Traveling to the Marsh Metropolis: Hamm's Journey

In an effort to combat climate change and improve the quality of life in neighborhoods, the Zukunftsinitiative Klima.Werk has been established as a collaboration between Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband, cities in the Emscher-Lippe region, and the state of NRW. The initiative includes all 16 cities and municipalities along the Emscher, as well as Dorsten, Oer-Erkenschwick, Datteln, and Hamm from the Lippe Association area. More Lippe Association municipalities are eager to join the network.

The Future Initiative Climate.Work advocates for the transformation of public and private infrastructures, focusing on water-conscious urban renewal or the transformation of cities into sponge cities. In these cities, rainwater is stored, collected, or infiltrated locally, which plays a central role in adapting to changing weather conditions.

One city at the forefront of this transformation is Hamm, which has joined the Zukunftsinitiative Klima.Werk and has placed special emphasis on the storage of rainwater as part of its climate adaptation efforts. By increasing storage capacities and drainage areas for precipitation, the risk potential of heavy rain is significantly reduced.

The city of Hamm has already implemented and initiated several measures to make their city climate-resilient, including the construction of green roofs and facades, decoupling the drainage of precipitation from the sewerage system, de-sealing surfaces, and building underground storage tanks (rigoles), infiltration basins, or multifunctional areas. These measures not only improve the city's resilience to extreme weather but also strengthen the natural water cycle and can be used for plant irrigation or cooling the air temperature.

The Ruhrkonferenz project "Klimaresiliente Region mit internationaler Strahlkraft" of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is being implemented under the umbrella of the Klima.Werk, with all water associations of the region participating since 2020. The initiative aims to invest around 250 million euros in the climate-resilient transformation by 2030, and 25 percent of the sealed surfaces are planned to be decoupled, with the evaporation rate increased by 10 percentage points in designated areas.

For more information about the Klima.Werk, including project funding, visit www.klima-werk.de. The Environmental Agency's contact information for the Klima.Werk can be found at Mrs. Großmaas, Gustav-Heinemann-Straße 10, 59065 Hamm.

As the network grows, the Klima.Werk's declaration states that municipalities commit to considering the formulated goals and measures for climate adaptation in their municipal land-use planning. With the city of Hamm joining the network, the Future Initiative Climate.Work has grown, marking a significant step towards a climate-resilient Emscher-Lippe region.