Laura Torreiter

Urban upgrading in Leipzig’s east: Migrants as pioneers in the acquisition and renovation of historic buildings.

The revitalization of buildings formerly affected by vacancy and demolition is negotiated within the social field of urban renewal. The positions of the actors in this field are determined by their equipment with economic, social, and cultural capital. Members of planning and heritage authorities possess institutionalized cultural capital, thus contrasting with self-taught autodidacts. Beyond their function as investments and living space, heritage buildings can represent status and be symbolically appropriated. By utilizing the potential of heritage buildings, the incoming alternative milieu and the migrant economy, socioeconomic stabilization and image improvement should be achieved. Public infrastructure projects and monument designations paved the way for external actors to capitalize on the developments.

A qualitative survey compared the experiences of municipal employees, experts with those of local migrant homeowners and those working in the renovation sector. Migrant groups have developed the urban space during a period of predominantly out-migration. They attempted to compensate for structural disadvantages, such as labor market discrimination, their residence in a socially stigmatized area and low economic capital, by using social capital. Renovations were carried out by themselves and private networks to a high degree. With the increasing demand for the use of high-quality materials, renovation work is being evaluated according to aesthetic and economic criteria. When professional investors market their properties, the social history of the district receives little consideration, only positive characteristics of the neighborhood, such as multiculturalism, are selectively addressed. The contribution of migrant actors to the development is insufficiently recognized by the public. Through their ties to the neighborhood, they contribute to economic and social stabilization. However, their upward mobility orientation only partially promotes the integration of other migrants in their rental practices and separates them from lower-status groups in the neighborhood. They see themselves as successful pioneers in an increasingly heterogeneous East German urban society and they are partly among those who benefit from the valorization.

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Publications

• Torreiter, Laura (2015): Wenn Segregation Schule macht. Bildungsbenachteiligung im Leipziger Stadtbezirk Ost. In: Eckardt, Frank; Seyfarth, René; Werner, Franziska (Hrsg.): Leipzig – Die neue urbane Ordnung der unsichtbaren Stadt. Münster: Unrast-Verlag, 163–178.
• Torreiter, Laura (2022): Konstruktion von Aufwertung: Die Rolle lokaler Akteure und deren Instrumentalisierung im Stadterneuerungsprozess des Leipziger Ostens. In: Bogner, Simone; Dolff Bonekämper, Gabi; Meier, Hans-Rudolf (Hrsg.): Instabile Konstruktionen. Interdisziplinäre Forschungen zu »Identität und Erbe«. Weimar: Bauhaus-Universitätsverlag, 248–260.
• Torreiter, Laura (2023): Städtebauliche Aufwertung im Leipziger Osten: Migrant:innen als Pioniere beim Erwerb und der Sanierung von Baudenkmalen. Dissertation. Weimar.
• Wiest, Karin; Torreiter, Laura; Kirndörfer, Elisabeth (2021): The Role of Natio-Ethno-Cultural Difference in Narratives of Neighbourhood Change – An Arrival Area in the East German Context. In: Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 113, 1, 19–34.