Essen: Germany’s ‘ugly duckling’ city success Jochen Tack Essen: Germany's 'ugly duckling' city success Thanks to an innovative approach, the German city has catapulted from an industrial wasteland to one of Europe's greenest cities. "Green urban development has acted as a driving force in Essen over the last decade," explained Simone Raskob, who helped oversee Essen's transformation through a mix …
BERLIN — The stench is gone and, slowly, the fish are returning to the Emscher, a river through western Germany’s industrial heartland that for decades was not just a blot on the landscape but officially deemed an open sewer. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz celebrated the river’s revival Thursday, hailing the 30-year effort to rewild the Emscher as an example of …
