Shrinking to Grow: The Urban Regeneration Challenge in Leipzig and Manchester

Shrinking to Grow: The Urban Regeneration Challenge in Leipzig and Manchester was funded by the Anglo-German Foundation in 2002 - 2004.

Overview

This study, conducted jointly by the Institute of Community Studies/BSP in London and the consultancy empirica in Berlin, systematically analyses the process of shrinkage in Leipzig and Manchester.

Leipzig, with 60,000 vacant dwellings, is one of the most extreme examples of the 'shrinking city' phenomenon in Germany; Manchester is not nearly so advanced, but - despite recent population growth in the city centre - is exhibiting the same problem of decline.

The research teams conclude that for both cities the prescription is the same: first, expand the higher education sector to attract more young people; second, keep them once they have partners and begin to have children, by family-friendly policies.

People

Professor Sir Peter Hall

Professor Nick Gallent
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Dr Alan Mace
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Lucas Porsch

Reiner Braun

Ulrich Pfeiffer 

Outputs

A main project report was published by the Anglo German Foundation and a single paper on the Manchester case study appeared in European Planning Studies:

Mace, A., Gallent,N., Hall,P. (2007). 'New East Manchester: urban renaissance or urban opportunism?' European Planning Studies 15(1), 51-65. ISSN: 0965-4313

Mace, A., Gallent, N., Hall,P., Porsch,L., Braun,P., Pfeiffer,U. (2004), Shrinking to Grow? The Urban Regeneration Challenge in Leipzig and Manchester. Berlin: Anglo-German Foundation 

Impact

The report contributed to a significant debate in the mid 2000s over 'shrinking cities' and remedial regeneration policy.