The Muskau Bend: Mining Space from Different Perspectives

Abstract

The article analyses and assesses the phenomena and problems of the Muskau Bend – the Polish-German mining space, specific for natural and cultural conditions, and diversification in terms of the state of mining, as well as the directions of transformation and exploitation of elements resulting from the mining activity. The article is based on the author’s field research carried out in 2013 and 2016, within the framework of the activity conducted at the Institute of City and Regional Design, at the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology. The way of thinking is conducted in three main directions: from the German, Polish and cross-border perspective, which serves to emphasise the distinctness of processes characteristic of the Muskau Bend areas located in Germany and Poland, but at the same time within the borders of the European Union. Such an approach to the subject provokes discussion about the present development and the future role of the Muskau Bend as a space connecting two neighbouring countries, where Poland and Germany function in a specific symbiosis, at the same time being markedly distinctive. The conclusions drawn can be useful both for the Muskau Bend itself, and for other mining and post-mining regions of a crossborder nature.