The projects of the green space in urban voids: the case of Leipzig

The article presents the results of green space projects in urban voids. In Leipzig, the symbolic city of Germany's shrinking cities, where the most significant population loss was recorded after reunification, the renaturalisation project became the urban material with which the administration tried to normalise the shrinking process. By introducing traditional urban park projects, forms of sharing, and urban forestation processes, the numerous urban voids that emerged from the progressive perforation of the city following the demolition of housing and industrial heritage were rethought. Yet, today, Leipzig is also the fastest-growing city in Germany, which has strongly questioned the survival and intent of the renaturalisation experiences. In fact, on the one hand, the re-urbanisation processes underway today have eroded and densified some renaturalisation areas. On the other hand, the presence of green spaces has initiated gentrification or led to the subtraction and weakening of public spaces. Although the projects of urban voids have represented a comprehensive sociocultural and ecological opportunity for Leipzig over the last thirty years, the logic of capital accumulation and design hypertrophy has prevailed in the model of urban development, which has subtracted or distorted the character of urban voids.