What’s land recycling? Read about this German example

The city of Flensburg got a grant from the regional government of Schleswig-Holstein so that it would avoid building on new land

Urban development requires land, in fact, it often ends up in the so-called ‘land sealing’ effect unless we are talking about the creation of city parks and green areas. That’s where a concept called ‘land recycling’ can help with the emphasis on more careful management of terrains that had historically been used for construction by reusing them for that purpose as a priority.

The case in point is the small city of Flensburg in the north of Germany where the week began with the awarding of a 400,000-euro grant for land recycling. The money is provided by the regional government of the State of Schleswig-Holstein and covers 50% of the cost needed to prepare the ground of previously used land for new development. The other half will be covered by the municipality itself.

Relieving spatial pressure

The funding will go towards cleaning up the soil of a coastal land plot, which used to host maritime business depots, such as boat builders, sailmakers and the like. In 2021, a building complex in the Fahrensodde district on the east bank of the Flensburg fjord caught fire before it was due to be demolished.

It burned for 17 hours and now as a result, the subsoil contains munitions residues and toxic hydrocarbons. Next year, the soil will be sieved to a depth of two meters and the contaminated waste removed. And that’s what ‘land recycling’ is about.

"There would be a great fear that the land would lie fallow in the long term and not be used,” explained the State’s Environment Minister Tobias Goldschmidt, who presented the grant check to the mayor of Flensburg today.

Developers might have simply ceased and sealed more green fields which would result in less green areas and more unused lands.

The State of Schlewsig-Holstein has the ambition to become climate-neutral by 2040, well ahead of the German federal deadline.