ABSTRACT
The remaking of the post-industrial cities of the Ruhr region between 1985 and 2015 involved massive changes, a wide range of new strategies and projects, and a steady and still ongoing process to transform the economy and the living conditions in each city and the region at large. The current initiatives are Sustainable Ruhr Region and Knowledge Region Ruhr. The decontamination, re-use, and re-integration of the old industrial sites and the regeneration of deteriorated urban neighborhoods may take more time than most had hoped in the 1980s, especially those people at the lower economic levels of society. The shared political strategy was to manage a soft landing with concern for the human scale that avoided a catastrophic crash of the economy and the social fabric of the Ruhr region. The result was a wide range of economic, social, and cultural programs, projects, and interventions, combined with progressive public policies that transformed the region.
