Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code TYPEASHTON for an extra 3 months free at https://surfshark.deals/TYPEASHTON Just 40 years ago, the housing in Leipzig was crumbling. Industrial waste and brownfield sites speckled across the city. And after the fall of the Berlin wall, a mass exodus of residents westward left an already fragile cityscape in peril. But then, everything changed….
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:55 Urban Decline & De-Densification
05:40 Urban Infill and Renewal
10:42 Best VPN
11:58 An Amazing Transformation
Episode No. 146
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42 Comments
Leipzig is ok, but its a long walk to the beach
Is it possible the Netherlands is a blueprint for the rest of the world on how to build cities? I'm moving there when I retire from my job. I love there bike infrastructure and streets. Streets in the Netherlands are built for people not just for cars.
Ashton out here with the tax and travel tricks π
– Travel to beautiful city
– Make video about beautiful city
– Write off travel expenses related to video production
I feel like you would be a good real estate developer/investor. I think East Germany is a good place to start, because the cities (Leipzig, Dresden) have very solid population growth
Mkin cities denser certainly has its advantages. But together with the climate change it also creates heat islands where life in summer can be unpleasant. I live in the center of Vienna where 35Β°C fell close to a furnace and I often wonder how people survive in place where temperatures reach 40+Β°C without going mad
I tried to relocate to Germany from Chicago, USA in 2023. I lived in south side of Leipzig from Nov 2023 to Feb 2024, an area called DΓΆlitz. It was incredibly hard to find affordable housing for my family of 5 that was near diverse neighborhoods and/or the city center. Anywhere outside the city center is automatically sending you out to the suburbs, at which point, you might as well own a car. In addition, this East Germany is in full support of the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD), so the racism and hate is noticeable for those people that move there that are not of Euro-descent. Beware; Leipzig, the city which was supposed to have taken over Berlin in terms of population and culture since 2015, has not progressed as far as some people make it seem for a reason. Germany, especially Eastern side, is not a welcoming country to foreigners of different skin color despite what people and media might say.
As someone who lives in the next smaller saxon city – Leipzig's development is undoubtedly a result of excellent city planning. But at the same time it's the result of preexisting infrastructure. The vast amount of the money that went into city development came frome taxes from the economy. The crucial companies came to Leipzig because it already had the airport, great train connections and because two autobahns are surrounding the city (a third one is about to be constructed). Additionally, Leipzig is located not to far from the middle of Germany which is great if a company wants to ship goods to other parts of Germany. And last but not least Leipzig's topography is very flat – so that there's plenty of space for companies to build big factories.
One hour farther to the south lies Chemnitz – almost in Czech Republic, with many hills, without airport and lacking proper train connections. We can only dream of an economic and city development like Leipzig's but we can't make it true for Chemnitz. But I can assure you that we will always envy the people in Leipzig. π
I think there is a broad consencus in europe that we need think about how people move within cities and that we need to to unseal cities, make them more green and blue.While Leipzig is ahead in that development in germany, I think that most cities are starting to move in that direction.
Hi there! I live in Leipzig since 2013, next to the old railway viaduct mentioned at 18:47. The Park Arch project you're talking about has recently stalled and it's not certain we'll get it in the form and shape shown in the video.
you talk about the early 00s exodus as if the main and sole reason for it is trading up homes. it isn't at all. downtown just had prices raised to the point most ppl cannot afford a home there and so move outwards towards zones they can afford. this is the cost of tourism and business not trading up homes
π
lets say the total was 20B to do it all. u take 500K ppl to pay for this. That is 40K/person. Now this is not taxed in one lump sum but is done over lets say 20yr. So that comes to tax of just 2K/yr/person for 20yr.
U see when u put things this way the #'s get smaller b/c u bring them down to just how much/person not the huge lump sum.
Now u do this with a Million ppl and it becomes just a G/person. 2M and it is jus 500/person. Spent twice as much and everything doubles and so on low or higher. Now u keep the banks out of it and it will cost u only base price but put banks in the and the price goes up by 50% to 100% so dont get banks involved. Pay ppl as u go not in sums to start job of 50% up front and the rest when done. Pay as the go a little each yr straight form tax money not barrowed money which cost up to 100% in interest.
I lived in Liepzig like 7-8 years ago, to be precise in Reudnitz just one block from the Lene-Voigt Park where you were filming. Our house was one of the last in the region gentrified. I believe I only paid like 150β¬ for my room in a flat-share there, while I was working in West-Germany only for the weekends to pay for everything. That was quite a lifestyle!
