| Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr |
|
|---|---|
| The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region according to the LEP NRW, 1995 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | North Rhine-Westphalia
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| Largest Cities | Cologne Düsseldorf Dortmund Essen Duisburg Bochum |
| Area | |
| • Metro | 7,110 km2 (2,745.2 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 494 m (1,621 ft) |
| Lowest elevation | 20 m (66 ft) |
| Population [1][2] | |
| • Metro | 11,316,429 inhab. |
| • Metro density | 1,422/km2 (3,684/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| GRP | 2004 |
| Nominal | €330.9 billion (3rd in EU) |
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (German: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany with about 10,100,000 inhabitants. It is of polycentric nature and the only megacity in Germany. It covers an area of 7,110 square kilometers and lies entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region spreads from Dortmund-Bochum-Essen-Duisburg (Ruhr Area) in the north, to the urban areas of the cities of Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf (the state capital), Wuppertal, Cologne (the region's largest and Germany's fourth largest city), and Bonn in the south. The location of the Rhine-Ruhr at the heart of the European "blue banana" makes it well connected to other major European cities and metropolitan areas like Amsterdam and the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Region.
The metropolitan area is named after the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, which are the regions's defining geographical features and historically its economic backbone.
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There are many different sub-definitions of what belongs to the Rhine-Ruhr area, but the metropolitan area itself has officially defined borders with Hamm in the east, Mönchengladbach in the west and Bonn in the south and the small city Wesel as its northernmost point. The northern border is similar to the border of the Ruhr Area.
The table below shows an unofficial summation of regions. In the official definition the metropolitan area is much smaller.
| Region | major cities | area | population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruhr Metropolitan Region[3] | 4,435 km² | 5,172,745 | |
| Dortmund | 280 km² | 581,308 | |
| Essen | 210 km² | 576,259 | |
| Duisburg | 233 km² | 491,931 | |
| Düsseldorf Metropolitan Region | 2,404 km² | 2,944,700 | |
| Düsseldorf | 217 km² | 586,217 | |
| Neuss | 99 km² | 151,280 | |
| Mönchengladbach | 170 km² | 258,251 | |
| Wuppertal | 168 km² | 351,050 | |
| Cologne/Bonn Metropolitan Region[4] | 2,920 km² | 2,818,178 | |
| Cologne | 405 km² | 1,000,298 | |
| Bonn | 141 km² | 319,841 | |
| Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region | 9,759 km² | 10,935,623 |
Eurostat's Urban Audit splits the Rhine-Ruhr region into six Larger Urban Zones (LUZ). These six Urban Zones do not cover the cities of Remscheid and Solingen nor the district of Rhein-Kreis Neuss.
| Larger Urban Zone | major cities | area | population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruhr Larger Urban Zone[5][6] | 4,434 km² | 5,172,745 | |
| Dortmund | 280 km² | 581,308 | |
| Essen | 210 km² | 576,259 | |
| Duisburg | 233 km² | 491,931 | |
| Düsseldorf Larger Urban Zone[7][8] | 1,200 km² | 1,525,774 | |
| Düsseldorf | 217 km² | 586,217 | |
| Neuss | 99 km² | 151,280 | |
| Ratingen | 67 km² | 91,306 | |
| Mönchengladbach Larger Urban Zone[9][10] | 170 km² | 258,251 | |
| Mönchengladbach | 170 km² | 258,251 | |
| Wuppertal Larger Urban Zone[11][12] | 168 km² | 351,050 | |
| Wuppertal | 168 km² | 351,050 | |
| Cologne Larger Urban Zone[13][14] | 1,627 km² | 1,899,930 | |
| Cologne | 405 km² | 1,000,298 | |
| Bonn Larger Urban Zone[15][16] | 1,295 km² | 918,248 | |
| Bonn | 141 km² | 319,841 | |
| Rhine-Ruhr Region | 8,894 km² | 10,125,998 |
Bochum, Bottrop, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Hamm, Herne, Iserlohn, Recklinghausen, Witten
Duisburg, Moers, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Oberhausen
Bergisch Gladbach, Remscheid, Solingen, Wuppertal
Bonn, Krefeld, Leverkusen, Mönchengladbach, Moers, Neuss
Historically, most of the Ruhr area was for the most part characterized by heavy industry since the age of industrialisation in the late 19th and early 20th century. Since the Middle Ages, Cologne, Dortmund and other cities were important regional trading cities, but during the 19th century the city of Düsseldorf grew to become the administrative center of the region and since 1945 its political capital.
