Laura Torreiter

Appropriation of architectural monuments by owners with a migration background in Leipzig.

In Leipzig’s eastern Gründerzeit neighborhoods, which were affected by a lack of maintenance and migration as a result of socioeconomic transformation processes in the GDR and post-reunification periods, people of Asian, Oriental, Arab and Eastern European origin settled in the 1990s and 2000s. Ethnic economy establishments and cultural and religious institutions are regenerating the main shopping streets. Some residents have acquired architectural monuments and are renovating them, in some cases with a great deal of personal effort. They recognized the potential of the buildings at a time when few private investments were made in the area. As a result, they have not only saved the listed buildings from further decay, but also from demolition, while the city undertook deconstruction measures as part of Stadtumbau Ost. However, the neighborhoods and their residents are still stigmatized by the media and the public today, and due to increasing pressure on the real estate market and resulting displacement effects, the architectural and social structure of the district is subject to strong changes. Based on the method of field research with interviews and observations, the work is dedicated to the analysis of the different perspectives of owners and preservationists on the process of appropriation of architectural monuments in the context of Leipzig’s urban development.

Publications

• Torreiter, Laura (im Erscheinen): Immigranten als Käufer von Gründerzeithäusern in
  Leipzig-Ost. In: Bundesministerium für Raumordnung, Bauwesen und Städtebau (Hg.):
  Informationsdienste Städtebaulicher Denkmalschutz Nr.40. Berlin.
• Torreiter, Laura (2015): Wenn Segregation Schule macht. – Bildungsbenachteiligung im Leipziger
  Stadtbezirk Ost. In: Eckardt, Frank; Seyfarth, René & Werner, Franziska (Hg.): Leipzig – Die neue
  urbane Ordnung der unsichtbaren Stadt. Münster.
• Eckardt, Frank & Torreiter, Laura (2013): Verzweiflung unter den Antennen. Eine Favela in Belo
  Horizonte wehrt sich gegen den Abriss. BrasilienNachrichten 148, 26-28. Freiburg.