In Germany’s “rust-belt” — the Ruhr Dis­trict — they adapted the European tradi­tion of the “building exhibition” as a frame­work for weaving together themes of ecology, economy, culture and commu­nity for the regeneration of a dying coal-mining and steel-making region.

Impulses for Restructuring

In 1989 the state of North Rhine-Westphalia joined together with the cities of Dort­mund, Essen and 15 other municipalities to create the International Building Exhi­bition (IBA, sub-titled “Workshop on the Future of Old Industrial Areas”) as a means to provide “impulses” for the re­structuring of the region of about two million people.

The Ruhr District was in very bad shape in the 1980s. As coal mines, steel mills and factories shut down they left aban­doned industrial facilities, a legacy of environmental destruction, and unemployment in excess of 25 percent.

Slag heaps and tailings were a prominent part of the landscape. The Emscher River, which runs through the region, was not just understood as “an open sewer.” It had been re-designed, channelized, and lined with concrete specifically to perform the function of draining industrial pollution.

During the ten year term of the IBA, which expired in 2000, state and local gov­ernment, business and labor, environ­mentalists, planners, architects and citizens worked at projects to expand and connect regional green spaces; regener­ate the Emscher River; promote economic development; preserve the physical land­marks from the region’s heavy industrial age; build and renovate housing; and promote job training and grass roots development.

So far, about dm 5 billion have been in­vested (about $2.5 billion US by current exchange rates), and roughly two thirds of that has come from public sources. These investments have made possible:

· Expansion and connection of green spaces in the region. The exhibition built on the 1920s-era German concept of green corridors, adding a number of new “landscape parks” and forming a continuous network of parks and trails, including 167 miles of bicycle paths and 80 miles of walking trails. Some new parks were de­veloped on old industrial spoils or inte­grated with new office parks.

· Regeneration of the Em­scher River system. The strategy has been to combine small scale repairs (rehabilitation of tributaries, small scale ground­water infiltration designs, and removal of the concrete river lining) with larger scale investments (construction of new sewers and decen­tralized treat­ment facilities). They expect to invest an additional $4.3 billion over the next twenty or thirty years.

· Redevelopment of old industrial sites and structures to create space for jobs in emerging economic sectors. Promotion of “working in the park” has emphasized mixed use developments; high-quality design; an ecological orientation; centralized marketing; provision of public transport, day care and other social supports. A total of 22 sites with 1,235 acres have been developed for business start-ups, small business development, technology, and training schemes.

· Preservation of industrial monuments. The factories, power plants, collieries, foundries, tailing heaps, storage tanks, canal locks and warehouses of the Ruhr District are its link to its industrial past. Many of these industrial monuments have been reused as community centers, arts facilities, exhibition halls, and for other public uses. One building was even restored to its original use as a transformer station, while others have been preserved pend­ing new uses.

· Renovation of housing and neighborhoods. More than two dozen projects — some new construction, some rehabilitation of early 20th Cen tury “worker housing” — have added nearly 3,000 units of housing in the region. The projects have emphasized high standards of design, ecological compatibility, and user involvement. Some were built under the IBA “build simply and by yourself” program.

· Development of community social fabric through citizen involvement, grass roots development projects, employment and training programs, and a variety of other social initiatives.

Innovation and Implementation

The genius of the IBA was that it combined the tradition of innovation carried by the building exhibition format with the existing financing and implementation structures of state and local government, including the Kommunalver­band Ruhrgebiet, a kind of regional council of gov­ernments.

The exhibition staff of 30 brought to­gether architects, planners, designers and academics with community members in symposia, workshops, and exchanges. These formats placed a premium on brain­storming, creativity and innovation in the pursuit of the interwoven themes of ecological repair, economic restructuring, and community development.

But all the projects were carried out by existing authorities — agencies of the North Rhine-Westphalia government, con­stituent city governments, companies, or community based organizations. All in­vestments, upon IBA approval, came through existing aid programs. They feared having a new pot of money would lead to previously unfinanceable projects being “dumped” on the IBA.

Collaborative Governance

The IBA itself was a subsidiary of the state gov­ernment. But the directors of the exhibi­tion were mainly academics. A high-level board of trustees was expected to “pro­mote” and “support” the exhibition. Pro­ject decisions and approvals, however, were made by a steering committee composed of members of state depart­ments, and representatives of member towns, industry, trade unions, and from conservation, planning and architecture associations.

The “big picture” strategy behind the exhibition was to anticipate long-term social and technological changes, determine future infrastructure needs connected with those changes, and make sure state and local government used the power necessary to make things happen.

One of the crucial decisions was to aim toward diversification in industrial sectors with higher technology and higher value added products. Given the abundance of cheap sites and existing infrastructure, it would have been easy to develop low net output enterprises. But this kind of “bottom-feeding” strategy wouldn’t provide the means to transform the old industrial landscape in the way they in­tended.

Industrial Heritage Tourism

Later on, the IBA turned its attention to developing tourism around the network of historic industrial attractions and new recreational amenities the exhibition has been developing. They have a sophisticated web-site that documents an extensive indus­trial culture tourism route.

At the expiration of its term, the Inter­na­tional Building Exhibition was closed. The staff moved on to other assignments. A “placeholder” organization called Project Ruhr Ltd. was created. A public debate was conducted over whether the Ruhr District should have an “organization for innovation” like the IBA.

“Half said ‘we want to continue.’ The other half said ‘let’s go back to the standards of the 80s,’” said Michael Schwarze-Rodrian, an IBA staff member working for the Kommunalverband. On May 14, 2000 the Social Democrat-Green alliance that promoted the IBA was voted out of office. But public support and the record of accomplishment of the IBA was sufficient to convince the new government to let Project Ruhr Ltd. continue the work.

For all of this progress, the Ruhr District has a long way to go. Unemployment in the region still runs to 17 percent or higher. In March 2000, still another Ruhr coal mine was scheduled to close, idling an additional 6,000 workers in one fell swoop. But the landscape, institutionally as well as physically, has been changed.

“Ten years ago we only had visions and papers and so on,” Schwarze-Rodrian said. Now there is a tangible record of achievement: “You can climb up on things.”