Industrial Garden Realm
Dessau/Anhalt-Bitterfeld-Wittenberg:
Correspondence Region of the EXPO 2000 in Hanover as well as
"Region of the Future - on the Way to a Sustainable Development"


 

On the occasion of the World Conference on Urban Future - URBAN 21 - at Berlin from 04 to 06 July 2000, the best results of the federal competition "Regions of the Future" shall be presented.
 
This competition followed a call of the public promise of reward by the Federal Ministry of Traffic, Construction and Housing of September 1997. The region Dessau / Anhalt-Bitterfeld-Wittenberg participated in the tender by the project "Industrial Garden Realm", and was chosen out of a group of 87 applicants to participate in the further procedure until the World Conference.  On 29 July 1998, the Federal Minister of Construction handed over the certificate as a "Regions of the Future" to 26 regions selected by an interdisciplinary jury.

The jury certified for eight of these regions that they have advanced to such a level by the practical results of their work in the sense of sustainment, i.e. by realized projects, cooperative planning, wide-spread participation or socially and aesthetically ambitious qualities of realization, that they can play the role of outriders.
 
The Industrial Garden Realm is one of them.

 
The jury assessed the contribution of the region Dessau/Anhalt-Bitterfeld-Wittenberg one year after the conclusion of the proceedings in summer 1999 by saying:
 
"For an area which is affected by environmental damages and structural weaknesses, the region elaborates concepts and projects for a sustainable regional development which may prove to be pathbreaking and stimulating for other regions in East Germany.
Against the background of a very tense economic situation and the general problems prevailing, caused by the transformation process, the region has made remarkable progress. The communication structures developed during the competition have helped to implement the development process. The initiating role of the region is worth mentioning, which acts as a generator of impulses by events (meeting of the East German regions participating in the competition) and the magazine of the regions "UND". The planned and partially practised forms of participation are exemplary and assist a self-supporting development in the region. The previously presented concepts consider the existing specific conditions of the region in a creative way, and aim at long-term solutions. The efforts made in the frame of controlling the success are exemplary too.
 
Recommendations for further action:
Despite the efforts made, which can be assessed as exemplary when compared to others, the region has been successful in parts only by now in the inclusion of inhabitants into the activities and to activate their participation.
Experience shows that this fact is a typical problem of the East German federal laender. Just in view of URBAN 21 however, special attention should be given to this. Thus one should try first to increase the participation of inhabitants, above all with regard to the inclusion of specific interest groups. The actors should continue to review opportunities to increasingly include other actors (e.g. from economy) into the running processes. There is also a need for action on the level of concrete implementation. It seems that, caused by the stronger accentuation of the concept and perspective work, the practice-related formulation and thus the implementation of projects come short of."
 
The project "Industrial Garden Realm", developed at the Bauhaus since 1989, with its 16 leading projects, formed the basis for the participation in the competition "Regions of Future". Those projects were also the starting point for the participation in EXPO 2000 which have meanwhile been extended and modified as well as almost implemented.
 
The 16 leading projects, as a regional network, cover the range of topics which are necessary/possible for a sustainable development, shown by the concrete area in the governmental district Dessau, Land Saxony-Anhalt.