A guide to leading practice sustainable development in mining

Montan Immobilien. In addition, a low-cost center for installation contractors
has recently gotten off to a successful start on the former site of the Werne
mine. Here, space (most of it inexpensive) is leased to installation contractors
such as electricians and plumbers. Other business parks have been developed
at the site of the former Minister Stein and Radbod mines in Dortmund and
Hamm respectively.
Besides aiding the restructuring process in the states of North Rhine-
Westphalia and Saarland by promoting the establishment of new businesses
on the sites of former coal mines, RAG also restores some sites to their
original, natural states. In addition, RAG Deutsche Steinkohle configures
spoil heaps as landscape architectural constructions. Sometimes existing
spoil heaps are reconfigured, and in other cases new spoil heaps are filled
according to an artist’s design.
Besides business and urban development, keeping the industrial culture
plays an important role for the successful restructuring process in the Ruhr
Area, too. People identify their region with the industrial heritage of coal and
steel industries. While these industries disappeared more and more, people
became aware that there is such thing as an industrial heritage which forms
the mentality of their society and a unique architectural and urban landscape.
Many cultural projects and events contributed to the effort of keeping the
industrial heritage by preserving outstanding industrial buildings and sociocultural
experiences:
The regional tourist project entitled “Route der Industriekultur” (“The
Industrial Heritage Trail”), a. 400 km circular route around the Ruhr area,
opens up the region’s industrial heritage to visitors. 25 so-called anchor points
make up the core network of the trail, including six important museums of
technical and social history, many panorama points and a series of significant
workers’ settlements. The trail opens access to important witnesses of 750
years of industrial history in the region, and also to the process of structural
transformation which has been taking place here for several decades. The
disused factory sites, many of which are under a preservation order, are not
sites of nostalgia and regret. They have long been transformed into lively
industrial venues and attractive centres for cultural and tourist events.
The cultural highlight of the year in the Ruhr area is surely the “ExtraSchicht
(ExtraShift) Night of the Industrial Culture”. Former industrial plants, active
production facilities, mines and spoil heaps are skilfully turned into venues of
industrial culture. Hundred thousands of people are joining this very special
event during a long summer night.
The Ruhr area is an example for successful sustainable structural change in
a mining area, and the old closed coal mine and now UNESCO World Heritage
Zollverein Mine in Essen is its outstanding landmark – the Eiffel Tower of
the Ruhr.
152 LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY