From Machine to Green

Story and photos by Katharine Burgess, AICP

At Duisburg North Landscape Park in Germany's Ruhr Valley, a 230-foot-tall blast furnace looms above an otherwise idyllic landscape of trees, greens, and crisscrossed bike trails. In use from 1903 to 1985 and typically running at more than 4,350 degrees Fahrenheit, this imposing industrial structure produced about 37 million tons of pig iron and numerous by-products.

Today this industrial monument is the centerpiece of Duisburg North Landscape Park, complete with a twisting exterior staircase that skirts the workings of the historic machinery and leads to spectacular views. From that lofty spot, visitors can see beyond the green expanses of the 445-acre park, across the Ruhr Valley's seemingly endless commercial landscape, to glimpses of a train line, other industrial structures, and even an IKEA.

A relatively new park, Duisburg North is a hub for the local community, and the second most visited regional tourist attraction after the Gothic masterpiece of Cologne Cathedral. Beyond exploring factory relics, visitors picnic, bike, rock climb on industrial surfaces, and even scuba dive in a gas tank. Theater, piano, film, and arts activities — as well as weddings and corporate events — regularly occupy indoor and outdoor spaces, including a 500-seat amphitheater. The result is a landscape in line with community interests and offering commercial possibilities for the leftover industrial structures.

American cities have also transformed infrastructure into parkland. To many, the most beloved is New York's High Line, the third and final section of which opened in September 2014. Similarly ambitious projects include Chicago's elevated 606 Park and Trail, part of which opened this summer, and Washington's emerging 11th Street Bridge Park. Both seek to transform outdated transportation infrastructure into valuable green space for urban populations.

A matter of scale

In the Ruhr Valley, parks like these are far larger. East of Duisburg North are the 247-acre Zollverein Park and the 395-acre Hoheward Landscape Park, among others. Each is different in size, character, use, and funding structure, but all are examples of former infrastructure that has been transformed into green space to local and national acclaim. Germany has something to teach U.S. cities.

Located in the northwestern state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ruhr Valley is Germany's most densely populated region. Its cities include Essen, Duisburg, and Dortmund. Together, these cities form an urban region that rivals the population and geographic area of many European capitals.

Mining and industry came to define the region's economy when Germany industrialized in the 19th century. As the area became Europe's most prominent coal and steel center, the cities' populations rapidly expanded: Dortmund's population alone increased 11 fold between 1850 and 1900. Many of the cities suffered massive damage from World War II air raids, but bounced back in the 1950s because of their strong manufacturing bases.

Then, in the 1980s, structural change led to the closure of many of the coal mines and manufacturing centers, vastly undercutting economic opportunity in the region. Environmental contamination was common. The region had lost not only its economic engine, but also its natural landscape, a century earlier.

Park origins

What spurred change in the Ruhr Valley was the 1989–1999 International Building Exhibition (IBA, or Internationale Bauausstellung) for Emscher Park. Dating back to 1901, IBAs are German national festivals that develop new design concepts, often symbolizing the key architectural movements of their day. The 1927 IBA in Stuttgart sponsored Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius to develop the modernist settlement of Weissenhof; the 2006–2013 IBA in Hamburg tested ecological design concepts that might not have emerged commercially, such as the world's first house partially powered by an algae-covered facade.

The Emscher Park IBA took a regional approach and brought environmental issues to the forefront. Exhibition materials explained that the event "was not an exhibition in the traditional sense, but a plan for the future of North Rhine-Westphalia. . . . The goal was improved quality of life and work, with architectural, urban, social and ecological measures as the foundation for economic transformation." Developing green space was another explicit goal. The parks formed a key part of the celebrations, particularly Zollverein Park, which hosted the IBA finale.

As a 10-year initiative, the 1989–1999 IBA featured 120 projects in 17 cities across a 300-square-mile area, including more than 74,000 acres of new parks, 6,000 new and revitalized apartments, and 17 new technology centers. This represented a total investment of over 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion), two-thirds of it from public sources, including programs for ecology, housing, and coal field regeneration. The remainder came from private sources, such as developers, private companies, and nonprofits. A publicly owned, privately managed organization administered these funds and managed the projects.

