All rights reservedHemkendreis, ChristianFrensemeier, Eva2024-09-032024-09-032016978-85-7785-551-1https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/1921Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the southAffected by the steel crisis and the increase in coal prices beginning in the late 1960s up to the 1990s the business climate in mining regions in industrial countries changed. After several decades of economic growth and rising population, a period of recession started. Many of the former industrial sites saw themselves struggling with the effects of structural change. Since the decline of the coal and steel industry they have been confronted with massive job losses, permanently shrinking or at least stagnating population figures (cp. Glock 2007) and declining financial opportunities. In those circumstances, it is nearly impossible to use growth as a driving force for a positive development. Development prospects get obsolete, if they are only based on increasing population. The Ruhr area is the region in Germany, which was most influenced by the crisis of coal and steel industry. The 13 independent cities of the Ruhr region and their whole history has been closely associated with the appearance of industrial sites. Mines, blast furnace and factories spread out in the region between the rivers Ruhr and Emscher. The former villages and small towns like Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg grew up to big cities with up to half a million inhabitants. Nowadays about 5 million people live in the whole Ruhr area. It is the biggest metropolitan area in Germany and one of the biggest in Europe. Since the crisis the cities of the Ruhr area still have been dealing with the effects of structural change. In some quarters of the cities this leads to a concentration of disproportionately high shrinkage and vacancy ratesEnglishopenAccessconferenceObject1545-1548