Overview

IBA projects in Europe's biggest building site

Between Landscape islands and main categories

The IBA has been working on many projects in connection with the transformation of structures and the landscape in Lusatia since the year 2000. Over the years the number of projects has risen from 20 to 30. They are distributed across nine zones within the region and are referred to as the "landscape islands". They are deliberately chosen areas with specific realities and problems. Each landscape island has its own particular theme based on the local situation. Characteristic of the "Lauchhammer - Klettwitz: Industrial heritage" landscape island, for example, are the former coal and steel industry sites, such as the coking plants and power stations. Other landscape islands are given over to the Lusatian Lakeland, urban redevelopment, landscape art or the German-Polish partnership.

The idea of the landscape islands was conceived in the initial phase of the IBA. Not only have further projects been introduced along the way but it has also become apparent in practice that many projects have a great deal of common ground across the informal "borders" of the imaginary islands and that there is a degree of overlap between some of the themes of the landscape islands. Other projects have a cross-regional dimension, such as the Fürst-Pückler Path or the Energy Route through Lusatia's Industrial Heritage.

The focus of the practical work was therefore the specific projects - quite irrespective of geographical location. The 30 projects fall into the seven main categories: industrial heritage, waterscapes, energy landscapes, new territory, border landscapes, urban landscapes, transitional landscapes.