According to Claudia Kalinowski, who manages external affairs for the Duisburg North Landscape Park, "everything you now see was possible because of the IBA."

In 2010, the region returned to the spotlight as the European Capital of Culture, a European Union-funded festival that since 1985 has recognized over 50 cities seeking to raise their international profiles and foster tourism. Like the IBA, the Ruhr Capital of Culture program differed from those before it by highlighting a region rather than a city, recognizing 53 towns. A 2010 article from leading German newsmagazine Der Spiegel described the ECC jurors as being impressed by the way the Ruhr region came to grips with its shift "from coal to culture."

Design and management

Two landscape parks initiated by IBA and featured in the ECC now stand out as tourist magnets: Zollverein and Duisburg North. The parks are jointly promoted along with others in the region, many of which feature in the Ruhr Route of Industrial Heritage and the 143-mile-long Ruhr cycle route.

Most renowned is Zollverein Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site that was once Europe's largest and most productive coal complex. The World Heritage List nomination says the site is unique for its architectural design and its ties to Europe's industrial heritage. The Ruhr Valley's Museum for Architecture as Art portrays the site as "symbolic of the rise and fall of an entire industry."

Fully closed to industry in 1993, today's Zollverein Park is a microcosm of German industrial architecture from the 19th century, through early 20th century modernism to the postwar reconstruction period. Founders sank the initial shaft in 1847, creating the first mine in the region. The most famous building is the Bauhaus-inspired Shaft XII, which opened in 1932.

Rem Koolhaas's Rotterdam-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture developed a master plan for Zollverein's revitalization after its closure. The plan aimed to preserve the industrial buildings as monuments, and to activate the site's edges with cultural, office, and academic uses; construction continues today. A local design firm translated the master plan into a landscape plan, which turned historic train tracks into bike and pedestrian paths. A pioneer forest that emerged after part of the site was abandoned was preserved and populated with art installations. Refurbishment began in 2003, and the landscape plan was fully realized in 2010.

That same year, the Ruhr Museum, a historical collection that attracts 400,000 visitors a year, also opened in Shaft XII for the European Capital of Culture celebrations. Today, the museums are a central draw, as are the range of activities on the landscape park, including a summer pool and winter skating rink within the grandeur of the old cokery. The Zollverein Foundation runs the site and organizes events, tours, and venue rentals.

Although Zollverein arguably is now the centerpiece of the Ruhr's cultural landscape, its development was challenging. The site is surrounded by homes, many owned by descendants of mine workers. According to Sascha Wienecke, an architect from Planergruppe Oberhausen, which led the landscape plan, many residents saw Zollverein as a "place of work and pollution," and considered the UNESCO designation elitist.

Small-scale installations began to change perceptions. Charitable projects have also sought to involve community members in efforts like storytelling initiatives and to alert them to job opportunities on site. Today, Zollverein is an employment hub again: 1.5 million people visit each year, and 1,500 people work for companies located on the premises.

Opposite aesthetic

Duisburg North Landscape Park, located about 13 miles west, is quite different. Rather than showcasing the preservation of architecturally significant structures, the park emphasizes the decline of industry — by offering an obvious landscape transformation. Today, more than 1.1 million visit the park annually, up from 700,000 in 2012.

Construction of the industrial center began in 1901, and by 1912 the site featured five blast furnaces, all of which shut down in 1985. The site owner, Thyssen Corporation, resisted paying to dismantle the structures. Meanwhile, some citizens groups, including one that later formed the German Society for Industrial Culture, pushed for preservation of the industrial forms, whereas others argued for their demolition, largely over uncertainty about long-term costs.

