Urban Regeneration of Disused Coal Mine

Competition Infrastructure Public Space Strategy Urban Design

Urban Regeneration of Disused Coal Mine

MARL: RE-FUEL EUROPEAN RAIL AND INDUSTRIALIZATION The conurbation of Europe’s leading industrial regions has been spurred by the interconnectivity of its rail and road infrastructure, with the vast energy resources of coal regions like Marl in the Ruhrgebiet. Hence, these infrastructures play a crucial role not just in economic development, but also as the backbone of Europe’s and Germany’s spatial and physical structure. Now that the coal mines face impending closure and eventual obsolescence, we propose to re-use these infrastructural logic as a guiding principle in rejuvenating the Auguste-Victoria coal mine and Marl. The principle avoids a monolithic and rigid urban proposal, and instead proposes a framework that accommodates various adaptations over time.  

1. COAL

The three elements that allow for the extraction of coal as energy. If the mining of raw material is halted, then what do we do with the remaining technology and knowledge, as well as its heavy infrastructure?  

2. SHORT TERM

In the short term, the immediate action is to develop the human resource and skilled workers pool of the area. Former employees can undergo re-training in other industries that are relevant and similar to coal mining. Similarly, talents from the surrounding areas like the ChemiePark can also congregate here for joint development research and other industrial related work.  

3. MID-TERM

The rehabilitation of the Auguste Victoria mine will be done in stages, beginning with the preservation work of iconic mine structures, as well as demolition of the obsolete and temporary structures.  

4. LONG TERM

The urban intervention will be in tandem with the developments listed above. For example, to meet the increasing demands for office and labs by the incoming talents, their spatial design will be an agglomeration of similar building functions types.  

5. SPATIAL AND RESOURCES SYNERGIES

These strategies will create a new developmental model for abandoned coal and other similar energy areas all around the world. Hence, the existing coal employees are invaluable expertise. However, their mixing with other expertise will also develop new technologies and methods.  

6. OUTCOME

The eventual outcome will have a wide variety of growth areas in research and product development. The key to its success is its diversity and malleability of development plans. Hence, this framework creates conditions that are meaningful in attracting capital.