In the post World War II era, “Dessau’s community was crushed as the city suffered 1,136 casualties along with 84% of its infrastructure destroyed” [1]. With the additional multitude of factors already leading to the decline of the city, the heavy costs of reconstruction and casualties only furthered the situation thus creating the still relevant problem of a continuously shrinking population. This conundrum is stated to be caused by the “...too few babies born each year to replace the older people who pass away - as is the case with many cities in Germany” [2]. With a majority of the areas surrounding Dessau experiencing similar situations (with the exception of Berlin), the cities and communities have been attempting to implement strategies to counteract their city’s regressing state. One of the methods Dessau has attempted to implement to tackle the problem is by “...gathering its city planners to discover a use for the acres of empty lots left where apartment buildings and factories used to be” [3]. The city named this project, the “Urban Wildlands”, as it aims to revitalize certain vacant areas throughout the city through the re-implementation of nature [3]. An example of a real-life implementation of this solution would be the Dessau Intercultural Garden. Unfortunately, a passerby would understand from a glance of this site that the method has not seen much community involvement. The demographic of the city is mostly composed of the elderly and retired. With the missing component of youth, there comes the lack of community involvement and development. In regards to the Intercultural Garden, the residents within the community do not display enough interest to make use of the “Urban Wildlands” program. Another solution that is mentioned would be the “city islands" solution that promotes the idea of green spaces between urban centers (more information on “Urban Wildlands” and “city islands” can be found specifically within the “Housing in Dessau” section) [3]. In retrospect, these solutions are quite like Paul Knox’s “Atlas of Cities” as it mentions “...green infrastructure becoming more common in numerous cities and thus it creates more employment opportunities and community development”, but these cities (e.g. Portland) are relatively young in comparison to Dessau [4]. Quite in contrast to the industrial boom Dessau experienced during the World War periods, it has now turned to the solution of deconstruction via letting “...the land return to nature - albeit, in a controlled way” [3].
Citations [1] World War 2 Truth. (n.d.). The Deliberate Bombing of German Cities.Retrieved from https://ww2truth.wordpress.com/2017/10/03/the-deliberate-fire-bombing-of-german-cities/. [2] Müller, R. (2010.). When Less Is More: Eastern German Project Provides Hope for Shrinking Cities. Retrieved from http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/when-less-is-more-eastern-German-project-provides-hope-For-shrinking-cities-a-688152.html. [3] Deutsche, W. (2016). German City Dessau Experiments with Rewilding. Retrieved from https://www.dw.com/en/german-city-dessau-experiments-with-rewilding/a-19351244. [4] Knox, P. (2014). Atlas of Cities. Princeton: Princeton University Press.