New courtyards for LWB housing estates in Leipzig-Paunsdorf - neighbourhoods benefit from Socially Integrative City support programme

Seven months after the start of construction, Leipziger Wohnungs- und Baugesellschaft mbH (LWB), together with representatives of the city and local residents, inaugurated a new playground and meeting place in Leipzig-Paunsdorf. For almost 250,000 euros, a meeting place for young and old was created in the square of Günsel-, Hasel-, Hartriegelstraße and Südblick. Last year already, the first courtyard was designed with funding from the Socially Integrative City programme. The medium-term goal is to renew all eleven LWB housing estates in Paunsdorf.

In the redesign of its courtyards in Leipzig-Paunsdorf, the LWB is benefiting from the Socially Integrative City funding program. The construction costs for the now completed project, totalling EUR 250,000, were almost entirely borne by the city, the Free State of Saxony and the federal government. A lot of new playground equipment was created, including a slide mountain, a nest swing and a throwing trainer, a covered sandbox and a marble game, a human-annoyance-you-not-table, plus barbecue and seating facilities. The outdoor facilities were beautified and completely redesigned.

"The development of the Paunsdorf LWB homesteads into playgrounds and meeting places is one of our many activities for a sustainable social stabilization and upgrading of the northeast neighborhood," said Leipzig's building mayor Dorothee Dubrau on the occasion of the handover to the residents. The Paunsdorf district is a focal point of Leipzig's urban development policy and was included in the Socially Integrative City programme as a development area in 2016.

LWB, which with around 2,000 apartments is the second largest landlord in the Paunsdorf prefabricated housing area, started the project to improve the residential environment two years ago together with the city. Two of the freely accessible courtyards have so far been completed, and the green light was recently given for two more, which are to be redesigned in 2020. That leaves seven more, for which funding is also planned under the Socially Integrative City programme.

"Together with the municipality, we bear responsibility for development in the urban districts," says Ute Schäfer, LWB Director of Finance and Asset Management. "The Socially Integrative City programme is an important instrument for creating places for communication and encounters." Funding has already been provided for projects in other LWB housing estates, including the Kreuzstrasse district near the city center. In the prefabricated housing area, which was renovated and modernized to improve energy efficiency, all residential courtyards were renovated with the help of the support program.

Iris Wolke-Haupt, LWB Director of Housing and Construction, emphasized the LWB's commitment to the development of the neighborhoods, including in Paunsdorf. "Our responsibility as a municipal housing company does not end at the front door," she said at the housing yard inauguration in Paunsdorf. "Investments in the residential environment are money well spent. Just like the building renovations or investments in social infrastructure, they contribute to stabilising the neighbourhoods and improving the quality of living. This benefits the neighbourhoods and increases the chances of participation and integration".

Just a few weeks ago, the LWB inaugurated one of its largest projects of this kind to date with a children's and neighborhood festival. This involves the redesign of a total of eleven residential courtyards in the garden city of Alt-Lößnig. The ideas for the project were provided by children living in the neighborhood. In the course of a workshop, they made and painted their favourite toys. This resulted in a concept under the heading of fire-water-earth-air. In addition to a propeller plane, for example, a pirate ship with a mudflat, a volcanic landscape, a huge knight's castle, many swings and climbing frames, picnic areas and rest areas in the inner courtyards were set up. The LWB invested more than 900,000 euros. 

In the past, the LWB has continuously invested in the residential environment, including playgrounds and residential courtyards in Mockau, Schönefeld, Wahren, the Kolonnadenviertel, Grünau and Eutritzsch. With around 230 playgrounds, the LWB is the largest playground owner in Leipzig after the city (300 facilities). More than 80 percent of LWB playgrounds are in good to mint condition.