The Ruhr Charter
Recommendations from the German Academy for Urban and Regional Spatial Planning for creating an urban landscape for the Ruhr Metropolis
From the series entitled "How Things Stand. Bruckhausen", 2006 / photo: Annette Jonak
RUHR.2010 will be an all-important year for the Ruhr region, but after the year has passed, the work will need to continue. After the end of its special year, each European Capital of Culture should, ideally, widen its scope and develop proposals for a sustainable urban society in Europe.
RUHR.2010 is responding to this challenge with measures including the "Ruhr Charter". This was developed over a period of two years by members of the German Academy for Urban and Regional Spatial Planning (DASL) in close collaboration with numerous individuals and institutions in Germany and abroad. The Ruhr Metropolis serves as a reference model for conurbations all over the world. It offers a practical and accessible understanding of urban change and development.
The goal of the Charter is to redefine urbanism in contemporary terms and on a global scale, to claim urbanism as a universal right and to formulate recommendations for an urban Ruhr metropolitan landscape. The project has involved particularly detailed exchanges with the Ruhr’s partner regions Randstad (Netherlands), Upper Silesia (Poland), Berlin/Brandenburg (Eastern Germany) and Istanbul (Turkey).
However, the Charter is by no means complete. Indeed, this is a charter of the modern age and as such it has been conceived as an interactive process. In February 2010 it will be presented in draft form to interested groups, institutions and associations and will then be available on the Internet as a "wiki" website together with all its sub-texts und collected examples. This means that the document can be read online, and can also be commented on and edited. Endeavouring to provide an interface for academic expertise and public opinion, the Academy invites all interested parties from Germany and abroad to discuss the document, offer suggestions and make criticisms. The "Ruhr Charter" will then be officially finalised with an appraisal of the entire discussion at the Annual Conference of the German Academy for Urban and Regional Spatial Planning in October 2010.
From Feburary 2010
Online from February 2010
Conference October 7 - 10, 2010 (open to the public)
Partners: German Academy for Urban and Regional Spatial Planning, State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Presentation of the German Urban Planning Award on 7 October 2010, Zeche Zollverein, Essen, Erich Brost Pavilion - all day
Annual conference of the DASL "Learning for Ruhr - für Ruhr lernen" (workshop focusing on the future of polycentric metropolitan areas) on 8 and 9 October 2010, Dortmund U / Centre for Art and the Creative Sectors - all day
Please send an e-mail to DASL Berlin if you would like to take part: info@dasl.de