Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities
Leipzig Charter 2007
In 2007, the European Ministers for Urban Development and Regional Planning adopted the Leipzig Charter for a Sustainable European Cities (PDF) in Leipzig. The aim of the Leipzig Charter 2007 was to establish city-wide Integrated Urban Development in order to strengthen and further develop European cities. A special focus was to be placed on districts with special requirements for development.
After years of decline in Eastern Germany in the 1990s, Leipzig underwent a fundamental transformation - moving towards dynamic growth of population and economy and high quality of life in the city. Strategic urban development and a committed civil society were key factors for successful development.
The City of Leipzig, Leipzig's civil society, stakeholders and politicians are committed to sustainable and future-proof development in accordance with the principles of the Leipzig Charter. This includes integrated strategic urban development processes and a place-based approach that supports strengths and addresses challenges at the neighbourhood level. It is, therefore, a great honour that the Charter was named after and signed in Leipzig.
Film on Leipzig's urban development
Leipzig lives the Leipzig Charter: Film on Leipzig's urban development showing progress and strategies from 1990 up to the present.
Protesters: We are the people! We are the people! We are the people!
Burkhard Jung: The 90's were really difficult.
Karsten Gerkens: The situation was that 75 percent of the housing stock was desolate and in need of repair.
Citizen: Measures would have to be found very quickly, preferably starting tomorrow, to at least preserve the houses still standing.
Stefan Heinig: Immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the focus was on large investments to stimulate development in the city, which was also very important.
Engelbert Lütke Daldrup: Three quarters of our historic houses have been fixed up. Half of our large housing estates have been renovated.
Stefan Heinig: But on the other hand led to a simultaneous decline in population and loss of jobs, resulting in vacancies. This was an essential starting point in talking about whether urban development should be done differently.
The aim was to have an urban development concept that deals with the situation and develops specific strategies in different districts.
On the one hand, we further developed the mixed-use city of short distances. On the other hand, we involved people, gave them the freedom to realise their own ideas, and supported them.
Citizen: We've all been actively involved. And I have to say, it really turned out to be what we had in mind.
Siegfried Schlegel: Citizen participation has been a tradition in Leipzig for decades.
Karsten Gerkens: Freelance architects - and basically all kinds of people came up with ideas. For example the whole issue of temporary use - Wächterhäuser (guard houses) and all these things.
Fritjof Mothes: Being open to new things, being open to experiments. Not believing that there's no solution.
Stefan Heinig: An important point is to focus inthe urban development process on specific priority areas, i.e. on districts with special development needs. And this is the basis for the work of neighbourhood managements.
Paula Hofmann: The primary objectives of neighbourhood management are to strengthen the local players and to improve the residential quality and the quality of life of the local population.
Caroline Jonigkeit: I work for Querbeet Leipzig e.V. This is a community garden project. It strengthens solidarity in the neighbourhood and people can actively participate. They learn to shape their own neighbourhood, their environment and society.
Thomas Dienberg: Leipzig has always tried out new formats and was basically a model for other cities too.
Reporter: The construction phase of the Rabet district park has been completed. This completes a further stage in the renewal of the east of Leipzig.
Siegfried Schlegel: The fact that 2007 this European Charter was given the name Leipzig Charter certainly has a lot to do with the fact that we have always understood urban development as a whole.
Burkhard Jung: We tried to stimulate larger settlements by establishing the trade fair as well as the airport in the north of the city - together with the creative scene and the biotech and medical sector - all that created a sense of community which attracted people because there were jobs again. In the 2000s it was exactly the opposite situation. After losing 100,000 inhabitants, we gained 100,000 people within 10 years and now we are dealing with issues which of course affect all big, fast-growing cities: I call them growing pains.
Stefan Heinig: A central topic in recent years has been the issue of educational infrastructure.
The number of births in Leipzig has almost tripled between 1995 and today. As a result, a large number of daycare centres and schools had to be built.
Over the years we've approached the topic of housing in many different ways: Starting with urban redevelopment and dealing with vacancies, through creative approaches to preserving buildings, to adapting to demographic change - in other words, adjust housing for the needs of elderly.
Thomas Dienberg: How do you deal with this tremendous pace, the pressure on the property market? There are now issues such as social justice, affordable housing, but also good local neighbourhood development.
