Hambach mine: Regeneration Perspectives of the Post Mining Landscape
The Hambach mine has long been a symbol of sacrifice for Germany's economic progress and at the same time the fight against fossil fuels. With the energy transition and climate agreements, this huge lignite is to be closed and turned into a lake.
Aim of the project is the enhancement of the post-mining landscape as an exceptional habitat that - once mining activities have ceased - constitutes a unique environment within which secondary succession takes place.
Local
Germany
Hambach, Nordrhein-Westfalen
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
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Hambach has long been the symbol of the sacrifices Germany has made for its economic progress, and at the same time of the fight against fossil fuels. With the energy transition and climate agreements, Germany is preparing dismiss this huge lignite mine.
A new chapter begins for this region: as of today's mining company and regional plans, the mine will be turned into a lake, and the landscape will be once again radically changed. The filling of this water body (deeper than Lake Constance) will last, in the most optimistic forecasts, at least half a century.
We propose a strategy which can be applied either in the event that the decision is made to proceed with the filling, and in the event that this is not possible, desirable or feasible as provided.
The project questions the evolution of this enormous artificial valley over the decades during the flooding, and the feasibility of the flooding itself.
Aim of the project is the valorisation of the postmining landscape as an exceptional habitat that, once mining activities have ceased, will constitute a unique environment within which primary succession takes place.
How to reinterpret the identity of the post-mining landscape, and where does its value lie? How to ensure that the transition is as in line as possible with climate
and resource conservation objectives? How to elaborate the exsisting historical layers where the very matter on which they were based is absent?
Post-mining landscape
Soil and water body regeneration
Contemplation
Evolving landscape
Land Art
Innovative approach in the treatment of the post-mining landscape through valorisation of the newly created surfaces. The most common approach to treat lignite mines is by filling the pits with water. Instead of ‘losing’ those surfaces into water, the newly gained areas could be used for the expansion of existing forest ecosystems (in particular that of the Hambach Forest) as part of the secondary succession process. To achieve this, an extensive use of phytodepuration techniques is proposed to counteract the AMD (Acidic Mine Drainage) affecting the area. This process provides healthy room for the enhancement of a broad spectrum of colonizing species, leading to a biodiversity-rich post-mining landscape. The temporary abandonment by humans reduces disturbance actions and provides opportunities for pioneer animal, invertebrate and plant species to use this site as 'refuge' habitats within anthropogenic landscape patterns.
By avoiding the flooding of the open-pit mine with water coming from the river Rhine (ca. 40 km), upcoming undesirable effects on the downstream regions are to be avoided. Moreover, avoiding this man-made filling would “ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems”, protecting the wide Rhine basin, as of the Sustainable Development Goals. in view of the increasing frequency of water shortage events, the removal of water from the Rhine to fill the pit seems to run counter to environmental protection objectives. instead, the (partial) filling of the mine can be ensured by recharging the on-site aquifers and storing rainwater.
The accessibility to this site - first someone's home and then made inaccessible except to mining operators during the last decades - is improved by creating paths connected to the existing network. Furthermore, platforms allow the contemplation of the evolution of this now martian-like landscape. It is a way for the inhabitants of the area to regain ownership of the place and to shape a place of remembrance.
The mining heritage is preserved by keeping the existing morphology (and by not trying to hide or mask it under water) and by the presence of the gigantic cranes, abandoned in their last operating position as a statement.
Their presence is closely linked to the art installation ‘Endet hier?’ (‘Does it end here?’). This is to facilitate remembrance and to stress the symbolic value of Hambach as key place for the fight against fossil fuels - and, as of that, for our collective future. ‘Endet hier?’ is a line, drawn on the ground, between the crater of the mine and the remains of the Hambach Forest. It is made of bronze modelled on sundial lines, to emphasise the geographical dimension of the mining phenomenon. The inscription is mirrored and can be read both towards the mine and the Forest, emphasising the duality of the area. Does the Forest end here? Or does the mine end here?
