ABSTRACT
The following essay discusses the possibilities of improvement for the living conditions of a run-down old industrialized region in the northern Ruhr district of Germany, the reanimation of the devastated areas and their regeneration as a landscape for a densely populated territory. It deals with ideas to integrate, shape, develop and interlink the existing patterns that were formed by its previous industrial use, and suggests a new interpretation with a new syntax. The project started in 1991 after an international competition with the masterplan for the whole site and continued with the planning and implementation of many partial projects until 1999. Besides the realization of a 230-hectare landscape park with promenades and footbridges on different levels, with places and gardens and rebuilt water basins and channels, recycling and the dealing with historical contamination were major tasks on this site.