The IBA ultimately provided an impetus for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to purchase the site from the Thyssen Corporation for a park. Goals included providing local recreational green space, creating regional cultural venues, and preserving the structures as a "witness to history." A design competition led to the selection of landscape architect Peter Latz, who created a green oasis where natural ecologies slowly overtook the historic structures to create new spaces, uses, and atmospheres. Latz created some features from materials discovered on-site, such as the sharply geometric Piazza Metallica, composed of 49 found slabs of pig iron.

Community members participated in the development of the park design, among them the scuba club, which proposed building a scuba facility in a former gas tank after a club-sponsored exploration of the site. Coordination with former mine workers occurred throughout the design process and remains ongoing.

Today, climbing the blast furnace means seeing green vistas across the park and beyond, and exploring the ironworks leads visitors through gardens that are home to abundant wildlife. More than 1,800 species were counted in the park in 2001, including several endangered species, and a monitoring station records ecological activity.

A city-owned company now manages park development with an annual budget of 4.5 million euros ($5 million) and a professional staff of 15. One-third of the budget comes from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, one-third from the city, and one-third from on-site earned income, primarily from leasing and space rentals.

The management company also leases offices to 26 companies on-site, which together employ 350 people. One surprising use is the gas tank, now a diving center operated by the local diving club, complete with a sunken East German Trabant (Trabi) car.

Lessons learned

The Ruhr Valley's parks may be the best precedents worldwide for landscape reclamation of industrial sites. There is much to learn from this region.

Many of the renowned American examples, like Seattle's GasWorks Park, are smaller scale, urban interventions, not regional initiatives. However, one recent American project parallels the Ruhr Valley: the SteelStacks Park in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Previously home to industrial behemoth Bethlehem Steel, SteelStacks preserved the site's blast furnaces and created a cultural destination for more than 1,750 events since opening in 2011, with 850,000 visitors in 2013 alone. (See "21st Century Smokestacks," October.)

With packed cultural calendars, both SteelStacks and the Ruhr parks showcase the current allure and compatibility of arts events juxtaposed with industrial backdrops.

SteelStacks and other American park redevelopments typically require a larger portion of private investment than their German counterparts, as German public sources often contribute more actively to both long-term funding and short-term, upfront investments such as the IBA. However, the German parks also suggest possibilities for earned income, particularly at Duisburg North, where innovative repurposed spaces are leased quite successfully. American parks have enthusiastically embraced this approach and taken it a step further with real estate development-funded park maintenance, as at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Philanthropic backing is also becoming increasingly important in the U.S., particularly for parks using the conservancy model for funding and management. Here, the German model is quite different. In fact, regulations often prohibit public-sector-funded projects such as Duisburg North from privately fundraising.

It is unlikely that American park planners will deliver a Zollverein or Duisburg North using the same mechanisms as their German counterparts. However, there are still opportunities for site owners and planners willing to explore unusual funding, delivery, and management structures. The German parks also offer relevant examples of community engagement in the planning process and creative ideas for repurposed industrial spaces. And once created, the recreational, cultural, and ecological opportunities emerging from these reclaimed spaces are striking, as is the visual transformation.

The basic concept "was to use what has been left in a totally different way," says Duisburg North staff member Kalinowski, gesturing to the gasworks, now surrounded by green.

Katharine Burgess, AICP, is an urban planner based in Washington, D.C. In 2014 and 2015, she was a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow in Germany, researching German planning policy and working in both the public and private sectors in Berlin.

Resources

Images: Top — At Duisburg North Landscape Park, a tour group peers into the historic sedimentation tanks, which purified the water used for the blast furnace behind them. Today, the blast furnace is a centerpiece of the park and includes a 230-foot-high viewing platform at the top. Middle — In Duisburg North Landscape Park, the Emscher Promenade runs along the canal, providing a link between the park's industrial structures and open spaces. Historically, the canal managed wastewater on site. Bottom — Several of Zollverein Park's most historic structures stand side by side. Tallest and most prominent is Shaft XII, a Bauhaus-inspired structure that was once the largest coal mining facility in the world. Photos by Katharine Burgess, AICP

Map source: Wikipedia.