I still got friends there and visit frequently and I'm therefore aware of some changes taking place since I moved. I believe the biggest challange for Leipzig wich has yet to be overcome is public transportation. The light rail system is insufficient (although probably still better than most American citys with multiple times as much population), it's just too slow and inconvienient wich leads to too many bikes in regard to the corresponding infrastructure. Don't get me wrong, bike-infrastructure in Leipzig is great and quite appropriate for its population and size but since public transportation is just not, I often found bike-traffic way too busy and stressful, in addition this spills over to pedestrians as well. The light rails does share traffic with cars way to often (almost permanent), at least where its on a 4 lane road tracks should be seperated and cars should be fine with 2 lanes and even many existing 2 lane roads with light rail tracks could seperate tracks by sacrificing parking. It's probably not realistic to want a full metro-system but the S-Bahn could diverge into much more underground inner-city lines since the old light rail system does lack connectivity to higher order and faster public transportation networks. I did heard that some changes to the public transportation sytsem are comming but I don't know the details yet and remain doubtful if they will be sufficient.
I also know some of the surrunding area of Leipzig from my childhood wich is quite in contrast to the city still experiencing decline and increase in poverty. In the eyes of many people there citys like Leipzig absorbe investment, development and all the positive changes since German reunification just to gentrify it for students from West-Germany. I'm not saying that's true, it's just there is not much to develop in that surrounding area… but seeing how Leipzig is changing I do understand their envy. But interestingly this results in something which is probably quite common in the US: Citys concentrate people who are rather progressiv, ecological or left-wing while the surrounding area is leaning increasingly into conservatism and right-wing ideology.
It is a bit of a pity that so few watch your videos!
Wonderful Video, Ashton! Although I miss your Black Forest Family Vlogs, I totally understand your wish for privacy, and I really enjoy your new, very well researched and still entertaining videos! I learn a lot! Looking forward to your videos every sunday <3
Densification is really good, but I think that this level of population growth is often not realistic. In a country where the population isn't growing and is already largely urbanized, where are those new city inhabitants coming from? Probably from other cities that are shrinking.
Very informative video. I have seen the same investment in other Western and central European cities.
Toledo in the house!
Cities growing is one thing, but as with everything, with everything, there needs to balance.
Its a problem now in Slovakia that a lot of people move to cities and rural, country sides are dying off, agricultural companies having trouble finding people to work on farms.
Re-purposing old and vacant places in the city is great and Im all for it. But hauling as many citizens to cities because its more efficient doesnt solve all the problems that it creates elsewhere.
Leipzig SΓΌd is very in. ALSO THE CAnals are suposed to be very nice.
I love the part of Berlin I live in. ( Lichterfelde West ). Thank you for your Infos about Leipzig wounderful Zooβ·. Nice Sea outside the City. But I have never been in Leipzig .Many greetings Christiane ππβ€
Und kein Wort vom VisionΓ€r JΓΌrgen Schneider, der die Vision eines aufblΓΌhenden Leipzig mit GefΓ€ngnis bezahlt hat. Von den Banken in die Pleite getrieben verdienen sie Heute Millionen an seinen Visionen.
I'm from the west of Germany, near (but not in) the Ruhr area. I've been to Leipzig two times and it's a lovely city. It's just nice. I go to Dortmund for school on a weekly basis and the contrast between it and Leipzig is like night and day.
When I arrive at the train station in Dortmund, it often smells like feces, there's bird poop everywhere and poverty is omnipresent as you go past the people sleeping in front of the train station. The air quality is poor and I'm glad every time I can leave for the day.
When you arrive at the train station in Leipzig, a busy, welcoming shopping mall awaits you right in the station. Once you step outside, it's just a nice area. There's a relatively large amount of green and the air is nowhere near as bad as it is in Dortmund. The streets are clean. The city itself is a space you actually want to spend time in.
When I went to Frankfurt with my brother, he told me not to judge a city by its train station district, but I disagree. By a city's train station district, you can tell how it treats the poor and how much priority they give to AufenthaltsqualitΓ€t (the quality of your stay there). Although train stations are controlled by DB and not the city, judging a city by its train station (district) is something that has rang true for me in the cities I have gotten to know.
All that aside, what makes Leipzig my favourite city is how nice it is to spend time there. In other cities, you endure being in the city to get to the sights you actually want to see. In Leipzig, being in the city in and of itself is a pleasant experience; you don't need to go somewhere else (a museum, a restaurant etc) to have a nice time.
American here – love this! Wish we had less suburban sprawl here and that fewer people saw that as the ideal. I miss my walkable village in England and the European cities that are so easy to visit without a car!
they didnot solved it… just wait until other cities are too expansive to be livable.
Iβm seeing graffiti everywhere. I always thought of Europe being cleaner, more orderly and unwilling to tolerate vandals that destroy beautiful community spaces.
Hmm, Where I grew up that amount of "street art" was usually a sign that you were about to get mugged, not urban renewal.
My native Manchester, England, has also shown a strong renaissance from an almost critical deindustrialisation and abandoned homes, buildings, mills and factories to a post-2000 boom in building and new more financial, educational and service driven industries. It's not perfect but much better than the grim depressing place of the 1980s.
I've never really understood "gentrification" because for every buyer that wants to purchase a property to renovate and then get more money (rent, lease, re-sale) there has to be a seller willing to sell. Why always blame the buyers? Shouldn't sellers be just as responsible for the phenomenon? GG Leipzig!!!
