Ruhr wants roaring success for its International Garden Exhibition 2027

IGA’s Dorle Bubelweit took members of the press inside the heart of Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen’s Gardens of the Future.

Preparations are underway for Germany’s once-in-a-decade International Garden Exhibition 2027, also known as IGA Metropole Ruhr 2027. In the former heart of Germany’s coal and steel industry, the transformation of giant Gardens of the Future across five different cities is a beacon of hope. Not only will the exhibition host a floral extravaganza and vast green and undulated spaces, but it will also explore the future of living in our homes and cities.

At first glance, the stark façades of coking plants, storage bunkers, and water towers—landmarks of what will become an international garden exhibition in three years—don’t immediately conjure images of Germany’s green future.

Industrial heritage sites and blossoming nature will offer an ‘eclectix’ mix.

Giving back to society and nature

Inside Dortmund’s former coke works, Kokerei Hansa, one of IGA 2027’s three paid Gardens of the Future, there’s a lingering smell of tar inside the plant that churned out 5,200 tonnes of cokes daily until 1992. Rusted pipeline networks, high-rise conveyor belts, giant generators, chimneys, and wooden quenching towers pepper the skyline.

Against this impressive backdrop, Dr Alexander Berner welcomed members of the press in early June. Berner is a communications manager at Industrie Denkmal Stiftung (IDS), a foundation annexe network that connects and owns industrial and technical heritage sites in 13 different towns and cities in the state of North Rhein Westphalia.

It was established by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Essen-based RAG Aktiengesellschaft (formerly known as Ruhrkohle AG).

The latter was designed to consolidate all coal-mining activities in the Ruhr region.

The foundation has a noble and important task to fulfil: giving back to society and nature. This is, in essence, a testament to the region’s bustling manufacturing past, which laid the foundation for the modern world and fuelled economic and social change.

Berner explains that to achieve this, the foundation and local authorities regularly assess pitches of private investors, with the decision to sell primarily hinged on the pitch’s long-term horizon for value creation. Proposals for reversing heritage sites into active, relevant, and engaging spaces are in the best position. Kokerei Hansa is one of IDS’s remarkable sites and has been declared a national monument.

Kokerei Hansa hosts an impressive cluster of industrial buildings.

Eclectic Mix

Berner believes the 46 ha Kokerei Hansa site will be well worth the – still undisclosed – admission fee the anticipated 900,000 visitors will need to pay when IGA opens between April and October 2027.He says, “Though the relationship between nature and tech may seem conflicting, even contradicting, the IGA show is set to pull together an eclectic mix composed of natural beauty, innovation, history, striking architecture, great learning, and fun.” Or, as he adds, “Some people argue Kokerei Hansa does not sit in the sexiest and exciting of landscapes; IGA 2027 will prove the contrary.”

Landscape architect Bbz Landschaftsarchitekten Berlin has put its signature upon a bold planting scheme, with the ‘Wolke’ being one of the star attractions. The cloud-shaped artwork for the design seems to touch the sky and symbolise the clouds that once rose from the coking plant’s quenching towers. It is an experiential work of art you can climb and slide down. Other crowd-pleasers in Dortmund include an existing urban transport museum, an extensive outdoor gym in the making, and Duesenberg Hill, a 50-metre-high former landfill that offers superb views over the surrounding area.

IGA is not all about aesthetic beauty. It also addresses the need for long-term urban connectivity and sustainability. An extensive network of hiking and bike trails and improved public transport form the backbone of the expo’s connectivity plan, which foresees an IGA Express train by Deutsche Bahn. Mobility hubs for renting bikes or scooters or taking a taxi or bus will facilitate visitors’ easy arrival and departure.

In Dortmund’s particular case, the future Haldensprung Bridge aims to connect the city’s Huckarde and Duesenberg districts. This east-west corridor, long awaited by residents, will be designed in black and white. The colour black evokes Kokerei Hansa’s ‘black area’ used for the transportation of black coke. White will remind visitors of the plant’s ‘white area’ for processing the coke oven’s byproducts.

IGA’s Gelsenkirchen site, where an inland port area will become a hub for sport and food fanatics.

‘Super toll’

Designed as another jewel in the IGA crown is the Future Garden in Duisburg’s 37.5 ha RheinPark Hochfeld, on the banks of the mighty river Rhine.

A tour conducted by IGA’s Dorle Bubelweit took FCI magazine into the heart of Niederrheinische Hütte, an industrial site established in 1851 and once used to manufacture steel.

Today, all that remains of a bygone industrial era is a water tower, a track for freight trains and the derelict wharf of the inland Kultushafen port.

Bubelweit promises the summer of 2027 to be ‘super toll’, super cool’, with Kultushafen being the destination every foodie should visit. The place will celebrate all of the great and diverse cooking talent that the town of Duisburg—home to more than 120 nationalities—offers. Plus, it will serve as a shining example of Industrial Nature, a term coined by the regional government of Nordrhein Westfalen in the 1980s to describe the regeneration of its estimated 800km of abandoned, frequently polluted industrial sites.

To alleviate concerns over sustainability, Bubelweit explains how a containment system has been used as an element of site remediation in Duisburg. Simply put, a cover (or cap) has been placed on contaminated material to stabilise it.
Site remediation also required a significant top cover and, as such, shaped an undulated landscape, including rolling meadows already home to wildflowers and wildlife, the German names of which are too complex to remember.

