#7: Emscher river in the area of Dortmund

In former times, industrialization and urbanization required the degradation of the Emscher river to an open sewage channel. After the decline of the mining activities, it became possible to decouple the sewage from the watercourses into the underground. The restored rivers shall be the linear nucleus for ecologic development. The fluvial system is determined to be blue backbone for a regional network of green infrastructure. Furthermore, the spatial quality of the new Emscher valley will give crucial impulses for the regions’ structural change.