Rhine-Ruhr


The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest metropolitan region in Germany with over 10 million inhabitants. A conurbation with multiple major urban concentrations, the region covers an area of, entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region spreads from Dortmund-Bochum-Essen-Duisburg in the north, to the urban areas of the cities of Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf, Wuppertal, Leverkusen, Cologne, 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 the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.
The metropolitan area is named after the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, which are the region's defining geographical features and historically its economic backbone.

Subdivisions

The largest cities in the Rhine-Ruhr area are Cologne, with over 1 million inhabitants, followed by Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen, which each have a population of over 500,000.
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 summary of regions. In the official definition the metropolitan area is much smaller.
Regionmajor citiesareapopulation
Ruhr Metropolitan Region4,435 km25,172,745
Dortmund280 km2581,308
Essen210 km2576,259
Duisburg233 km2491,931
Bochum145 km2385,626
Gelsenkirchen233 km2268,102
Oberhausen77 km2212,568
Düsseldorf Metropolitan Region2,404 km22,944,700
Düsseldorf217 km2586,217
Neuss99 km2151,280
Mönchengladbach170 km2258,251
Wuppertal168 km2351,050
Cologne / Bonn Metropolitan Region2,920 km22,818,178
Cologne405 km21,000,298
Bonn141 km2319,841
Leverkusen79 km2160,819
Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region9,759 km210,935,623

Eurostat's Urban Audit splits the Rhine-Ruhr region into six Larger Urban Zones. These six Urban Zones do not cover the cities of Remscheid and Solingen nor the district of Rhein-Kreis Neuss.
Larger Urban Zonemajor citiesareapopulation
Ruhr Larger Urban Zone4,434 km25,172,745
Dortmund280 km2581,308
Essen210 km2576,259
Duisburg233 km2491,931
Düsseldorf Larger Urban Zone1,200 km21,525,774
Düsseldorf217 km2586,217
Neuss99 km2151,280
Ratingen67 km291,306
Mönchengladbach Larger Urban Zone170 km2258,251
Mönchengladbach170 km2258,251
Wuppertal Larger Urban Zone168 km2351,050
Wuppertal168 km2351,050
Cologne Larger Urban Zone1,627 km21,899,930
Cologne405 km21,000,298
Bonn Larger Urban Zone1,295 km2918,248
Bonn141 km2319,841
Rhine-Ruhr Region8,894 km210,125,998

Economy

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 2nd largest GDP of metropolitan area in the European Union. Despite this size, the Rhine-Ruhr region as a whole often lacks international competitiveness because it lacks a unified presentation. Cities and urban areas within it often pursue separate investment policies against each other.
From within, Düsseldorf, Essen and Cologne are by far the largest economic centers, with specialisation in financial/high tech and insurance/multi media services respectively. Other major economic centers are Bonn and Dortmund. The region is home to twelve Fortune Global 500 companies, among them E.ON AG, Essen, 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, Hochtief AG, Essen and the Henkel Group, Düsseldorf.

Climate

The Rhine-Ruhr area's climate is characterized by having the warmest winters in Germany, especially its western part at the Lower Rhine area. Classified by Köppen-Geiger climate classification to be oceanic.

Transportation

Air

The area has four international commercial airports, and multiple smaller aerodromes for general aviation.
AirportIATA codeICAO codeannual passenger traffic
Düsseldorf AirportDUSEDDL25.51 Mio.
Cologne Bonn AirportCGNEDDK12.39 Mio.
Dortmund AirportDTMEDLW2.72 Mio.
Weeze AirportNRNEDLV1.23 Mio.

Road

North Rhine-Westphalia has the densest network of Autobahns in Germany.

Public transport

The rail, S-Bahn, U-Bahn and bus companies are administered through a consortium of local and regional transport lines, the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr. It offers a rapid transit system which interconnects all cities and their respective local buses, trams, U- and S-Bahn systems, partly under the umbrella of Deutsche Bahn. Their systems are highly integrated where even some subway lines continue from one city to the next. The region is divided into several urban zones and fares are paid according to the amount of urban areas passed through. Tickets include door to door transportation with all forms covered in one ticket with the exception of high speed rail. Some excursions, theatre and opera tickets as well as museums offer free transportation from any point in the Rhine Ruhr area to the venue and return.

Waterways

and Dortmund Port are large industrial inland ports and serve as hubs along the Rhine and the German inland water transport system.

Tourism

Events

The region is host to numerous large events, comprising fun fairs and cultural events like the Cologne and Düsseldorf carnivals, the Cologne Comedy Festival, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, and the RuhrTriennale, as well as gamescom and other trade fairs at koelnmesse—Cologne Trade Fair and Messe Düsseldorf; and Essen Motor Show in Essen. With a capacity of up to 20,000 people, the Lanxess Arena and Westfalenhallen are amongst the largest indoor arenas in Germany.
The region is home to a total of 13 Bundesliga football clubs, of which five are active in the season of 2017–18. The most successful among them are Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1. FC Köln, FC Schalke 04 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The Revierderby is the rivalry between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04, one of the most significant in German football. Signal Iduna Park, the stadium of Borussia Dortmund, is the biggest stadium in Germany. The area has planned to bid for 2032 Summer Olympics.

Landmarks

Several tourist destinations within the region attract over 12 million tourists per year. Cologne Cathedral, Augustusburg and Falkenlust Palaces at Brühl and the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex at Essen are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Other sights include Schloss Benrath in Düsseldorf and several anchor points of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

Museums

, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Museum Koenig, Museum Ludwig, Romano-Germanic Museum, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Neanderthal Museum, Museum Folkwang, Museum Ostwall, Lehmbruck Museum, German Mining Museum and Deutsches Museum Bonn are some of the most famous examples.

Education

The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is home to :Category:Universities and colleges in North Rhine-Westphalia|nine universities and over 30 partly postgraduate colleges, with a total of over 300.000 students. The largest and oldest university is the University of Cologne , 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, each with more than 100,000 inhabitants, and 11 districts, 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.