Filled with life again

For over a century, Sodingen meant the Mont Cenis mine. With the mine's first industrial heyday, between 1890 and 1900, the amount of coal mined from Mont Cenis quadrupled, as did the population: from 990 to 4027. For decades, trends above and below ground were closely linked. The closure of the mine in 1978 meant that Sodingen lost its industrial, functional and urban centre. Just ten years after the competition for ideas, the site of the former Mont Cenis mine is once again filled with life.

Around 16 of the total of 25 hectares of the reclaimed area are being regenerated as a district park.This is an important piece in the "big jigsaw" of the "Emscher Landscaped Park", a series of green spaces which were systematically developed in the last ten years to improve the quality of life in the Ruhr region, and were opened up for local recreation purposes.The district park re-interprets the old idea of a people's park and was designed in the first place to be used and to be user-friendly. The academy is the core of the complex. It is on a slightly higher level and is visible as one of the Ruhr region's new landmarks in the place of the old winding-gear.

Additional to the community centre a new residental area with around 250 flats has been provided for newcomers to Sodingen, often families with children. Sodingen's population profits jointly from the new public facilities in the civic centre. There are also new offices, shops and surgeries and lawyers' offices. And a landscaped park ideal for extended walks in a country atmosphere starts directly in front of the door.

Flows of visitors from all over the world are coming, attracted by the innovative architecture and the unique energy concept with which the Mont Cenis energy park links the heritage of the past (mine gas), with the technologies of the future (block-type thermal power station, solar and energy storage technologies). The public interest in Mont Cenis will be intensified in the year 2000 by the World's Fair EXPO 2000 . As one of the three cornerstones of the "Emscher Park Solar Triangle", Mont Cenis is one of the registered global decentral projects for the World's Fair.