GastGastgeber

Every Dutchmen knows the Ruhr area and can almost point at it on a map. But where is it exactly and how does it look like? On closer analysis the area conceals a lot of places that exactly respond to the impression of the eroding industrial area that people imagine. But there is more: from extensive suburban living areas to an abundance of green. You can travel the Ruhr area in a way that fulfils your prejudices, but also on a manner that offers a new perspective on the same prejudices.

An urban muddle

There is no map of Germany where you can find the name Ruhr Area. As an administrative unity it doesn’t even exist and the borders are cartographically only globally recognized. Nowadays the Ruhr area is also is seen as the regional partnership ‘Regionalverband Ruhrgebiet’ that consists of 53 municipalities. These 53 municipalities are in turn joined together in three so-called ‘Regierungsbezirke’, whose ‘capitals’ all lay outside the Ruhr area. What binds this collection of communities is a common and particularly economic history. On the basis of the collection of cities that are called Ruhr area, is a shared economic fate.

The heart of the historical identity of the area is the coal mining and steel production. The economy about coal and steel came to the beginning of the nineteenth century, reached its peak in the first half of the twentieth century and is steadily since then. This short but intense phase of industrialization transformed the Ruhr area into one of the largest industrial areas in the world. In this disturbed land still ten of the largest German listed companies have their headquarters.

The area is not built as a classic metropolis, but consists of a tangle of highways, industrial complexes and the monumental remains of, undeveloped land, farmland, green areas, residential neighborhoods and numerous small and large urban centers.

Besides the small and big cities we distinguish in the Ruhr area from north to south: the Ruhr valley, Hellwegzone, the Emschervalley en the Lippe-area. These from east to west expiring zones differ both in construction and landscape structure and population composition. Most south the Ruhrvalley lies, where coal mining began once. Meanwhile this is the recreation hotspot of the region. The northerly Emschervalley in contrary is still called the area with the biggest problems with the structural changes after the exodus of the industry. Between the Emscher- and Ruhrvalley lies the so-called Hellwegzone. The cities in this area emerged centuries ago as part of a medieval trade route and still meet most of the image of the classic European city. Most north and outside the area that is ‘feeled’ as the Ruhr area, lies the Lippezone. Here the still active mining reached a depth of more than 1000 meter and is largely automated so that the upper landscape is virtually untouched.

Strahlkraft

On its journey from south to north along the coal bed at increasing depth, coal mining has left a large part of the Ruhr as polders. Without pumps, this  area would change into one big swampy lake. The river Emscher was because of the hydraulic situation fully embanked and used as an open sewer. With cleaning and renaturering this river IBA (International Bauaustelling) started the EmscherPark (1989-1999). This IBA thematized for the first time the industry landscape and its aesthetic in a planning context and attempted to improve digestion ability and experience of that landscape. The Ruhr area can be seen as the cradle and the definition of what the IBA culture industry has become. This industrial heritage is the unique selling point and the tourist trump card of the Ruhr.

Because of the diffuse urbanization structure the Ruhr lacks one urban centre but has several vital urban cities with the cities like Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund. Cities like Oberhausen, Mülheim, Gelsenkirchen, Recklinghausen, Bottrop and others have their own theaters and museums, parks, cinemas, colleges and other major cultural facilities. Although some of these services have over regional and even national significance, you must conclude that the total supply in the Ruhr area (yet) not comply with what you would expect of a city with 5 million inhabitants. At least when you regard the classic “haute culture” look. The Ruhr everyday culture has always been prominent in the German cultural consciousness and takes over even in mythical proportions.

The “Ruhrmetropool” of which one like to speak in conjunction with the Cultural Capital, is still more a long-cherished dream than reality. The Ruhr as cultural capital of Europe should start to contribute to the realization of that dream. By no longer, as in the candidature phase, advancing Essen as center, consistently renouncing one concentration point, the cultural capital speak with conviction of the new type of city that is the Ruhr.

The biggest problem for cultural promoters is located in the spatial complexity and extent of this agglomeration. A simple but effective approach to obtain, recognize a hierarchy in the region, and creating a clear picture of it has been simply impossible. In the Ruhr you can never be in the center and build a tower which is seen everywhere. To been seen in this huge tangle, you need a clever combination of activities and energies. This clustering should not only be brought from outside but has to make many local connections in the area with the ‘high culture’ but also with the culture of everyday life. By pulling these connections as wires these initiatives develop Strahlkraft, which is necessary to shine as a star in this space galaxy. For such such places are enough places with Strahlkraft. Ruhr is a landscape that is developing, a development that is marked by numerous breaks, endings and new beginnings.

Principles of RUHR.2010

This, it seems proved very extensive program of RUHR.2010, puts emphasis on sustainability, European cooperation and diversity. There are four main lines of development and are grouped in four so-called cities. City of possibilities within which projects about architecture, landscape and visual art are developed. City of the arts, the performing arts. City of creativity that focuses on the possibilities for the creative industries and finally the City of the cultures that around cultural diversity project design. These four cities have been named program directors and curators. An important (at) role is played by the many partner-cities of the 53 municipalities who are participating in the program. These partner-cities are united in the program TWINS.2010.

Besides the main organisation RUHR.2010 GMBH, are in most of the 53 Ruhrgebiedgemeenten also local “cultural-capital firms’ asset.

It is the intention that the highlights of these local programs take place in consecutive weeks during 2010 to. This creates a sort of caravan that will attract throughout the area. There are many institutions in the Ruhr who are very active in the development of specific projects of RUHR.2010.

Some notable sections of RUHR.2010 are:

* projects around the B1/A40 highway which connects the largest cities in the area. A series of artworks will be realised aside the highway and the landscape is studied, seen from the highway. Moreover, on July 18, 2010 the highway is one day closed for traffic after which the residents will occupy the road for a cultural program.

* Also around the Emscher area is a focus of activity like the EmscherKunst, with large-scale structures on and around the island Emscher. This island is mostly a strip of no man’s land between the river and Emscher the Rhein-Herne Kanal. Around this channel, entitled Kultur Kanal, the neighboring municipalities develop projects that allows them to linking tourism with culture.

* Around the Dortmunder U-building several events occur with multiple digital media, games and electronic art theme.

* Many special programs are also implemented in the existing cultural sites of the Ruhr, as the Museum Folkwang in Essen, the Gasometer in Oberhausen, the Innenhafen in Duisburg, he Centennial Hall in Bochum and the theaters of the area.

Too many to mention, can rightfully be said. In September 2009, the final program will be published. Until that time the promoters are busy to realize already known their projects but also created new initiatives and coalitions.