It traces the limit of human intervention and emphasises its limited and sometimes narrow view of the world. It is a line that is not to be crossed again in terms of the destruction of an ecosystem, hopefully the end of the coal era. ‘Endet hier?’ is intended as a tribute to sacrifice, loss and protest. A kind of monument to failure, as this line drawn by man will inevitably be overtaken by the advance of the forest.
Inclusion and accessibility are key points of this work: by securing and opening the ‘mine valley’ to the public, an important and wide piece of territory is converted from private to public and protected natural area. The risk of gentrification (which is very likely to happen on the shores of the so-planned lake) is lowered.
Moreover, by avoiding the flooding of the open-pit mine with water coming from the river Rhine, undesirable effects on the downstream regions are to be avoided, ensuring instead the conservation and sustainable use of this main freshwater ecosystem. This will not only impact the inhabitants in the closest areas, but a large portion of the population. The costs of such a broad-scale soil and water remediation will be greatly repaid by obtaining a highly biodiverse, public area where the land obtained has potential in the future (also in terms of yields).
Over the decades, the population living nearby Hambach mine was deeply affected by the growing size of the mine itself. In order for the mining company to gain more land to be exploited as a mining site, many people lost their houses due to eviction of the villages. The population was already involved in the process by the company and a society that represents all of the affected Municipalities, although the artificial lake scenario was the only one that was presented to them. One of the aims of this project is to provide a place of remembrance for the lost land, where historical layers can be elaborated. By opening the former mining site to the public realm, people have the chance to regain sovereignty on the land. Further collaboration in shaping the spaces would be possible in the future.
The perspectives of the project are still open. In order to obtain more detailed data of the site and to make the project as comprehensive and detailed as possible, for the future we wish a closer contact with local stakeholders, municipalities, research institutes on site and universities.
Landscape architecture, landscape planning and environmental engeneering, chemistry and ecology certainly played a central role in our project. During the process we also dealt with psychology-linked topics such as grief processing (related to the loss of places of origins) and solostalgia. The intertwining of these disciplines opened many interesting possible ways to tackle such a sensitive and contemporary issue, and provided depth and a solid foundation to the whole project.
Sometimes the easiest, quickest solution is not the best-fitting one. And sometimes to repair a damage that is much bigger than us, we need more time and to expend different energies than those that allow us to get the most fruitful result. Instead of a one-size-fits-all resolution many different actions and strategies have to be applied. Especially in such a broad area with such complexities. A strictly engineering view of the treatment of these scenarios may lead to qualitatively inferior results compared to those possible from a collaboration between several disciplines. In times of climate change, it is necessary to invest in restoration practices which provide highly biodiverse environments, particularly in places like this one: Hambach gave a lot, and it is time to give back.
A holistic view on the problematic, meaning also to take into account innovative methodologies - not the quickest or the most economically convenient, but the best-fitting one. To consider the human and human-made artifacts as part of the environment. Phytodepuration system applied on a large scale might be a solution applicable on other former mining sites in order to preserve the new morphologies (when desired), acknowledging this part of history as part of the ‘Kulturlandschaft’ (‘cultural landscape’), and to gain new protected, thriving and biodiverse areas.
In this project, global challenges such as biodiversity loss, water protection, climate adaptation and land degradation are tackled. A statement on fossil fuels is made as well.
The hard and challenging post-mining landscape can be turned into opportunity, becoming a ‘refuge’ habitat (if not a catalyst) of biodiversity. With a secondary succession taking place, there is the chance to - literally - start from scratches. Hambach offers the opportunity to rethink the ‘miningscape’ and consequently the associated water treatment.In this case, by not harming another environment (Rhine basin and downstream regions) in order to fix a local problem. In short: thinking regionally and globally. As a consequence, the newly gained mining surfaces can be treated and restored and given back to the communities, reinforcing the sense of belonging of the evicted local populations.
