From industrial wasteland to green landscape: Nordsternpark Gelsenkirchen

By Aaron Gralla and Freyr Snorrason

How did the Ruhr area, once notorious for being grey, dirty and polluted, become Germany's greenest metropolitan area? One emblematic example of this change is the trajectory of the Nordsternpark Gelsenkirchen, which we will outline here. But let's start from the beginning: the area was shaped by its coal mining and heavy industry-based economy from industrialisation in the late 1860s and throughout the 20th century. In that sense, a big part of the land was occupied by mines and steel factories. However, since the 1960s that industry has steadily declined, and by 2018 the last mine closed. As the mines closed one by one, the government of North Rhein-Westphalia funded a programme called IBA (International Bauausstellung) Emscher Park. The programme aims to create a paradigm shift from the former industrial sites along the Emscher river into green landscape parks. The development of Nordsternpark was embedded in that.

1 Mining Tower

Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR), a governmental cluster of the cities of the Ruhr area that organise traffic, urban and economic development and protects green spaces on a supra-local level, put forward the proposal of the Emscher landscape park in 1989, which resulted in the creation of the IBA Emscher Park (Dietwald Gruehn, 2013). The previous decades had been difficult in the region as the mines had closed, unemployment had risen, and the cities had shrunk. The IBA Emscher Park project was created to improve life quality through architecture, urban design and ecology as the basis for the economic change of the former industrial region. But why the Emscher river? As the industry grew in the area, the river Emscher was used as an open sewer by both residents and the factories that often were located along the river (Frank Bothmann and Sabine Auer, 2009). Therefore, the project aims to revitalise the 83 km long river by building an underground sewer system and re-evaluating approximately 300 km2 of open landscape that was formerly mostly used by heavy industry. This transition from grey to green is thought to be a key element of the paradigm shift in the region (Gruhen, 2013 and Bothmann et al.,2009). One of those parks is the Nordsternpark in Gelsenkirchen.

2 Coal storage and pedestrian paths

The landscape park Nordstern was built on some of the wastelands of a former coal mine with the same name. It was inaugurated in 1868 and its production rate gradually increased over the years up to 1,6 million tons of coal per year and so did the modification of the landscape through hollowing out the terrain and piling up millions of tons of earth that were extracted. However, right from the beginning landscape modifications took place, such as raising the terrain as means of flood protection. 

In the wake of already discussed structural changes in the Ruhr region, the coal mine found its end in 1993. By that time, plans already existed to host the Bundesgartenschau (“National Garden Show”) 1997 in a newly developed landscape park. In the following years, a lot of restructuring took place. Most of the industrial buildings and infrastructure were dismantled, leaving only some selected parts to become landmarks and reminders of the newly developed park´s industrial heritage, such as the mining tower and adjacent buildings (picture 1), some of the coal storage (picture 2) and the modified slag heaps that are now steeper and pyramid-shaped (picture 3). However, the new interventions still hint at the park’s history and the landscape architect’s inspiration stems from the sober architecture in mostly steel-skeleton construction. Steel beams help roses as climbing support (picture 4) and steel walkways help visitors to move through the uneven terrains (picture 2). Similarly, the new pedestrian bridges that cross the river Emscher and the Rhein-Herne-Canal are reminiscent of former times and the art of engineering.

3 Modified slag heap

Around 1,5 million visitors came to the Bundesgartenschau in 1997 and since then, the Nordsternpark has evolved into a recurrent event location. It was, for example, one of the seven main venues when the Ruhr area became Culture Capital of Europe in 2010 and is now embedded into touristic offerings, such as Industrial Heritage Trail or Extraschicht.

 

In 2027, the park will be a major site for a similar event once again: the International Garden Exhibition. It will be one of five “Future Gardens” that will exhibit solutions and thought-provoking ideas for a more sustainable future while the gardens and parks themselves are also going to be walk-through exhibitions. The Nordsternpark will be extended on the island between Emscher and the canal as seen in picture xx and will include promenades and leisure facilities but also wild gardens and a forest. Heart of the exhibition will be the renovated coal storage, now called Greentower, with green facades and an elaborated rainwater capture system to water the surrounding park. The aim of the Greentower is to show how the building stock can be adapted to the sustainable use of water resources under the challenges of today's and tomorrow's climatic conditions.

4 Steel beams for climbing plants

The Nordsternpark is emblematic of the paradigm shift in the region: from industrial wastelands (of the old montane industry) to green future-proof landscapes that provide many ecosystem services (Bolund, Hunhammar, 1999). One example would be regulating services such as reducing air pollution and the purification of water. In addition to these, cultural services play a great part as well. The park is used for recreational and leisure activities, while the regionally important history of the park is kept alive in the form of the old mining tower. The new extension and Greentower will also serve educational purposes in relation to water future water treatment and distribution. An important supporting ecosystem service is the park´s habitat provision for animals, especially in its less frequented parts. In conclusion, the transition from a grey to a green area has increased the quality of life for humans as well as for nature.

Sources:

Bolund, Per and Hunhammar, Sven (1999). "Ecosystem services in urban areas". Ecological Economics 29, p. 293-301.

Bothmann, Frank and Auer, Sabine (2009, 22-25 April). “The New Emscher Valley - Reshaping an Urban Landscape creates regional Identity”. Real Corp p. 907-909. https://www.corp.at/archive/CORP2009_158.pdf 

City of Gelsenkirchen (2018). "Der Nordsternpark. Freizeit, Erholung, Kultur und Arbeiten im Landschaftspark am Wasser". https://www.gelsenkirchen.de/de/freizeit/ausfluege_und_sehenswuerdigkeiten/nordsternpark/_doc/GE_Nordsternpark_Brosch_Internet_Auflage2.pdf

City of Gelsenkirchen and Metropole Ruhr (2021).  "Zukunftsgarten Gelsenkirchen: Zukunftsinsel mit Nordsternpark +". https://www.iga2027.ruhr/zukunftsgaerten/gelsenkirchen-zukunftsinsel-mit-nordsternpark/   

Gruhen, Dietwald, (2013). “Paradigm Shift in the Ruhr Region: From Industry to Innovation - From Grey to Green”. Dortmund University of Technology p. 26-31. http://www.geokyiv.org/pdf/reports/3_Gruehn.pdf