For more than a century, Germany’s Ruhr region was synonymous with coal mines, steel mills, factories and heavily industrialized landscapes. At the center of this transformation was the Emscher region, where rapid industrial development profoundly changed rivers, land and communities. When coal and steel began declining, the region faced polluted waterways, abandoned industrial sites, unemployment and large areas of derelict land. Instead of treating industrial decline solely as an economic problem, planners began imagining an ambitious environmental and urban transformation.
The International Building Exhibition (IBA) Emscher Park, launched in 1989 and active through 1999, brought together 17 cities and numerous partners to reshape more than 800 square kilometers of the Ruhr. Its long-term vision helped establish the Emscher Landscape Park as a new green framework for a former industrial heartland.
