La rinascita della Ruhr

The story of the regeneration of the Ruhr Basin began after the extractive industry decline. This activity transformed the territory into a nerve center and driving force of the entire German economy. A dif cult post-industrial transformation was kicked off. This process decided to not stop at the physical repossession of the industrial areas and the re-remediation of polluted soils, but it also placed emphasis on territorial issues, urban planning, eco-naturalistic and socio-political and cultural rights of large industrial areas in the process of transformation. The starting point of the change was the Iba, the International Construction Exhibition, that is one of the city’s planning and urban design tool. Iba is consolidated in Germany and it is useful to develop impulses through new ideas that start from planning and land redevelopment. From that point, the region has been very successful: jobs opportunities related to tourism (focal point of Iba), decontaminated areas, public re-appropriation of industrial areas, the nomination of Essen as European Capital of Culture 2010, the recognition of industrial heritage as an Unesco site and the nomination of Essen as Green Capital 2017. Nowadays the process is still in evolution and it has continuously been integrated with the most modern and innovative tools in the eld ecological, social and economic sustainability.

Keywords: Post-industrial transformations; Contemporary tourism; Remediation/ regeneration; Territorial policies.