Re-Location: Urban and architectural analysis of resettlement practices in the brown coal mining area of Welzow-Süd in East Germany

Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) Cottbus-Senftenberg, Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Urban Planning, Chair of History of Architecture, DFG Research Training Group 1913, “Cultural and Technological Significance of Historic Buildings”, 03013 Cottbus, Germany

Corresponding author: julia.ess@b-tu.de

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 20^th century, more than 370 villages with a total amount of about 120,000 inhabitants have been relocated in Germany due to open-pit lignite mining. The devastation of villages and resettlement of their inhabitants had and still have massive implications on the rural landscape and settlement structure of the region. The planning of the relocations reflects, to a great extent, social, economic, and political change in post-war Germany, as well as development in town planning and architectural concepts. The paper focuses on there settlements that took place due to the surface mine of Welzow-Süd (Lusatia, southern Brandenburg), where the development of the resettlement practices of the GDR since the late 1960s and after reunification up until today can be studied in one single open-pit mine.