If HIGH LINE STORIES has you searching out other innovative reclamation projects, you’re not limited to railroad easements, parking spaces, or even the United States. The closing of the Thyssen blast furnace works in Duisburg Meiderich, Germany, in 1985 led to some creative thinking on the part of the Duisburg City Council and other local leaders. Rather than allowing the nearly century-old facility to stand vacant, in 1989 the city decided to execute designs from Professor Peter Latz and Partners for a “natural and cultural” landscape park.
Opened in 1994, Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in North Rhine-Westphalia: over a half million visitors a year enjoy the park’s combination of green space and industrial history. You can bike or walk the park, go climbing in reclaimed ore bunkers, or even dive in a former gasholder. A climb to the rooftop provides a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside.
Already visited Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord? Know of another unique recreation space created from similar industrial facilities? Tell us about it in the comments…
Image credits: jonasj, steffenz, and extranoise at Flickr under a Creative Commons license
June 16th, 2009 - 8:09 pm
http://www.seattle.gov/parks/park_detail.asp?id=293
June 17th, 2009 - 10:25 am
Thanks, hannah — had several people point that one out after this post went up…
July 13th, 2009 - 5:30 pm
There are two projects in Toronto, the Don Valley Brickworks, an ongoing project on the site of an old brick factory and quarry:
http://www.evergreen.ca/rethinkspace/?p=117
and the Wychwood Barns, a series of former streetcar repair barns, which now house artist residences, a huge greenhouse, non-for profit office space and a successful farmers market:
http://www.torontoartscape.on.ca/places-spaces/artscape-wychwood-barns
both projects were being undertaken in partnership between a private organization and the city of Toronto.
July 13th, 2009 - 5:32 pm
I almost forgot, the Promenade Plantee in Paris, which is similar to the High Line in that fact that is was an abandoned Rail track, but differing in the fact that is was completed in the 1990s.
http://www.paris-walking-tours.com/promenadeplantee.html
July 20th, 2009 - 8:41 pm
Sloss Furnace in Birmingham AL