Furniture Design Ideas

The naturalness of abandoned industrial land manifests itself in the spon­taneous regeneration and undisturbed development of vegetation over the course of many successive stages up to woodland. The variety of the vege­tation of these woodlands is increased by seasonal changes. Moreover the massive, diverse interventions of industry have had a profound effect on the forms […]

Even in 1969, social geographers in Germany (Ruppert and Schaffer 1969) believed that easily accessible recreational areas close to a town were more important than the outdoor recreation during a year’s holiday (Fliedner 1993). The suitability of open spaces and landscapes for recreation has since been analysed in many studies (e. g. Nohl 1981, 1984). […]

In an urban world widely governed by rules and prohibitions, the wild structures of abandoned industrial land do not only give children the feel­ing of freedom and adventure. Urban-industrial woodlands like the Rheinelbe area also attract adolescents. The category of “adolescents’ ac­tivities” in Table 1 summarises activities that teenagers typically pursue in unsupervised spaces. The […]

Pedagogues and developmental psychologists point out that “forbidden spaces” like abandoned industrial land are playing sites preferred by chil­dren (e. g. Nolda 1990; Gebhard 1994). They argue that these areas are as fascinating for children today as rubble sites were for post-war children. This “no man’s land” represents a “playable environment” (Bochnig and Mayer 1989) […]

This paper focuses on the question of how local people perceive, adapt and use the new nature that arises on abandoned industrial land, i. e. the rela­tionship between the individual and the place is the subject of the research. This approach is one of qualitative social research; in contrast to a hypo­thetical-deductive procedure, the research […]

Andreas Keil Institute of Geography and Didactics of Geography, University of Dort­mund Introduction In post-industrial landscapes, “new wild woodlands” emerge as a result of far-reaching structural changes to regions that were formerly dominated by heavy industry. In the German Ruhr area, this process started earlier and with a greater intensity than in other parts of […]

In the postal questionnaire the respondents were asked whether they felt that their local area was a good place to bring up children. The data from this question was transformed into a nominal (binary) variable with values 1 and 2, where 1 signified that the respondent’s local area was a good place to bring up […]

In the postal questionnaire the respondents were asked whether there were any places in their local area where they would feel unsafe alone, during the day time and after dark respectively. The data from these questions was converted in each case into a nominal (binary) variable where 1 was “yes” and 2 was “no” (denoting […]

In the postal questionnaire the respondents were asked to name up to three places that they particularly liked in their local area, not including their own home and garden. The respondents’ first named places were sorted into five categories, namely “green spaces”, “outdoor recreational spaces” (e. g. Birchwood Golf Club), “indoor recreational spaces” (e. g. […]

Selected results are reported and discussed in four separate sections of this paper, corresponding with the research issues or themes, namely aesthetic factors, cultural values and meanings, perception of personal safety and bringing up children and the perception of children’s safety. Aesthetic factors The postal questionnaire contained a number of questions about the visual appearance […]