Le quartier de Plagwitz à Leipzig : vingt ans de revalorisation entre gestion de la décroissance urbaine et politiques entrepreneuriales d’attractivité

Through the study of the revaluation process of the Plagwitz district, this article analyzes the entrepreneurial evolution of management policies of the urban shrinkage in the German city of Leipzig since the beginning of the 2000s. Marked by a strong demographic and morphological decay during the 1990s, this district was the site of experiments of measures aimed at containing the effects of decay since the early 2000s. Most of them were aimed at avoiding the multiplication of spaces and vacant buildings through the organization of intermediate spaces, occupied temporarily and free of charge buy populations, often young, from creative and cultural backgrounds. Initially presented as an opportunity to redevelop a more fair and sustainable city, these policies have become a communication tool to serve the attractiveness of the district and a strategy for economic growth. This has led to processes of commodification and increased costs of space that now threaten the pioneering appropriations promoted during the previous period.