Creating Transformation: Ten principles for the - Central Europe

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The rehabilitation of former mines, industrial sites and brownfields are challenging tasks. The legacy of mining provides special problems, but also very unique opportunities for the regional development. This was the starting point of an Internationale Bauausstellung (International Building Exhibition), a well known planning instrument in Germany. The article describes the background and aims of IBA and gives an outlook to future rehabilitation quality standards. 1. Background: The region Lausitz-Spreewald For ten years the organization, International Bauausstellung (IBA) Fürst-Pückler- Land, has been active in shaping the post-mining landscape in Brandenburg (in eastern Germany). This region was known as the energy district of the former German Democratic Republic because of its huge deposits of lignite. The excavation of lignite began around 150 years ago. Initially, mining was below ground but was later carried out by means of huge open-cast mines. Mining brought other industries such as briquette factories, power stations, coke plants and related branches of industry. A total of seventeen open-cast mines were in operation in 1989. Subsequent to the radical political change in 1989/1990, the majority of the open-cast mines and industries were abruptly shut down. Today the swedish energy firm, Vattenfall, operates five open-cast mines and three power stations in the region. As a result of this deindustrialization, the region has experienced a high rate of unemployment up to 25 Percent. The German government has devised new employment strategies for a limited time, so called job-creating measures. Also, the whole political and social structure in the former GDR has changed, e.g. the school and the health care systems. The former Chancellor Helmut Kohl promoted “prosperous landscapes,” but in reality, the population in the eastern part of Germany has been shrinking. In 2005, the German Spatial Planning office documented the simultaneity of growth and shrinkage in Germany. In Lusatia, the population has shrunk by about 20 percent since 1990. Normally, the recultivation of post-mining landscapes is an integral part of the production process. For the closed-down lignite industry from GDR, legal mining responsiblity fell to the government as proprietor of the lignite business that could not be privatized. A company, LMBV (Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbauverwaltungsgesellschaft), was set up to deal with this task. The german government allocated spezial funds for the recultivation of the post-mining landscapes. A total of just under ten billion euros was budgeted yet. Also, IBA has been financed by this budget. 2. IBA as an planning instrument In Germany, building exhibitions are a well known, project oriented planning method that provides new impulses within a limited time, guarantees a high-quality standard of (landscape) architecture and leads to innovative designs. The IBA Fürst-Pückler-Land Association, supported by four rural districts in Brandenburg as well as the city of Cottbus and promoted by the Federal Land Brandenburg, has been the heart of a network connecting the people involved on site Seite 2 von 8
with one another and with national and international experts by means of a planningrelated target. IBA combined creative and technical innovation, called upon both the sciences and arts to serve this objective, drawed international attention to the region - and thus created regional circular flows in terms of the economy and new jobs. Main Topics of IBA IBA Fürst-Pückler-Land has been engaged in a total of 30 projects that comprise a “Workshop for New Landscapes”. All projects are owned and operated by the municipalities or independent associations themselves, not by IBA. The philosophy of IBA aimed to enable the region to find new perspectives for regional development. IBA was dealing with seven main topics: Industrial heritage: The aim of IBA was not only to preserve outstanding examples of Lusatian industrial heritage, but also to invent new concepts for use at those sites. These monuments are important to strengthen the identity of places and to give the people a bridge between the region’s past and future. One pre-emiment example is a former conveyor bridge, which had been rededicated as the Visitors’ Mine F60. Originally constructed to remove the excavated earth above the lignite, this device – the biggest movable tool in the world – became redundant after only thirteen months of operation when the mine closed down. Today, several thousand of people each year visit the steel giant, the so called “horizontal Eiffel-Tower”, which is over 500 metres long and 80 metres high. At night, a light and sound installation transforms the bridge again and turns it into a work of art. The Visitors’ Mine F60 and other industrial momuments are connected by the ENERGY-Route of Lusatian Industrial Heritage, part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage, thus creating a unique tourism experience. Waterscapes: One main aspect of the post-mining landscape in Lusatia will be the new surface water. The coal pits that have fallen into disuse – around 30 in the whole region – will be flooded to become lakes. The “heart” of the new “Lusatian Lakeland” is a chain of ten lakes over 35 kilometres long, linked by navigable canals. The emphasis of this successively emerging water landscape is on active and sporting recreation – from sailing and surfing to cycling, skating, riding and even golfing. Besides this, large areas are also reserved for quiet development in tune with nature. IBA developed the overall concept for the new waterscape and invented a new hallmark of the Lusatian Lakeland, the floating houses. These houses will keep the shores free from construction and enable use of the lakes during the several years in which they are being filled. The first three projects have already been realised, and further projects are planned. For example, IBA organised a competition for mobile floating architecture and developed a concept for a pontoon bridge. The Lusatian Lakeland will become a new tourist destination and a “hot spot” for regional development after mining. Although the flooding of the lakes will take until 2015, the new structures allow one to visit the region now. Energy Landscapes: The extensive, sparsely populated region provides ideal preconditions for electricity production from regenerative energy sources like wind, sun and biomass. IBA has been examining concepts for energy landscapes to combine different energy sources for a new, variably usable and ecologically enduring cultural landscape. In the project “Energy Landscape Welzow”, for example, Brandenburg University of Technology has been investigating in cooperation with the mining companies, different agriculture and forestry systems in Seite 3 von 8
Page 1: Brigitte Scholz Creating Transforma
Page 5 and 6: Fig. 1 IBA Projects (IBA-Archiv) Fi
Page 7 and 8: 7. Generating Pictures Pictures and

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