Good luck! What comes after coal?

"Glück auf! What Comes After Coal" took place as part of Elective Module 3 - City and Landscape. The module focuses on development trends in the city and landscape, combining theory-guided and practice-oriented design projects, excursions, lectures, exercises, and seminars. It revolves around integrated urban and open-space planning at the intersection of spatial planning and architecture, involving interdisciplinary work with master's students from both disciplines.

In 2022, the thematic focus was on large-scale transformation processes in the landscape and people's lives, using the example of the Lusatia coal-mining aftermath landscape in Germany. "Hardly any other region in Germany undergoes such fundamental and ongoing landscape changes to a comparable extent as Lusatia. For over 100 years, large areas of landscapes have given way to the extraction of lignite, only to gradually re-emerge through the process of reclaiming the areas affected by mining. The term 'landscape in transition' was coined for such changes, which characterizes the region in a special way" (BTE Tourism and Regional Consulting et al. 2013. Regional Development Concept Cottbus-Guben-Forst. Lusatia. Berlin. p.1).

For many years, especially against the backdrop of the planned coal phase-out by 2038, intensive discussions have taken place on various levels and in various forums about the transformation and development possibilities of the region. In the context of "Glück auf! What Comes After Coal," the impending regional transformation of the landscape, the energy system, the climate, and structural change in the context of the globally occurring comprehensive transformation process were considered. The unusually long time horizon until 2100 was deliberately chosen to build on existing planning development concepts and future ideas while also thinking beyond and considering longer-term trends and changes in the landscape.

The process began with an intensive examination of the mentioned topics through expert lectures and presentations. In this phase, initial visions for the year 2100 were already formulated. The next step involved on-site exploration in Lusatia, allowing students to understand and assess the current situation through lectures, guided tours, visits, and conversations. In the third phase, students were tasked with developing their visions into planning strategies for the region's future. Finally, they designed concrete creative impulses as a catalyst for the process.

Brochure for download:

• Glück auf! Was kommt nach der Kohle?