The Emscher - backbone of the blue-green infrastructure. Experiences from the Ruhr region
Ingo Kanehl with the keynote speech at the second Neckar Conference on 12/13 September 2024 in Stuttgart
The IBA'27 - Internationale Bauausstellung 2027 Stadtregion Stuttgart - aims to show how living and working together will work in the future. In cooperation with the Verband Region Stuttgart, the "Addresses on the River" project aims to better connect the municipalities located on the Neckar with the river and enhance it as a recreational area for the population. The second Neckar Conference will take place on 12 and 13 September 2024 under the motto "River as a space for movement" to present and discuss successful river transformations.
The keynote speech by Ingo Kanehl, Managing Partner of ASTOC ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS, will report on the spectacular renaissance of the Emscher in the Ruhr region.
Unpolluted, close to nature, fit for the future: The Emscher Masterplan acts as an impetus for urban development change in the Ruhr industrial region. In collaboration with RMP Landschaftsarchitekten, Landschaft Planen und Bauen and Post und Welters, we drew up the strategic development concept, the action plan and the design concept between 2003 and 2008. The Emscher Future Masterplan was honoured with the German Landscape Architecture Prize and the German Urban Planning Prize (special prize).
In the Ruhr region, the Emscher flows through 13 towns, derelict industrial areas and picturesque cultural landscapes until it flows into the Rhine after 83 kilometres. Formerly a natural river, mines and households have used the Emscher since industrialisation as a straightened wastewater channel, popularly known as the "Köttelbecke". The Emscher Future Masterplan is transforming the heavily polluted waterway into a meandering river landscape with biotopes and attractive places to live and work. Extensive cycle and footpaths open up the landscape from its source near Holzwickede to its mouth near Dinslaken-Eppinghoven for art, culture and leisure.
The starting signal for the renaturalisation and redesign of the Emscher area was the impressive construction of a 51 km long underground sewer with several pumping stations. More than 200 planning workshops accompanied a process that analysed the entire Emscher corridor on a scale of 1:10,000 and at the same time incorporated the concerns of the stakeholders in a dialogue. The masterplan serves as a script for all stakeholders and, as an informal plan, forms the basis for planning law and the flood protection measures of the municipalities involved. As the green backbone of the district, the river landscape today connects anchor points of industrial culture, landmarks, cultural sites, event centres, local recreational facilities and sports facilities that have always been close to each other and yet were not connected in terms of urban space.
Information on the second Neckar Conference on 12/13 September in Stuttgart:
https://www.region-stuttgart.org/de/bereiche-aufgaben/landschaftspark/adressen-am-fluss/#c2280