In order to offset the loss of jobs and economic power associated with the closure of the mine as quickly as possible, RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH – formerly Montan-Grundstücksgesellschaft mbH (MGG) – together with the city of Herten founded the "Project Association Ewald" in 1999, while the mine was still in operation. The goal was the economic revitalization of the approximately 52-hectare site and the creation of at least 1,000 new jobs.
The two project partners opted for the "Impulsgeber Dienstleistung" concept for their subsequent use planning. This envisioned the areas of services, education, small-scale and large-scale businesses, including a marketplace as a meeting place for the newly settled entrepreneurs and their customers. The redesign of the site was based on a 2002 design by architects Cino Zucchi, Martin Halfmann, and Peter Köster. A defining element of the redevelopment is the historic layer, featuring several listed mine buildings and the old shaft scaffolding, visible from afar as "lighthouses." This area is connected to the newly designed Ewald Promenade via a system of squares and paths, which stretches across the entire site from south to north, parallel to the near-natural drainage canal, the Blue Ribbon. The integration of the site into the 750-hectare Hoheward Landscape Park (formerly Emscherbruch Landscape Park) was also considered in the design.