German for Inspiration

Emscher Park in the Ruhr in Germany is one of the world’s largest regional parks and a shining example of what can be done to regenerate an area suffering from post-industrial dereliction and decline. Now the idea of regional parks has come to the Northwest with Mersey Waterfront and East Lancashire regional parks already well established. Kevin Gopal looks at the sort of environmental and economic benefits that regional parks can have on an area and explores the plans for further parks to be established across the region.