Facts Quedlinburg

Selected Key Data

Population

Since 1989 Quedlinburg has lost about 20 per cent of its population; it now has some 22,000 inhabitants. It is assumed that the number will have fallen to no more than 18,000 by 2020. Quedlinburg’s population was at its highest in 1950: 35,555.

Municipal Boundaries

Because of increased suburbanisation from the early 1990s, the cities have lost a considerable proportion of their inhabitants and tax revenues to the surrounding communities. In order to dilute the impact of these losses, a gradual process of incorporation has increased the municipal areas in size, sometimes significantly so.

The coloured shape on the map symbolises the expansion of the city in 1990, the outer line shows the boarder of the municipal area of 2010.

Housing Situation

After the political turnaround attention was soon drawn to the imperilled historic Old Town ensemble. This is how Quedlinburg came to be accepted as one of the model towns in the Federal Programme for Urban Renewal as early as 1991. The town received additional support from the Urban Planning Programme for the Protection of Monuments. As part of the Urban Redevelopment East programme, the town finally drew up its first urban development concept in 2001, in which the main focus was on the preservation and revitalisation of the Old Town.

In 1994, Quedlinburg – together with the Stiftsberg, church St Wiperti and the Münzenberg – was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Housing Situation in Quedlinburg (Stand 2/2010):
Housing Stock: 13.200 
Surplus Housing: 1.600 / 12 Percent
Housing Demolitian since 2001/02: 400

Industry

In Quedlinburg, many jobs were lost with the collapse of the agricultural enterprises, which had been merged to form agricultural kooperatives during GDR times.

The diagram illustrates the radical economic structural reform: Large industrial combines were forced to close, and even where smaller companies came along and still produce today, the often significantly increased output figures require only a fraction of the workforce once needed.

Relocating and Commuting

In the 1990s, suburbanisation affected all the IBA cities. At the same time, people, especially those from the former industrial centres, began to move to West Germany. The populations of the large cities of Halle (Saale) and Magdeburg have increased minimally in recent times, mainly due to migration from Saxony-Anhalt. In the meantime, the improved transportation network allows for longer journeys to and from work and the number of commuters is climbing.

The interactive tool "Relocating and commuting" visualises this range of topics for all IBA cities.

Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde (IfL), Leipzig 2010 Data: Günter Herfert, design/programming: Sebastian Specht

Sources for the statistical specifications on this spread: Ministry of Regional Development and Transport Saxony-Anhalt; Raumbeobachtungssystem Sachsen-Anhalt (RABE); Statistisches Landesamt Sachsen-Anhalt; Quedlinburg urban development plan 2001; Saxony-Anhalt Office of Statistics; GDR statistics of 1989; www.iba-monitor.de; Status 11/2009