REINVENTING THE TERRITORY

Alienated and Entagled Ruhrgebiet

Public lecture by SEBASTIAN SCHLECHT, architect and urbanist, founder of lala.ruhr.

Followed by a reception. All are welcome!

Abstract

The Copenhagen Landscape Lecture by Sebastian Schlecht takes a look at the changing landscape of the Ruhr metropolis. He will share with you how this area has changed from a landscape of tranquility to a land of untamed fires. How the hooves of wild horses have been replaced by the magnetism of profit. The forces of industrial creation have left the area irretrievable from the depths of coalmines to the sky. After the last decades of repairing, renaturing, reframing and loving - fractures and unanswered questions remain. The necessity of providing a region worth living in for over 5 million people is a constant driver for creativity in design, culture and technology, and both promotes and neglects the landscape as the bearer of the whole.

Sebastian is a German architect and urbanist, and he loves the interdisciplinary and collaborative work on concepts for the future. He is founder of lala.ruhr  - the landscape and architecture laboratory - and the concept of the ‘Biennale of Urban Landscape’. He developed the Program for Green Cities and Regions at the State Initiative for Building Culture in North Rhine-Westphalia and was responsible for the project management of the European Green Capital 2017 at the City of Essen. Sebastian has international expertise in urban transformations and global climate change. He is also active on the board of JAS Jugend Architektur Stadt e.V., teaches at TU Dortmund University and is a guest lecturer at Politecnico di Milano. 

lala.ruhr is the laboratory for landscape and architecture in the Ruhrgebiet! lala.ruhr stands for a creative and open exchange on the development of sustainable cities and metropolises - from the Ruhr area we are developing a regional laboratory space and an international framework for the most important topic of the future: the urban landscape - resilient, liveable, just, green, (bio-) diverse and productive. Future is only possible together!