Coal is Old News: Students Present Visions for the Future at the Climate Change Conference
As part of the Bauhaus.Module »After the Co(al)lapse: Envision the Future!«, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar students were tasked with developing creative concepts for the ecological restoration of a former lignite (sometimes referred to as brown coal) power plant. In December 2023, the student group presented their results at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai.
Using the specific example of the former Rheinbraun Brennstoff GmbH, located on the Asbach-Grünzug (green belt) in the west of Weimar, students were asked to develop sustainable concepts for the site. The site was once one of the four largest coal processing plants in Germany. It was acquired by the city of Weimar in 2022 following an unexpected closure and an ambitious restoration of the site is scheduled for the intermediate future.
Students gathered initial impressions and developed their ideas on site. The project also included first-hand accounts and discussions with key individuals involved in the future of the project. Students were asked to present their results in a three-minute video. To prepare themselves for creating the video, students took part in a film-making workshop held over several weeks.
Two clips were created for the project and were first presented to the public during summaery2023. An independent jury chose one winner from the two submissions. The winners then travelled to Dubai where they presented their work to at the Climate Change Conference.
Weimar.Energy Park
Bauhaus.Modul: Gewinnerfilm zur Entwicklung von Zukunftsvisionen für eine nachhaltige Folgenutzung eines alten Industrieareals
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Students:
Antonia Schoch (Environmental Engineering), Leonie Liebenwald (Architecture), Arthur Stark (Civil Engineering) and Louis Köpp (Environmental Engineering)
Supervisor:
David Gaeckle, Department of Resources Management
The concept is based on a comprehensive ecological restoration of a large proportion of the site and aims to make the history and importance of the energy industry accessible to visitors through the creation of a »Weimar.Energy Park«. Restoring the Asbach stream to increase the biodiversity was an important part of the concept.
Background
The project was the brainchild of the team from the Environmental Engineering degree programme together with the Department of Landscape Architecture and Planning and Weimar’s city administration. The focus of the project was on implementing federal environmental goals. Modern urban development designs that integrate Blue Green Infrastructure and take into consideration the location of the site as a fresh air corridor for the city of Weimar are also part of the plan.
This is the third time that students from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar have been invited to present their ideas for a sustainable future at the UN Climate Change Conference. After having taken part in Glasgow (Scotland, 2021) and Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt, 2022), the student team had mixed feelings about travelling to Dubai, as the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference has been strongly criticised due to the country the Conference is being hosted in.