Region Leipzig-Halle

Fallstudienregion Leipzig-Halle

Investigation Area

With a population of 1,073,000 in the year 2008, the region of Leipzig-Halle is an important agglomeration in Central Germany. It is partly located in the federal state Saxony and in the state of Saxony-Anhalt and covers a total of 4,390 km². Its main urban cores, Leipzig and Halle, are encircled by small towns and rural areas.

During GDR times, the Leipzig-Halle region was developed as a centre for chemical industries. Major town extensions were realised. Having been part of the former GDR and its relatively closed economic system, de-industrialisation occurred after the political transformation of 1989 in particular, when the region's economy faced national and international competition. Today, tentative new developments in the service sector take place, such as in the fields of education, transportation, local recreation and tourism.

Therefore, the Leipzig-Halle region is experiencing both population growth and decline side-by-side, with new development continuing despite pre-existing brownfields and high vacancy rates.

Research

For the region Leipzig-Halle, population dynamics and resulting land use changes are analysed and modeled. Furthermore, impacts of urban land use on biodiversity and selected ecosystem services are investigated.

Puzzle

Selected publications

Haase, D., Schwarz, N., Strohbach, M., Kroll, F., Seppelt, R. (in print): Synergies, trade-offs and losses of ecosystem services in urban regions: An integrating framework with an application for the Leipzig-Halle-Region, Germany. Ecology & Society.

Schwarz, N., Schlink, U., Franck, U., Großmann, K. (2012): Relationship of land surface and air temperatures and its implications for quantifying urban heat island indicators - an application for the city of Leipzig (Germany). Ecological Indicators 18: 693–704. DOI 10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.01.001

Haase, D., Lautenbach, S., Seppelt, R. (2010): Applying social science concepts: modelling and simulating residential mobility in a shrinking city. Environmental Modelling and Software 25, 1225-1240.

Nuissl, H., Haase, D., Wittmer, H., Lanzendorf, M. (2008): Impact assessment of land use transition in urban areas – an integrated approach from an environmental perspective. Land Use Policy 26, 414-424, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2008.05.006.

Strohbach, M. W., D. Haase, and N. Kabisch (2009): Birds and the city: urban biodiversity, land use, and socioeconomics. Ecology and Society 14(2): 31. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art31/