Coal regions, cultural heritage & KoFabrik: At a meeting of the Stakeholder Workshop 2025 of the EU project CoalHeritage at the KoFabrik in Bochum on April 1, joint strategies for the preservation and subsequent use of industrial coal heritage were discussed. The issue of preserving, promoting and using former coal mines and mining sites in a historically and future-conscious manner is of great international relevance. In the European project, other countries (Greece, Poland, France & Slovenia) are eagerly looking at the Ruhr region to see how history and cultural heritage can be preserved - and how social and ecological functions can be taken into account at the same time.
The Ruhr region's decades of experience with structural change and the subsequent use of its industrial coal heritage, as well as its deeply rooted policy of preserving industrial culture, provide valuable recommendations for action for other countries.
Michael Prange (THGA), Hernan Flores (FZN), Michael Wachsmann (Biological Station Westliches Ruhrgebiet) and Volker Wrede (former chairman of GeoPark Ruhrgebiet e.V.), among others, gave exciting presentations and facilitated productive exchanges.
The topics presented and discussed included:
- Best Heritage Scenarios: Lessons from the Ruhr region
- A stakeholder analysis and results of the CoalHeritage-EU project
- Potentials of industrial nature and visualization of the geological foundations of the mining heritage in the Ruhr area using the example of the Ruhr Area National GeoPark
- Perspectives on the historical transition
The “CoalHeritage Team” is already looking forward to the next meeting.
Contact
Julia Haske, M.A.
Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola, University
Herner Street 45
44787 Bochum
Building 2, room 202
Phone 0234 968 4147
Mail julia.haske@thga.de
Dr.-Ing. Tansel Dogan
Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola, University
Herner Street 45
44787 Bochum
Building 2, room 209
Phone +49 234 968-3227
Mail tansel.dogan@thga.de
Hernan Flores, M.Sc.
Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola, University
Herner Street 45
44787 Bochum
Building 2, room 205
Phone +49 234 968 3807
Mail hernan.flores@thga.de