True to its name, there will be a score of show gardens built by designers from home and abroad and indoor flower exhibitions concentrated near Bonifatiusplaz, the main entrance of the Duisburg site.

Bubelweit promises gardens and flower shows that will be a true feast for the senses. Overlooking this floral extravaganza is a planned viewing platform perched on top of a cluster of remaining walls of a former coal store—which now boast an explosion of colours and shapes thanks to local graffiti artists.

Duisburg aims to celebrate the beauty of plants and flowers and highlight their importance for the planet and its people. With this in mind, the city’s IGA garden will address important topics in gardening and commercial horticulture, including the search for more weatherproof, biodiverse, and sustainably grown flowers and plants using less energy, peat, plastics, and chemicals.

More education can be expected, as Duisburg will use IGA to establish itself as an applied research hub in hydrogen production.

Furthermore, Duisburg is keen to create an event that embraces people from all walks of life and diverse origins.

With one in six people living with disability [Source: WHO], ensuring that IGA is accessible to all is crucial. In Duisburg, for example, certified playground equipment will allow children of all abilities to interact and play together.

In 2011, long before the groundwork for IGA started, restaurant Ziegenpeter am RheinPark opened its doors on the banks of the Rhine River.

It hires staff with disabilities or health conditions and has since drawn in large crowds. In summer, it offers great outdoor seating on Rheinpark Hochfeld’s ‘beach’, in line with the ‘Duisburg an den Rhein’ campaign, bringing a taste of Marbella to the city’s urban shores.”

Duisburg an den Rhein brings a taste of Marbella to Duisburg’s urban shores. Within the far background are the Zeigenpeter Restaurant and a landmark water tower.

Lush green oasis

Just like in Duisburg and Dortmund, there will be an admission fee for IGA’s third Garden of the Future in Gelsenkirchen. It will be built on Emscher Island, delimited by the Rhein-Herne Canal and the River Emsch.

Once the site of the Nordstern coalmine’s hustle and bustle, the IGA garden’s spot spans 28ha and is part of the far larger 100ha Nordsternpark, which in 1997 hosted the BUGA show, IGA’s domestic counterpart.

After coal production ceased in the 1990s, the site was cleared and transformed into a lush green oasis with cycling trails and walking roads.

Investments in the 2027 IGA garden in Gelsenkirchen will see Nordstern’s former metallurgical coal bunker revamped into a hub for arts, education, and food. The southwestern façade of what has been renamed Greentower will be covered with vegetation, while a glass wall will break down the barrier between the tower’s indoor space and the surrounding green outdoors.

Other highlights at IGA Gelsenkirchen include a reshaped port area that provides long-awaited direct access to the waterfront. Extensive sports grounds will welcome visitors keen to work on their fitness. But it is also the perfect place to sit down near the canal, wind down, and re-energise.

Trespassing further down west, visitors enter the land that officially belongs to the city of Essen. Here, manicured lawns and garden beds are not allowed, as this will introduce IGA goers to the concept of rewilding.

Perched on top of the remaining walls of the coal bunker, Duisburg’s viewing point will offer panoramic vistas.

Each site possesses a unique kind of beauty

Organising an IGA on disproportionately large sites presents challenges resulting from concerns over the sustainability of the sites and the deep pockets needed to finance what will cost an estimated €200 million.

The lack of skilled landscapers and builders, plus connectivity issues when organising a ‘decentralised’ expo, might make the task even more daunting.

An IGA across five different sites also asks for differentiation. In Duisburg, IGA’s Dorle Bubelweit said that all five Gardens of the Future complement and add to each other.

From this viewpoint, organisers have embarked on the right path. Granted, two of the three sites FCI visited remain largely unplanted and indistinct in the panorama.

But each site possesses a unique kind of beauty. In Duisburg, the perpetually flowing river Rhine has a calming effect on mind and body while offering spectacular views and the idea of being far away from the daily buzz.

Dortmund’s coking plant features the most impressive buildings of all three sites. It will make people realise how hard the work was while also illustrating that life at a coke plant was a place for camaraderie, community building, and pride.

Finally, Gelsenkirchen, largely thanks to the previous BUGA show, is already nestled in lush greenery with excellent connectivity. It is perhaps the most secluded and readiest outdoor oasis.

IGA has the cards to make its expo successful. Hopefully, all actors involved will consider not only the financial outcome but also the long-lasting benefit of an event like this.

IGA in the roaring Ruhr is a perfect tool for revitalising industrial heritage sites. It will attract tourists, inspire city architects and landscapers, and provide pure fun for others.

Some of the sites are ruled under Germany’s law to protect the country’s cultural and historic heritage. This means that these historic statues must be retained and explained for future generations.

The IGA sites will only connect with new residential areas but are not destined for property development. What is green will stay green. Its vast green spaces will better connect city dwellers with urban nature and help restore local pride in an area which has long been considered the sole domain of a smoke-puffing chemical industry.

The upper floor of Kokerei Hansa’s former training centre will offer IGA visitors panoramic views. For now, much imagination is needed to picture the cloud-shaped Wolke artwork marking the horizon.

This article was first published in the July-August 2024 issue of FloraCulture International.