Bottrop, DE

The City of Bottrop is situated in the western part of Germany and has a population of approximatively 117.000 inhabitants. The municipality is part of the Ruhr area, one of the largest metropolitan areas in Western Europe, which has been the center of European steal and coal industry of the 20thcentury. Due to the gradual decline of the mining sector over the recent decades, Bottrop has undergone a huge physical transformation with large areas of the City being regenerated. This has enabled the City to become a regionally recognized location for leisure, business and living as well as sustainable urban development.

In 2010 the City was chosen by the Initiativkreis Ruhr, an affiliation of about 70 leading companies in the Ruhr area, to become “InnovationCity Ruhr | Model City Bottrop”. In this process, a complete district of the city with a population of about 70,000 will be turned into a model district for energy efficiency by 2020. The objective of this project is to reduce CO2 emissions by half while increasing the quality of living in the city. The project integrates all aspects of city life – living, working, energy, mobility and urban structure - and has considerably accelerated the transformation of the city. The process also aims to reduce goods and passenger traffic by using an enhanced traffic management system and promoting low-carbon transport solutions.

In April 2014 the Council of the City of Bottrop adopted the Master Plan “Climate-friendly Urban Restructuring” including six overall objectives for the City:

• To set an example for climate protection;
• To increase the quality of living;
• To conduct a bottom-up energy transition taking into account all citizens;
• To increase innovation and economic success;
• To increase diversity and individual opportunities;
• To adapt the City to a changing climate and to initiate a profound transformation process addressing individual behaviours.

Additionally, the City of Bottrop is active in local and international networks such as the Covenant of Mayors and Morgenstadt Netzwerk and has already participated in several initiatives in the energy efficiency field including the European Energy Award and KlimaExpo NRW.

In the SINFONIA project, the city of Bottrop aims to exchange views on innovative technical and financially feasible solutions for refurbishment and district level energy supply while learning more about innovative financial products to support refurbishment projects.