Open Space Strategy ‘Living Green City on the Waterfront’ - Leipzig

Leipzig's open space strategy ‘Living Green City on the Waterfront’ (2017, Germany) is a comprehensive strategy for the city's green space and water system which recognises the importance of urban green spaces and water bodies in socio-cultural, ecological and economic terms. The concept of ‘double internal development’ („Doppelte Innenentwicklung“) is a central element of the strategy, which aims to use land reserves in a structurally meaningful way while maintaining the supply and usability of open space and developing, networking and qualitatively improving open spaces in the inner city area. Guiding principles and objectives towards 2030 are highlighted in three thematic fields: categorising open spaces; securing access to open spaces; and managing urban green and blue features. The Strategy analyses each area in terms of its function or utilization, challenges or conflict potentials and outlook to 2030.The strategy was funded in part by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety as a precursor to developing the Green Leipzig 2030 Master Plan.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Dedicated strategy, plan, or law

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Drought and fire risk
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Air quality
Social equity
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The Open Space Strategy focuses on urban green spaces and water bodies from a socio-cultural, ecological and economic point of view and in this way elaborates their importance for urban society. The Strategy takes stock of the current situation (i.e. the state and categories of urban green spaces and water bodies as well as tasks for their preservation and further development) and formulates medium-term objectives about what Leipzig should be like in 2030 with relation to its urban green spaces and water bodies. Ecological, economic and socio-cultural aspects are considered in the Strategy in connection with urban green and blue areas, such as recreation, human health, inclusion and other ecosystem services.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Blue areas

Green areas for water management

Good practice characteristics:

Support multifunctional NBS

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Inclusivity

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

The city of Leipzig

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Strategy was funded in part by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety as a precursor to developing the Leipzig Green Space Masterplan 2030. Following the Strategy, Leipzig began working in 2019 on the "Masterplan Grün Leipzig 2030" (Leipzig Green Space Masterplan 2030) with broad public participation, building on the specifications of the existing Open Space Strategy as precisely as possible at neighbourhood level.

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

As a result of the diverse requirements of activities for developing open and green spaces and water systems, different participation processes have been used, such as workshops and future building exercises as well as public awareness campaigns. The Open Space Strategy highlights this participation, stating that the consultation and involvement of citizens has been cultivated in a variety of ways and that the growing need for participation will be actively cultivated moving towards 2030. A contact point for civic engagement, e.g. for all forms of sponsorship, park maintenance work, but also for private-public partnership, are also to be established. A network with numerous partners outside the administration is sought to be established and expanded.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Implementation of NBS (e.g. with government funds)

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public national budget

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The strategy was funded in part by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety as a precursor to developing the Leipzig Green Space Masterplan 2030.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

The Open Space Strategy sets out the intentions of investments and the preservation of value in relation to the functionality and usability of the open spaces in the future. The Strategy also presents how the challenges will be met in the future, including e.g. the failure to invest in the substance and the completion of the open space system, the increased intensity of use and more intensive forms of utilisation, the climatic changes and other environmental influences and the growth of city population. As this field of activity is linked with other topics of urban development and urban society, the Strategy served as a basis for action and discussion in the context of the future development of the city of Leipzig as a whole and specifically regarding the Masterplan.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Wilke T., Fibich P. (2017). Living green city on the waterfront - Open space strategy of the city of Leipzig. Leipzig: City of Leipzig.

Naumann S., Davis M., Iwaszuk E., Freundt M., Mederake L. (2020). Addressing climate change in cities - Policy instruments to promote urban nature-based solutions. Berlin – Kraków: Ecologic Institute & the Sendzimir Foundation.

Further documents

Weblinks:

http://www.freiraumkonzepte.com/freiraumstrategie-der-stadt-leipzig

https://www.leipzig.de/freizeit-kultur-und-tourismus/parks-waelder-und-friedhoef…

Photos

@T. Wilke, P. Fibich