Leipzig was thrid on my list of unis I wanted to go to
precisely in reason of the low cost of living and the high praise I heard from other studfents who went there.
I'm in Aachen now.
so in simple terms; money, a lot of money π
donβt get me wrong, itβs nice to see that some east german cities are developing but on the other hand the rest ist still declinig.
Coincidentally german youtuber βDer dunkle Parabelritterβ released video about this a few hours ago.
This is actually surprising as to the renewal cycle only starting after 2012 in many cities. That is way later than it was in most of the United States. In NYC and other places, this began in earnest in the mid to late 1990s or early 2000s. That timeframe is typical. The process has been slower in the US than in Europe, and the starting point of the US is different. However, it is very much true. Multifamily housing construction recently hit 40-50 year highs in the United States. Meanwhile, suburban areas are starting to fracture, not necessarily just in inner areas either, but in areas that are deemed less desirable for whatever reason (too far away, wearing out infrastructure, etc.) and this has caused the beginning of something which will probably be called suburban decline.
Lving in full-tilt pollyanna-land, no? Hamburg is getting denser and denser like you would love, except now 15% of residents are "space challenged" and not nearly enough new residential space is created. Same situation in Berlin, Frankfurt, DΓΌsseldorf and Munich. And the new space that goes up is def. not affordable to regular people. Dream on American girl!
Massive immigration of people from Africa is the reason of population growth in Germany and other eu countries
Hey Ashton! Greetings from this very city, particularly from Reudnitz! Cool to see my neighborhood highlighted here. I've been living here for 10 years, so I could witness part of this transformation in real time (the constant construction CAN be a nuisance at times, but hey, I get it). I also remember how the city looked from visits in the late 90s, early 2000s – I was a child then, so I couldn't grasped how dire the situation was, but looking at the Before and After images in the video (and at old pictures we have, whenever I get around to it) is really jarring. I grew up in a small town in Saxony that used to be a heavy industrial hub which then rapidly declined after reunification, so as a child I was surrounded by abandoned factories and run-down residential buildings. That was normal.
I love this city. I've lived in other big cities – Berlin, Cologne, but never for long, and never really felt at home like I do here. I'm proud to hear it talked about so positively – we Germans tend to complain about everything and never stop to appreciate the good that we do have. I admit I'm the same, and it is difficult to see the good sometimes, what with. Everything. So it's nice to be reminded every now and then. π Hope you enjoyed your time here! You were filming pretty much right in front of my door, and not that long ago judging from the trees blooming before the Grassimuseum. You came here at a good time. (Hope you went and got a coffee at Zack-Zack, the espresso bar at Lene-Voigt-Park. It's my favorite place to get coffee in the city!)
I think one point you miss out massively that benefited the city was a mix of a hands off policy/inability of city admin to deal with independent projects for youth and culture. This massively attracted young and creative people. But this is sadly also changing thanks to gentrification. The more affluent people buying property and moving to the city, do not like this kind of independence and are trying to force the city to take care of more "order". Also the fast growth rate of the city is also attracting very unsavory types off real estate businesses that try to use legal loop holes to rent out entirely overpriced flats and rip off especially students …
Ashton will you please go into depth on one of your last points on how the city is taking measures to combat pricing out the local residents.
I'm a Spaniard who moved here recently and works remotely. Living in Reudnitz-Thonberg now and it is the place to be. Almost all the young people I know live in the area, and it's really pleasant too, plus the War of Nations monument and park is close if one feels like having a walk. Great place to live in
The car industry saved Leipzig, ironically that same car industry is now being destroyed.
What are those large above-ground pipes? I'm guessing there are part of a Soviet-era district heating system, probably steam, judging from the size of the pipes.
I live in Montreal, which has many walk-able mixed-used neighborhoods in the parts built between 1890-1940, when the metropolitan area reached 1 million. Since 1960 there has been tremendous suburban sprawl, and since 2000, many condo towers have been built downtown, especially in the western part of downtown and in a former industrial area just south-west of downtown called Griffintown. Unfortunately I do not think those areas are fully serviced, as they were not very well planned. After stagnating at just under 3 million from 1970 to 2000, greater Montreal has grown to 3,6 or 4,2 million, depending on how you count it, and I'm guessing that maybe half of that growth is from densification, and half from new suburban developments, and many of the new suburban developments, especially those built in the past 10 years, are quite dense (at least more so that those built from 1960 to 2000).
Hello again! I love your videos. I was stationed in Stuttgart when the wall fell. I went to Desert Storm in 90-91 and when I got back to Stuttgart my German wife and I took a trip through former East Germany. We didnβt go to any big cities. We mostly visited the rural areas. It was depressing. This past October I visited Leipzig and Dresden and I was very impressed. Iβll be back in Germany next year and I want to see the rural areas again to see how things have changed in the past 30+ years. And I was also in your town of Freiburg last October. For some reason I never made it there when I lived in Germany but I was also impressed with that town.
Leipzig ist fΓΌr mich ohne Zweifel die schΓΆnste Stadt Deutschlands