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Abstract
The International Building Exhibition (IBA), Emscher Park was a 10 year programme of the Land Northrhine-Westfalia, Germany, between 1989 and 1999. It was designed to initiate restructuring in the part of the Ruhr region, the Emscher, which has been suffering the most from economic, environmental and social decline for many decades. One of the Exhibition's principle features was that restructuring should take an holistic view rather than simply trying to attract inward investment and jobs. As a result the programme was based around a huge 80 km long landscape park. This report aims to introduce and critically assess the IBA, in relation to the principles of sustainability with some thoughts for the future. It begins by outlining what sustainability means for the Ruhr and Emscher regions, moving on to describe the unique nature of the Exhibition. It then considers whether or not the initiative adheres to sustainability principles and discusses the successes and failures. The report ends with a brief look at what can be learned from the exhibition, both within the region and outside.
