English summary

Welcome to the homepage of the administration unit "Zweckverband Neue Harth". Our aim is to develope, together with several partners, a new recreation and watersport area south of the city of Leipzig in a landscape, which was used for brown coal mining. The following article of our partner DENK represent an overview about the plans for the upcoming lake Zwenkau. If you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact our team or fill in here.

Forward-looking Examples of Rehabilitation and Development in the Southern Area of Leipzig, Germany

Rüdiger Renno
DENK architekten ingenieure
Nonnenstraße 19
D-04229 Leipzig
office@denk-ai.de

Abstract

The paper in hand shortly deals with the masterplan of the lake Zwenkau "Zwenkauer See" near to Leipzig/Germany after the extensive mining of brown coal. It shows the development and the visions of a future fun and sports resort and the success model between private and public partners.

Changes generate chances

“Always be aware that nothing stays as it is and keep in mind that nature turns its forms again and again.”
(Marc Aurel 121-180 Roman emperor)

This motto is used as introduction for the masterplan "Zwenkauer See" that is mainly worked out by DENK architekten ingenieure in cooperation with media mare for the administration unit planning and opening "Zweckverband Planung und Erschließung Neue Harth" in the year 2004. And his words could not better describe the dynamic, which is significant for the southern region of Leipzig. The extensive mining of brown coal and its application formed the “old” cultivated landscape (agriculturally used area before the mining) with all its living spaces and gave it a new face.

After closing the active mining there are empty obviously useless and desolate landscapes left. The reclamation of these areas for human beings, animals and plants as well as the generation of a rather self regulating water balance are the main aims of mining restructuring. The efforts and changes of the last fifteen years to reach this aim are surely singular. In the early years first priority was the “healing of the environmental wounds”. For all involved persons, especially for us planners, these necessary changes require a high degree of creativity, consequence and responsibility by handling our future.

Because of these facts, we achieve integrated planning for the needs of human beings as part of a complex environment. Moreover we want to develop chances by changing the extreme process of mutation into a new cultivated landscape where singular and manifold living spaces can arise. Step by step the former mining region was changed to reach this aim.

Belantis shows the intention of developing the southern area of Leipzig for tourism. This intention forms a brilliant basis for all following plans and realisations because it provides best conditions for connecting public interests among each other and together with private engagement. The chances for a balanced development of both components “ecology” and “tourism” in the south of Leipzig could not be better, because both aspects still stay in an early development stage and moreover there is enough room for the realisation of both aspects around the rising landscape.

Start developing of the largest hole in southern area of Leipzig

It was an essential task of the masterplan to dissolve seeming and unfortunately often superficially shown contrasts between ecology and tourism by working out their common ground and using guidelines of nature and environmental protection.

The development project of the “Bundesamt für Naturschutz” (“Nachhaltige Erholung und Tourismus in Bergbaufolge-landschaften”, Bonn, 2001) points out that in contrast to the successive use of a grown landscape, the use of a former mining area should be seen as a restart, which at first seems to disagree with the image of a recovery or spare time landscape.

In face of the extension of those areas to be “newly” created, it would require a complex concept that enables all involved persons to work together.

And the report “Umweltschutz und Tourismus” of the Federal Government accurately describes that tourism could only work together with an intact nature, because travellers would more and more be aware of environmental problems. In contrary tourists would increasingly look for nature experiences in spare time.

Vision of masterplan lake Zwenkau in 2010

Using the potentials: northern waterside: fun & sports resort, water tourism; southern waterside: housing and port; integrating nature around the lake

The masterplan clearly shows that the rising lake Zwenkau offers the potential to realise ecological and economic aims as parallel and completing developments. But this will only work if the requests of environmental protection and of toursim support each other. Therefore all involved persons have to be aware of the complex concept and have to act with responsibility for the new living spaces.

Then the dynamic changes will generate chances for a worth living future, not at least for …