, Germany
City population: 502920
Duration: 2012 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level, Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Previous derelict area
Last updated: October 2021

Initiated by the City Administration, NGOs and citizen groups, public funds have in recent years been used alongside partnerships with local businesses, landowners and citizen initiatives to invigorate the East Quarter. This initiative was proposed through the redesign, extension and new development of parks, greening and communal use of vacant plots, the establishment of new urban forests, the setting up of new communal gardens, and the planning and partial implementation of a green corridor for cyclists and pedestrians. Within this large project, three NBS areas actively contributed to the improvement of the Quarter: Querbeet, Bunte Gärten and Parkbogen Ost (1). Querbeet is a community garden in the Eastern district of Leipzig, formed in 2012. The garden is lead by democratic self-governance principles where the focus is on shared space, with a focus on enhancing cultural interactions and encouraging active citizenship (1). Since 2017, the plot of the garden has reduced, however, the non-profit organisation formed two new gardens: a community garden and a school garden where environmental education the main activity (2) Bunten Garten (Colorful Garden) is a community garden and registered refugee aid association that aims to bring residents and refugees together (3) The garden was revived in 2015, and since offers opportunities for recreation, wellbeing and informal support to refugee families (1). Parkbogen Ost is a scheme focusing on developing unused railway tracks as an arch-shaped, green mobility corridor running along the perimeters of much of Leipzig’s East Quarter and connecting the quarter’s green spaces and providing easier access, by foot or bike, to the city centre as well as to surrounding areas. (1, 4)

Summer in the garden
Summer in the garden
Source: https://bunte-gaerten.org/der-sommer-im-garten/

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Parks and urban forests
  • Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
  • Green corridors and green belts
  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Allotments
  • Community gardens

Key challenges

  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Environmental quality
  • Air quality improvement
  • Noise reduction
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
  • Effective management
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Transformation of previously derelict areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising

Project objectives

Objectives (1): - Improve the accessibility of existing free spaces - Secure the provision of urban free spaces and create new green areas to upgrade the residential quality of the area (4) - Enhance connectivity between the inner city and its surroundings via its green spaces (4) - Strengthen the ecological function and recreational value of the area - Improve the networks between green spaces (e.g. parks, urban forests) and paths (green infrastructure) (4) - Contribute to climate, environmental and flood protection (e.g. through enhancing energy efficiency of urban technologies and buildings) - Increase the attractiveness of the area - Reduce air and noise pollution along major through roads - Revitalize vacant plots/brownfield sites through temporary uses.

Implementation activities

The communal gardening project Querbeet, the intercultural gardening initiative Bunte Gärten, and the green mobility corridor Parkbogen Ost were initiated by citizens themselves in response to sustainability challenges that they identified and sought to address through NBS. These projects connect in terms of their emphasis on retaining green space for communal activities. The green spaces seek to provide opportunities for active engagement with social issues such as community politics, local and global food provision, environmental education and environmental protection. This is done also through workshops, cultural (evening) events and collaboration with nearby child care centres and schools during the gardening season. Parkbogen Ost, on the other hand, is focused on developing unused railway tracks as an arch-shaped, green mobility corridor running along the perimeters of much of Leipzig’s East Quarter and connecting the quarter’s green spaces. (1)

Main beneficiaries

  • Citizens or community groups
  • Marginalized groups: Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants

Governance

Management set-up

  • Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Citizens or community group

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Co-management/Joint management
  • Citizen oversight (e.g. boards, advisory)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

Citizens - All 3 projects were citizen-initiated. Querbeet was set up in 2012 by a small group of gardening enthusiasts who shared a philosophy of cooperation and democratic self-governance in a shared rather than private space. Bunte Gärten group is an association of citizens established in order to provide a safe and supportive space for refugees. Parkbogen Ost is envisaged as a flagship project for the city that would, at the same time, raise the profile of the East Quarter. Local Government - The three projects reflect different degrees of collaboration with the City. While they are all connected through local networks, such as the “Network for Urban Nature” and the “Gardening Programme”, or through activities coordinated by the Urban Quarter Management and the Office of Urban Renewal and Housing Development Support’s section for Leipzig East, support is given to the projects depending on their scale, their different priorities, their organisation and their locations.

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown
... a national policy or strategy? Yes (The Federal Ministry of the Environment recently issued a “White Book” (i.e. blue print) for the promotion of green spaces in cities (accompanied by a series of publications on green space developments in Germany). It had dedicated some funding towards this goal and this has been taken up by Leipzig’s Office for Urban Green and Water, for the development of a new free space strategy under the title “Vibrant Green City by the Water”. (1))
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • EU funds
  • Public national budget
  • Public local authority budget
  • Corporate investment
  • Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)
  • Private Foundation/Trust
  • Crowdfunding

Type of funding

  • Earmarked public budget
  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
  • Loan

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Citizens (e.g. volunteering)

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Lowered local temperature
  • Green space and habitat
  • Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Increased green space area
  • Restoration of derelict areas

Economic impacts

  • Stimulate development in deprived areas

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Safety
  • Increased perception of safety
  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Improved social cohesion
  • Improved liveability
  • Improved access to urban green space
  • Increased visibility and opportunity for marginalised groups or indigenous peoples
  • Increased opportunities for social interaction
  • Cultural heritage and sense of place
  • Promotion of cultural diversity
  • Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. NATURVATION - Case Study Working Paper on Leipzig. (2017).
2. Querbeet Offener Garten. (n.d). Start. Accessed on November 15, 2020. Source link
3. Bunte Garten Leipzig e.V. (n.d). Über uns. Accessed on November 15, 2020, Source link
4. Stadt Leipzig. (n.d). Parkbogen Ost - von Bahnflächen zum grünen Aktivband. Sccessed on November 15, 2020, Source link
Summer in the garden
Summer in the garden
Source: https://bunte-gaerten.org/der-sommer-im-garten/
Summer in the garden
Summer in the garden
Source: https://bunte-gaerten.org/der-sommer-im-garten/