FERROPOLIS

Land is a finite resource. Urbanization, infrastructure, increasing demand for food and other human activities are slowly but surely using up more and more land. In the EU alone, in the period 2006-2012, land consumption was 1,065 km2 per year, with a total of 6,390 km2 of agricultural or natural land turned into man-made areas. Ecosystems are being lost due to this practice.
Abandonment and deindustrialization of brownfields, such as mining and manufacturing sites, is a major concern for countries and municipalities today. It is essential to take into account important negative effects, not only environmentally and economically, but also on the social well-being and quality of life of a given place.
Brownfield regeneration is becoming an essential behavior for European countries as part of land management actions in general.
It is estimated that there are more than 20,000 contaminated former military, industrial, mining and commercial sites that impede the development of surrounding communities.
Speaking of Brownfields in a broader sense, contaminated soils can also be introduced; these are the data from the Status of local soil contamination in Europe (JRC, 2018):
- 2.8 million sites where polluting activities took place were estimated considering the artificial surface.
- 694 000 registered sites where polluting activities have taken place/are taking place in the national and regional inventories of the responding countries.
national and regional inventories of the responding countries;
- more than 235 000 sites have been remediated. 

Numerous reasons to redevelop brownfield sites:
- Protection from environmental contamination and health risks - Lack of clean industrial sites.
- EU contains densely populated and built-up regions.
- Limiting urban sprawl / Avoiding the occupation of new land
Advantages (compared to green areas): - Often well located
- Available infrastructure
- Blighted areas come back to life
- Brings people back to the city
- Brownfields are often economically unviable or even unprofitable.
Regeneration of brownfields combines the three pillars of sustainable development like almost no other field of application: economically, by generating development and employment in often blighted urban areas; environmentally, by remediating the environmental hazards of the industrial past and saving previously undeveloped open spaces; and socially, by bringing new life to urban areas, providing new opportunities for communities, and generating pride and identification with neighborhoods, cities, and regions.
Regeneration of brownfields is thus a key element of sustainable urban development.
Regeneration requires innovative approaches and new remediation technologies; reuse options need to be evaluated with particular attention to health and safety risks.
In this visual research I examined a huge former open-pit mine once called Golpa-North, now transformed into an open-air museum that takes visitors on a journey into the past and the future: it is Ferropolis.
The site is located on a peninsula surrounded by the Gremminer Reservoir. The lake covers the wasteland of the former mine, creating a pleasant new landscape. Five giant heavy excavators stand out in the scenery and make the view spectacular. Today this former gray world of daily work is brightened by a wide range of cultural events.
The site is part of the New European Bauhaus, a movement that seeks to shape future ways of living that respond to the broader challenges we face today. The movement promotes a greener, sustainable and affordable world, as well as an accessible, inclusive and beautiful environment. An impact on the way we live our lives.
Thies Schröder, the site's CEO, believes strongly in how cultural events can reinforce structural change and that brownfield regeneration is an important part of a sustainable future.