Today, the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region accounts for roughly 15% of the GDP of the German economy, which would place it as the 3rd largest GRP of metropolitan area in the European Union and the 16th largest GDP in the world. Despite this size, the Rhine-Ruhr region often lacks international competitiveness from the lack of a unified presentation, in which cities and urban areas within it, often pursue a separate investment policy against each other.[17]
From within, Düsseldorf and Cologne are by far the largest economic centers,[18] with specialisation in financial/high tech and insurance/multi media services respectively. Other major economic centers are Bonn, Dortmund and Essen. The region is home to twelve[19] Fortune Global 500 companies, among them E.ON AG, Düsseldorf, Deutsche Post AG, Bonn, Metro AG, Düsseldorf, Deutsche Telekom AG, Bonn, ThyssenKrupp AG, Essen/Duisburg, RWE AG, Essen, Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, Duisburg, Evonik Industries, Essen, Arcandor AG, Essen, Hochtief AG, Essen and the Henkel Group, Düsseldorf.
The metro area boasts the two international airports of Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf International and several regional/national airports like Dortmund Airport, Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach Airport and Weeze Airport. The city of Cologne is also connected to Frankfurt Airport via the 1 hour Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line.
| Airport | IATA code | ICAO code | annual passenger traffic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Düsseldorf International Airport | DUS | EDDL | 18,98 Mio. (2010) |
| Cologne Bonn Airport | CGN | EDDK | 10,35 Mio. (2008)[20] |
| Dortmund Airport | DTM | EDLW | 2,30 Mio. (2008) |
North Rhine-Westphalia has the densest network of Autobahns in Germany and the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr is the region's rapid transit system which interconnects all cities and their respective local U- and S-Bahn systems (Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn).
Duisburg Port (Duisport) and Dortmund Port are large industrial inland ports and serve as hubs along the Rhine and the German inland water transport system.
The region is host to numerous mega events, comprising fun fairs and cultural events like the Cologne and Düsseldorf carnivals, the Cologne Comedy Festival, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, the RuhrTriennale and the Cologne Gay Pride, as well as trade fairs at koelnmesse - Cologne Trade Fair and Messe Düsseldorf. With a capacity of up to 20,000 people, Kölnarena and Westfalenhallen belong to the largest indoor arenas in Germany.
The region is home to eight Fußball-Bundesliga clubs, the most successful among them are Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1. FC Köln, FC Schalke 04 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Several tourist destinations within the region attract over 12 million tourists per year; Cologne Cathedral over six million alone. Other major attractions are the Augustusburg and Falkenlust Palaces between Cologne and Bonn and Schloss Benrath near Düsseldorf, as well as the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex and other sights of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.
NRW Forum, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Museum Koenig, Museum Ludwig, Romano-Germanic Museum, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Neanderthal Museum and Deutsches Museum Bonn are some of the most famous examples.
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is home to nine universities and over 30 partly postgraduate colleges, with a total of over 300.000 students. Largest and oldest university is the University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln), originally founded in 1388 AD. Other universities include:
The following register lists all municipalities that officially belong to Rhine-Ruhr area. Demographically, these municipalities include 20 cities (German: ″Kreisfreie Städte″), each with more than 100,000 inhabitants, and 11 districts (German: "Kreis"), each with a population of more than 250,000 inhabitants. Some districts only belong partly to Rhine-Ruhr area. In such a case only the municipalities that belong to the metro area are listed.
| Cities independent of a Kreis | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Municipality | Inhabitants 31. December 2009[2] |
Surface km² |
Inhabitants per/ km² |
| Bochum (BO) | 376.319 | 145,44 | 2,587.45 |
| Bonn (BN) | 319.841 | 141,22 | 2,264.84 |
| Bottrop (BOT) | 117.241 | 100,61 | 1,165.3 |
| Dortmund (DO) | 581.308 | 280,39 | 2,073.21 |
| Duisburg (DU) | 491.931 | 232,81 | 2,113.01 |
| Düsseldorf (D) | 586.217 | 217,01 | 2,701.34 |
| Essen (E) | 576.259 | 210,38 | 2,739.13 |
| Gelsenkirchen (GE) | 259.744 | 104,86 | 2,477.06 |
| Hagen (HA) | 190.121 | 160,36 | 1,185.59 |
| Hamm (HAM) | 181.741 | 226,26 | 803.24 |
| Herne (HER) | 165.632 | 51,41 | 3,221.79 |
| Köln (K) | 998.105 | 405,15 | 2,463.54 |
| Krefeld (KR) | 235.414 | 137,76 | 1,708.87 |
| Leverkusen (LEV) | 160.593 | 78,85 | 2,036.69 |
| Mönchengladbach (MG) | 258.251 | 170,45 | 1,515.11 |
| Mülheim an der Ruhr (MH) | 167.471 | 91,29 | 1,834.49 |
| Oberhausen (OB) | 214.024 | 77,04 | 2,778.09 |
| Remscheid (RS) | 111.422 | 74,60 | 1,493.59 |
| Solingen (SG) | 160.992 | 89,46 | 1,799.6 |
| Wuppertal (W) | 351.050 | 168,39 | 2,084.74 |
| total/average | 6.503.676 | 3.163,74 | 2,055.69 |
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