Survival and Despair in Dystopia

This chapter offers the grassroots departure point for local regime decisions in which frequent attempts to get help through the system seldom achieved results as some party members failed to get assistance when they wrote petitions. It talks about urban ingenuity that existed at the margins of legality for those who took the initiative to effect repairs by their own labor and through informal connections managed to restore a dignified existence. It also refers to officials who condoned construction that lacked central approval and used labor and materials from the barter economy. The chapter explains how a church community could restore its dilapidated building through internal donations and labor and the black market. It talks about West squatters in Leipzig who were openly breaking laws about capitalist property ownership to demand drastic social change.

Continuities in “the Saved City”

This chapter reveals many local officials and architects sustained influence under capitalism and perpetuated efforts to reconcile modernism with history after 1989. It discusses the numerous residents who applied the same drive and initiative they had exerted in the old system to save their homes under the new one. It also looks at capitalist ownership and speculation that took over property relations and planning, which traces from the preceding era's dreams, approaches, and achievements that left their stamp on the city's architectural and social development. The chapter describes postcommunist planners who engaged in fac¸ade reconstruction and monument fetishism or financed urban reconstruction in ways that expelled inhabitants to serve the interests of privileged investors. It recounts how contemporary Leipzig has become a multifaceted urban center that is vibrant with history and innovative new construction.

Introduction

This chapter draws on two pioneering approaches to East German power structures in order to unfold the dynamics of urban dystopia. It marginalizes East German regions and disappointing planning outcomes through diversion of resources from the Bezirke or districts to Berlin as a cause that contributes to the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (DDR). It also mentions Brian Ladd, who implied that a failure to provide adequate housing by 1989 could fuel public support for preservationists and activists who are committed to preserving old neighborhoods. The chapter uses Leipzig as a case analysis to sketch out a multi-layered schematic of how the East German planning mechanism interlocked at the central, Bezirk, municipal, and private levels. It offers a glimpse into how civic life functioned in the city that started the Peaceful Revolution and ended Socialist Unity Party (SED) rule.

Urban Ingenuity in the System

This chapter shows how a cast of young architects and their reform-minded older colleagues strove to save the city by correcting the mistakes of high modernism and imbuing the urban core with humane proportions and highlights. It describes urban ingenuity that meant working within a layered, diverse, and at times chaotic bureaucracy that is laden with jaded and corrupt offices. It also refers to Leipzig's young chief architect Dietmar Fischer, who spearheaded a campaign to reconcile modern methods with historical substance. The chapter discusses preservationists that sought to save architectural relics as landmarks for local identity, such as their own offices in the mid-1970s. It examines financial, material, and labor shortfalls inherent in East Germany's industrialized mass-production economy that helped ensure Fischer's fusion of small-scale Plattenbau to remain a prototype without successors.

Utopian Visions in 1988

This chapter exhibits how architect Dietmar Fischer hosted a holistic planning endeavor that meant to restore Leipzig as a national, even global, showpiece in 1988. It illustrates how the city could be saved in an international architectural competition whose optimistic mood and utopian outcomes were suppressed from public view. It also talks about how Fischer and his BCA colleagues celebrated the potential in Leipzig's omnipresent urban ruins and embraced the global thrust toward reshaping modern design to integrate historical elements. The chapter explains why Fischer tirelessly campaigned for an international urban planning competition for Leipzig's historic center in 1988. It refers to local art historian and preservation patriot Thomas Topfstedt, who implies that the collectives that took part in the 1988 competition built many castles in the air.

Urban Ingenuity Underground

This chapter describes how local officials who were frustrated that the system failed to yield results turned to unofficial connections, funding from opaque financial reserves, and clandestine construction without the approval from central authorities. It reviews diverse sources that outline the mechanics of the unofficial economy. It also illustrates how local officials embraced an urban ingenuity that steadily turned toward producing illegal structures (Schwarzbauten). The chapter elaborates the trend from the mid-1970s onward that culminated with the Bowlingtreff, a postmodern people's palace atop a vast subterranean recreational wonderland right across from city hall. It recounts how local officials strove to offer the dejected populace architectural symbols to prove that they still had the capacity to act in the public interest while working around the centralized economy.

The City as Stage in Revolution

This chapter reviews the apocalyptic state of Leipzig's streetscapes that set the stage for marches in which residents demanded change. It also talks about Leipzigers who rebelled against Berlin, which was loathed as a parasite whose corrupt authorities had sucked the life out of their once-great city. It also elaborates how Leipzigers demanded autonomy from centralized planning, public participation in urban development, and an end to demolitions and mass-produced prefab housing. The chapter discusses the peaceful unrest that transitioned from the streets and forums of fall 1989 into a local conference in January 1990, in which officials and engaged citizens synergized ideas for saving the city. It cites the miraculous restoration of Alte Nikolaischule that bespoke both continuities with earlier planning and new possibilities after the Wende of 1989.