Structural change in the Ruhr region: from an industrial to a knowledge region

Where once the cityscape was dominated by clouds of smoke, there are now green parks. Anyone talking about successful regional structural change cannot ignore the example of the Ruhr region. The only reminders of the region’s mining past are the sites that have been converted into museums and parks. Most people here have long been working in the service sector.

This was not always the case in the Ruhr region, affectionately known as the “coal pot”. Coal was mined there from the 18th century. Industrialization increased the influence of this occupational sector, turning the Ruhr area into an industrial conurbation. Coal mining and the steel processing industry were the two most important economic pillars of the region for a long time, even after the war. However, the coal crisis brought about drastic changes at the end of the 1950s: Ruhr coal was less and less in demand in Germany due to cheaper imports and substitute products such as crude oil, but there were hardly any other industries worth mentioning in the “Pott” due to its monostructure. Mass redundancies and structural crises were the result. Negative side effects of the monostructure: areas such as local transport and landscape conservation, leisure activities and educational opportunities such as universities were neglected for decades. The reason for this was that almost all employees worked in the coal and steel industry – the Ruhr region was not relevant as a research location for a long time.

Economic catch-up and ecological transformation

The first step towards structural change began in the 1960s with the “Ruhr Development Program 1968-1973”. Measures for the transformation of the Ruhr region were defined there and included, for example, the expansion of the transport network, the creation of a higher residential value and the expansion and development of schools and universities.

Both the knowledge sector – the Ruhr region now has a good 290,000 students at five universities, two art and music colleges and 15 other higher education institutions – and the healthcare industry, with over 330,000 employees, now characterize the field of activity in the Ruhr region. The digital communication, logistics and chemical industries have also grown strongly, with 77% of employees now working in the service sector. The once dominant monostructure is therefore a thing of the past.

A great deal has also changed in terms of the landscape: today, the Ruhr area is considered one of the greenest regions in Germany. The general aim after the end of the coal industry was to allow the “black lung” to breathe again. To this end, areas that had been overdeveloped and landscapes destroyed by the coal and steel industry were renaturalized. Recreational areas were created, parks were built and green and wooded areas were maintained. The renaturation of the River Emscher is certainly one of the largest ecological transformations. A continuous green landscape was created along the river over an area of 300 square kilometers. To achieve this, 429 kilometers of new sewers had to be laid. Four decentralized sewage treatment plants were also built. The former “cesspool” is now completely free of sewage. The project, which cost more than 5.5 billion euros, is considered one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe in recent decades.

The Ruhr region as a logistical nervous system

Some witnesses to the industrial era, which shaped the appearance of the Ruhr region for over 150 years, have been converted into monuments or venues for industrial culture, such as the Zollverein colliery in Essen – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site – or the Landscape Park in Duisburg. New, greener living space is also being created in these areas.

New business and service parks are also being built on some former industrial sites. In Oberhausen, for example, Westfield Centro, a popular entertainment and shopping center, has been built on the site of a former steelworks. In the immediate vicinity: the gasometer, formerly used to store blast furnace gas for steel production. Today, the 118-metre-high city landmark is home to the highest exhibition hall in Europe – thanks to the extraordinary installations and exhibition themes, the gasometer is very popular as a museum.

Logistics has also gained a lasting foothold in the Ruhr region. After all, NRW accounts for a third of all logistics turnover in Germany – a large proportion of which is generated in the “Pott”. Well over 800 companies from this economic sector are based in the region, which together employ 30,000 people. This is not least for infrastructural reasons: The Ruhr region has two international airports, the largest inland port in Europe and the densest road and rail network in Germany. Huge logistics areas such as “Logport I” in Duisburg-Rheinhausen have been created here. At the end of the 1990s, a trimodal transshipment center was built on the former Krupp factory site. Here, goods are transferred between rail, truck and ship on a 265-hectare site. Numerous leading logistics service providers are based here, including Kühne + Nagel, DB Schenker and DHL. In addition to three other Logport sites in Duisburg, namely Wanheim (Logport II), Hohenbudberg (Logport III) and most recently Walsum (Logport VI), others followed in Kamp-Lintfort (Logport IV) and Oberhausen (Logport V). Together they cover an area of 410 hectares, the equivalent of almost 580 soccer pitches.

Logistics properties are correspondingly important in the region: half of all rental contracts for new and existing space in NRW are concluded in the Ruhr region. Greenfields are virtually non-existent, meaning that real estate developers are concentrating fully on brownfields so that new land sealing can be reduced to a minimum. One example of how this approach can be implemented with sustainability in mind is the new logistics property in the “Große Heide Wulfen” industrial park in Dorsten. In September, the real estate developer will hand over the 70,000 square meter facility to Levi Strauss & Co. The usage concept envisages operating the property in a CO2-neutral manner during its useful life and reusing the materials used for other projects at the end of its useful life. Many of the raw materials required for construction have therefore already been sustainably sourced and have been selected with a view to their recyclability.

The enormous efforts that have been made in the Ruhr region to restructure the region both ecologically and economically and to make it worth living in have paid off and show that almost nothing is impossible in terms of rethinking if those involved from all areas pull together.

Authors: Boris Kretzinger, Franziska Steffes