Decline and sprawl: an evolving type of urban development – observed in Liverpool and Leipzig1

This paper is based upon work undertaken by the authors as a contribution to the URBS PANDENS research project examining the nature, causes and consequences of ‘urban sprawl in Europe’. This project is funded by the European Commission under Framework V. It is led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and involves collaborating universities and research centres in Athens, Leipzig, Liverpool, Ljubljana, Stockholm, Vienna and Warsaw. Besides, the authors would like to thank the anonymous referees for their constructive comments on a previous version of this article.

Abstract

Much of the empirical research on urban sprawl has been carried out in North America and most theoretical studies on this problem have been concerned with expanding urban areas. This study differs, firstly in that it is concerned with sprawl in two European cities, Liverpool in England and Leipzig in Germany, and secondly because both these cities are in decline. This presents an opportunity to explore whether the process of urban sprawl is somehow specific in a situation of urban decline and what its outcomes might be for both urban form and urban policy.

Notes

This paper is based upon work undertaken by the authors as a contribution to the URBS PANDENS research project examining the nature, causes and consequences of ‘urban sprawl in Europe’. This project is funded by the European Commission under Framework V. It is led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and involves collaborating universities and research centres in Athens, Leipzig, Liverpool, Ljubljana, Stockholm, Vienna and Warsaw. Besides, the authors would like to thank the anonymous referees for their constructive comments on a previous version of this article.

In Germany unfortunately no data is available on the percentage of urban development built on previously developed land. In any case, this share is much lower than in Britain, since no national (federal) strategies for the reuse of brownland have been in place up to now.

Unfortunately no comparable data is available for the time before 1990.

We owe this argument to one of the anonymous referees.

Most strikingly, at present the car-manufacturer BMW is erecting an enormous plant in Leipzig on a site which was originally designated for agricultural use, with almost no objections being made by political groups or regional planners. Note that thirty years ago the attraction of a big Ford-car manufacturing plant was a key element of Liverpool's strategy to cope with structural change.

For example, in Liverpool the 19^th century working class housing takes the form of terraced housing whereas in Leipzig it is in tenements; in Liverpool peripheral social housing tends to be low density housing mixed with a few multi-storey blocks, whereas in Leipzig it is the 3- or 4-storey apartment-block that predominates.