Robert Schmidt and the public park policy in the Ruhr district, 1900-1930

The precocious development of German town planning led to the early move towards open space planning at the turn of the century. Progress in Berlin is accompanied by opportunities in the Ruhr which, in connection with the growth of regional co-operation and government, produced rapid results after about 1900. Robert Schmidt, an Essen city councillor between 1907 and 1920, led the region in theory and practice and laid the foundations for regional government from the 1920s.