Harburg, Hamburg


Harburg is a borough of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It is also the name of a quarter in this borough, which used to be the capital of the district in Lower Saxony. The borough of Harburg lies on the southern banks of the river Elbe and covers parts of the port of Hamburg as well as residential and rural areas. It had a population of 163,771 as of 2016.

History

Main article: History of Harburg upon Elbe
Until 1937 Harburg belonged to the Prussian Province of Hanover, where it served as the capital of the Harburg district. In 1927 it was merged with the nearby city of Wilhelmsburg to form the city of Harburg-Wilhelmsburg. Following the Greater Hamburg Act, Harburg was incorporated into the city of Hamburg along with several other independent cities such as Altona. Despite its incorporation into Hamburg, Harburg continued to be the capital of the Hanoverian district of Harburg. In 1944, the district capital was moved to Winsen upon Luhe.
On 1 January 2007 the Ortsämter were dissolved and the organisation of all boroughs of Hamburg was restructured. Previously the quarters of Eißendorf, Gut Moor, Harburg, Heimfeld, Langenbek, Marmstorf, Neuland, Rönneburg, Sinstorf and Wilstorf had belonged to the Kerngebiet Harburg, while the quarters of Altenwerder, Cranz, Francop, Hausbruch, Moorburg, Neuenfelde and Neugraben-Fischbek had belonged to the precinct Süderelbe.
On 1 March 2008 Harburg's quarter Wilhelmsburg was transferred to the borough Hamburg-Mitte in keeping with civic law.

Geography

As of 2006, according to the statistical office of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, the borough of Harburg has a total area of 160.6 km², while the Harburg quarter has an area of 3.9 km².

Administrative divisions

Along with the other boroughs of Hamburg, Harburg is divided into quarters:
In 2006 there were 201,119 inhabitants in the borough. The population density was 1,253 people per km². 18.9% were children under the age of 18, and 18.7% were 65 years of age or older. 20.1% were resident aliens. 12,785 people were registered as unemployed. In 1999 there were 94,273 households, of which 23.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them and 40% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.11.
Population by year
1987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999
182,512183,710187,244190,623192,546195,423196,541196,931197,535197,710197,383195,873195,830

In 2006 there were 24,900 criminal offences in the borough.
These numbers include the Harburg quarter.

Diet of the borough

Simultaneously with elections to the state parliament, the 51-member Bezirksversammlung is elected to represent the citizens. See also: Boroughs of Hamburg

Elections

Elections were held in Hamburg on 24 February 2008. The five parties having more than 5 percent in recent polls are the conservative CDU, the social-democratic SPD, the ecologist Green Party, the left-wing Die Linke and liberal Free Democratic Party. The voter participation was 54.6%.
PartyPercentSeats
CDU4021
SPD35.818
GAL10.15
Die Linke8.14
FDP63

Education

The borough has 32 elementary schools and 26 secondary schools ; 3 elementary schools and 4 secondary schools are situated in the Harburg quarter.
The Hamburg University of Technology is internationally renowned for its engineering faculties.

Infrastructure

Health systems

There were 316 physicians in private practice and 48 pharmacies in 2006.

Transportation

The borough and the quarter are served by the Hamburg S-Bahn rapid transit network which serves several stations. The Hamburg-Harburg railway station is a significant rail hub in the city at which long-distance trains also stop.
According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, there were 69,262 private cars registered in the borough as of 2006.