipzig” (Stadt Leipzig, 1993b) had already started in 1991. It was therefore based on the old retail structure of the late 1980s. The planners had the objective to guide the amount of investment, which was very high in all sectors at that time. In order to avoid a shortage of space in the city centre and to achieve equal development in all parts of the city local planners set up some general development aims. In their eyes, the risk otherwise was that existing centres in Leipzig would be weakened.
In cooperation with an external expert, the planners also developed a three-level hierarchy for centres. The levels involve different quantities and qualities of facilities and different catchment areas. This structure was also included in the land-use plan of Leipzig, as can be seen on map 5.2 (Stadt Leipzig, 1993a). All other main findings of the “Conceptual Framework” were included in the land-use plan, too (Stadt Leipzig, 2000).
Map 5. 2: Centres structure in 1993 (Stadt Leipzig, 1993a)
In the early 1990s difficulties in planning in Leipzig included time pressure created by the speed of developments. The rapid and constant change of retail space made it impossible to calculate the future demand with exact numbers as Planner 2 commented: ‘After the reunification big investments were prepared and planning policies had to be developed and the strategy was mainly focussing on big projects. One effect was that the real development lagged behind the high development expectations and therefore we experienced a mismatch between plans and reality. This resulted in a high level of vacancies.’11 Additionally, the estimate of purchasing power of the residents was difficult
as there was a high fluctuation, especially of people migrating Leipzig. This also affected the calculation of required retail space and facilities in centres (Stadt Leipzig, 2000). Planner 2 talked about the consequences that were taken by planners in the middle of the 1990s: ‘Planners started to establish strategic urban development planning, which was still focussing on sectoral policies12’. Additionally, in 1995 the development of retail
facilities in and around Leipzig slowed down and it was possible for planners to analyse the size and structure of all retail areas. The analysis of the local planners showed that
11 „Nach der Wende, wo im Prinzip nachholend zu der Vergangenheit große Investitionen vorbereitet wurden,
Planungsgrundlagen erst aufgebaut werden mussten und man eben eine sehr einzeln und projektbezogene Planungsstrategie hatte. Das hat in der Folge auch dazu geführt, dass die Entwicklungserwartungen größer waren als die reale Entwicklung und es sozusagen ein Missmatch dazwischen gab und in der Folge eben ziemlich hohe Leerstände.“ – Planner 2
12 „Als die ersten Folgen absehbar waren, hat man angefangen, hier eine strategische Stadtentwicklungsplanung aufzubauen,
the quality of the retail facilities partly dropped although the retail area increased between 1990 and 1995 from 160,000m² to 510,000m² (Stadt Leipzig, 2000). Due to the orientation of new developments on car accessibility retail facilities in integrated centres were hardly developed and the retail situation got worse especially for less mobile residents (Stadt Leipzig, 2000).
The city centre of Leipzig is the highest centre in the hierarchy. However, despite all investments the city centre had only a retail area of approx. 70,000m² in 1995. It had a less important market position than the Paunsdorf Centre in the East of Leipzig with its 105,000m² (Stadt Leipzig, 2000). However, whereas in the early 1990s most developments in the region of Leipzig happened on greenfield sites, a change occurred in the middle of the 1990s. The inner city areas of Leipzig and especially the city centre became more important and planners had to adjust their strategy (Stadt Leipzig, 2000). Planner 2 explains this shift in strategy towards city centre development in more detail: ‘What planners did then was a consequent focus on city centre development. There was not only a focus on retail but also on public investment, for example the museum or the public space in the city centre.13’ Property ownerships were solved step by step and new
investments started like the first newly-built department store in Leipzig in 1994 (Moore Ruble Yudell architects & planners, 2014) and the transformation of parts of the main station to a shopping centre in 1996 (Hoppmann and Axtner, 2005).
In the early 1990s Leipzig was often called “Boomtown of the East” (Rosenfeld et al., 2011), linked to this phase of high investment. However, towards the end of the 1990s investments in new retail space were tailing off which provided the chance for planners to deal with the situation in a more differentiated way. The result of this process was the formation of a strong urban development concept which had become necessary to order the retail structure of Leipzig and stop the development of retail facilities on all free spaces around the city. Retail 2 highlights the importance that the new approach to planning has on retail development in the city: ’It orders the whole structure better. Before we had the phenomenon – there was an empty space and immediately a retailer
13 „Was die Stadt Leipzig gemacht hat, ist eine ziemlich konsequente Innenstadtpolitik. Nicht nur bezogen auf den
Einzelhandel, sondern eben auch bezogen auf öffentliche Investitionen, Museum der bildenden Künste und so was, auf den öffentlichen Raum und die Qualität dieses öffentlichen Raumes.“ – Planner 2
had to develop something there. And then it was said we need to order that better. Sometimes involved parties went straight to court, but then we got the Centres Plan.’14
The analysis of the circumstances and developments of the 1990s reveals how much the situation had changed since the end of the GDR. Private investors had taken over the role of retail development. A growing number of facilities were opened in car-oriented locations. Unsolved property issues and missing or weak spatial regulations could not impede the development of non-integrated places. Local spatial planners were mainly reacting and did not have an overall plan that could help to strengthen integrated centres and to provide accessibility of facilities to less mobile citizens. Environmental objectives did not play any role.