It was a coal mining region, blanketed in rolling hills and fall foliage, gray skies, and a history of back-breaking labor in mines and mills. Traveling to the Ruhr Region in Germany, I find that I am home without even speaking the native language.

Like the Ohio Valley, the Ruhr Region in Germany has been ravaged by coal mining and steel production. What was once one of the most economically advanced regions in the world has transitioned from booming industry into a rust belt. Situated on the Rhone River, this is the largest metropolitan region in Germany with about 5 million people consisting of the cities Essen, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, and Duisburg.

Coal mining began here in the early 1200s, and it quickly developed to one of the most prosperous regions in Europe and the world because of its industrial influence. Like our valley, their people and their heritage were chiseled by the resources lying below their land.

The last coal mine in Germany stopped its production in 2018. This was before the threat to natural resources as a result of the war in Ukraine and before a global pandemic. Despite the natural resource industry plateauing in this region, it continues developing and becoming a new hub for technology.

Still, we in West Virginia do not see the same advancements as a center for technology. We do not have the same opportunity to transition because we are stuck in the center of our own “Rust Belt.”

In West Virginia, this industry is tradition — our history and our future. Yet, as I contemplate the impact it has made on our home, we have a unique set of struggles foreign to other places in the U.S. and the world. Our people grapple with substance abuse and extreme poverty. Where places like the Ruhr have shopping streets littered with designer brands, massive stadiums for popular soccer teams, and a public train system that connects these cities to one another, we in the Valley do not.

But that is not to say we cannot also see great advancements in our community as well. The Ruhr region has worked closely within their cities to create spaces for people to live comfortable lives. In West Virginia, we have the opportunity to do the same. Beyond the coal and steel that comes from our region’s land, we can continue to move forward and find solutions for the problems that continue to set back our communities. By working on a local level within our towns and cities in the Valley, we can continue moving toward a place of economic and social prosperity. For our area that was once the Gateway to the West, we can once again move forward in reaching new solutions for our families, our communities, and our future using places like the Ruhr as a case study for our own urban renewal.

Alex Behm of Glen Dale is a Linsly graduate and a junior at Haverford College in Philadelphia. She penned this piece from Copenhagen, Denmark where she is spending a semester abroad studying Urban Development and Design. She visited the Ruhr region in Germany during her travels.