Interview with Dan Biancalana, Mayor ot the municipality of Dudelange

“A town with strong local roots.”
Tell us more about Dudelange

DAN BIANCALANA:
Dudelange has 21, 650 inhabitants of 110 different nationalities and is home to some 200 organizations. It is a town with strong local roots, very much focused on culture for the last 30 years, but it’s also sports-loving and surrounded by nature.

What is your vision for Dudelange between now and 2030?
Located between the districts of Italy and Schmelz, the new Neischmelz district will emerge in a few years 1,500 homes. It is being built on a 40-hectare former industrial land and represents a development opportunity for the city. It will of course be a carbon neutral eco-neighborhood with a focus on the circular economy and eco housing. Soft mobility is becoming more and more common across the municipality, and we are also continuing to modernize our city center, which is being transformed in phases and is about to become a “shared space”.

What are your three highlights from the Esch2022 programme?

1. DKollage, utopie(s) possible(s)
Launched by members of the DKollektiv, this project invites residents to imagine the future of the VEWA building (which housed the old cloakrooms and cargo hall of the former steel factory in Dudelange).
Interactive Workshops open to all. Info on DKollektiv

2.Usina22
Dudelange is organising a major music festival on June 11 and 12, 2022. US band Kings of Leon will be the headline act!
More information on www.esch2022.lu

3.Re-Retour de Babel
An exhibition made of a compilation of testimonials by children and grandchildren of immigrants through which the theme of migration is approached from a human and personal point of view. This show revisits the exhibition and research carried out during the European Capital of Culture in 2007.

Exhibition in the Nei Liicht and Dominique Lang Art Centres 17.09 – 11.12

Dan Biancalana likes to work out and recharge his batteries in the municipality’s forests.

©Mike Zenari for Maison Moderne