German garden show culture dates back to the 19th century and has a rich tradition. Over the course of time, garden shows have evolved and changed, so that today we can look back on a large number of different garden shows. This thesis dealt with the question of the current impact of state and federal garden shows, in particular garden shows in the Rhine/Ruhr region, which have taken place on industrial and commercial wasteland.

The aim of this work was to use four selected examples in North Rhine-Westphalia to show whether and what impact garden shows have on urban and regional development. With the objective of the state garden show in Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1992, the direction of state garden shows in North Rhine-Westphalia has changed. The focus is no longer on the show, but on changing the cityscape and thus eliminating urban planning deficiencies. By comparing the objectives and effects of the state garden shows in Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1992, Oberhausen in 1999, Leverkusen in 2005 and the Federal Garden Show in Gelsenkirchen in 1997, the aim of this study was to examine whether the garden shows had and still have an impact on the respective urban developments and whether regional effects are even recognizable. The effects of the individual garden shows were assessed by means of the objectives of the individual garden shows, in which the question of the implementation of the individual objectives was asked. The objectives and impacts of the sample garden shows were then compared with generally formulated objectives and indicators for garden shows in order to highlight what garden shows are capable of achieving.

The generally formulated objectives and indicators are subjective and relate to an understanding of planning and sustainable urban development, as well as a publication by Feser from 2000 on the potential of regional garden shows for urban development. They were able to show what can be achieved through the use of garden shows.
As the selected examples are only indirectly comparable with each other due to their different framework conditions, there could be no direct comparison between the cities. The comparison with the general objectives and indicators is intended to find out whether similar objectives can be achieved even in different starting situations.

Editing:
Anna Hoffmann

Submission:
2006