Caroline Jonigkeit: At the moment, the safeguarding of land requirements is important for projects that need green or experimental spaces. It's a question of safeguarding these areas, which still exist, and there aren't many left.
Stefan Heinig: Finding ways of reconciling economic, ecological and social interests and developing a city, where our children and grandchildren still want to live, is the central challenge.
Burkhard Jung: In other words, we are committed to the energy transition, to the transport transition, to the production transition, to sufficiency and perhaps also to changing consumer behaviour, which needs to change. These are the issues of the future and we would do well to link one with the other, knowing how difficult this will be.
Stefan Heinig: For me, the Leipzig Charter is an essential component for shaping a resilient city. In this respect, integrated action, but also considering the common good, which is an integral part of the new Leipzig Charter, are essential factors.
Oliver Weigel: If I have to sum up in one sentence what makes the new Leipzig Charter special, it's that it not only states what challenges cities are facing but also which resources they need and that EU member states are committed to making these resources available to cities.
Burkhard Jung: As an urban community, we are glad to be heard at a national and international level and to be able to face our problems and challenges of the future.
Stefan Heinig: It's good to see things becoming a reality for which the course was set 10 years ago.
Karsten Gerkens: You can walk through the city and have a hundred thousand places where you can say: "We were involved in that."
Burkhard Jung: Leipzig is a symbol of a historically grown European city.
Stefan Heinig: Urban development is always a collective task, where many people contribute.
Burkhard Jung: We're really proud that the European urban development paper bears the name Leipzig.
Transformed Challenges
In the last decade, global changes have strongly influenced local communities in cities around the world: climate change, global migration patterns, social diversification and increasing socio-economic inequalities, as well as opportunities and risks of increased digitalisation. The global community has responded to these challenges with the creation of Sustainable Development Goals as part of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development as well as the United Nations New Urban Agenda. The EU has also set out its strategic objectives as part of the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development and with special attention to the urban context as part of the Urban Agenda for the EU / Pact of Amsterdam.
What has changed in the New Leipzig Charter
Taking into account these new requirements, an evaluation of the Leipzig Charter started in 2017 under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community. A national and European dialogue-process supported the development of the Charter's new version. Together with other German cities, the City of Leipzig was actively contributing its experience to the national discussion process.
As a result ambitious guidelines for an integrated urban development policy for European cities evolved. The New Leipzig Charter provides a comprehensive picture of current challenges and objectives for a sustainable urban development, structured in three dimensions: just, green, and productive cities.
Similar to the Charta from 2007, the new version maintains key principles to tackle these challenges and objectives as the basis of responsible good urban governance:
- Urban policy for the common good
- Integrated approach
- Participation and co-creation
- Multi-level governance
- Place-based approach (at neighbourhood, city-wide and regional level)
By mentioning it in the title ("New Leipzig Charter - The transformative power of cities for the common good") the first key principle is highlighted.
Through the work in cities numerous European and national objectives are put into practice: i.e. social cohesion, climate protection and adaptation to climate change. Cities are aware of their responsibility. It is obvious, however, that they cannot perform successfully without adequate basic conditions. The New Leipzig Charta mentions in a separate chapter, how to strengthen competences and empower cities: e.g. by means of adequate regulations, funding and political support on European, national and regional level.
The New Leipzig Charter was approved at the informal meeting of the European ministers responsible for urban development and spatial planning on November 30th 2020 as part of the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
What does the New Leipzig Charter means to Leipzig?
The City of Leipzig appreciates the follow-up of the Leipzig Charter. Many of the challenges and objectives described are already part of the strategic goals of Leipzig as fields of action. The key principles, as integrated working, participation or the place-based approach, are included in the Integrated Urban Development Concept "Leipzig 2030" and its components for implementation.
The current pandemic situation proves again the importance of an orientation of public action in favour of the common good, how indispensable the provision of good public infrastructure and services are to secure a resilient urban development.
Cities should be involved in decision-making processes on all levels of governance. Hereby they would be in the position to influence favourable basic conditions and adequate freedom of action for cities. With its engagement within the German City Council or the European City-Network EUROCITIES, the City of Leipzig tries to give their contribution to these processes.
Of course it is crucial to live and act according to the guidelines and principles on all governmental levels, to question courses of action and foster further development every day anew! A good opportunity to do so in Leipzig will be the evaluation of the Integrated Urban Development Concept "Leipzig 2030", starting at the end of 2021.