A lecture by a Berlin professor of urban planning and regional development.

What happens to a region whose prosperity was tied to mining when those industries begin to disappear? The German Ruhr region had to cope with contaminated sites, urban decline, and uncertainty. Its transformation into a post-industrial region is considered one of Europe’s most successful examples of urban renewal. The lecture will present the key milestones of this transformation, the development strategies employed, and what worked and what did not. It will be presented by architect Markéta Káňová. We are organizing this event in collaboration with the No-City International Summer School. 

Jan Polívka studied urban and regional planning at the Technical University of Berlin and worked for many years in the Ruhr region at the Technical University of Dortmund. He is the co-author of a book on the transformation of the Ruhr region titled *Schichten einer Region* (Layers of a Region). He also served as an associate professor at RWTH Aachen University, where he led a research group focused on supporting urban and regional development programs, and since 2023 he has been a professor of urban planning and spatial development in Berlin. His areas of interest include, among other things, the renewal and development of settlements in the growth phase, urbanism, housing, infrastructure, and climate.