Stakeholder orientated sustainable land management: The Ruhr Area as a role model for urban areas

The concept of sustainable land management (SLM) can help create a balance between the different demands of economy, society and nature. SLM means to actively develop land based on a knowledge-based procedure. It should aim on long term enhancements. The basis of SLM is the interests and the goals of the stakeholders. It is the result of a bargaining process between different institutions by creating win-win-situations or adequate conflict solutions to reach a consensus. The Ruhr Area is Germany’s biggest metropolitan area. Land management regarding economic, social and environmental issues, which has a long tradition in this area, goes back to 1920. Being the centre of the heavy industry in Germany for more than 150 years, the Ruhr Area today is a green metropolis. The ecological, social and economical change of this industrial region can serve as a role model for SLM in urban areas all over the world.