The Rhine‐Ruhr metropolitan region: Reality and discourse

Abstract

The ‘Metropolitan Region Rhine‐Ruhr’ comprises ca. 11 million inhabitants, making it the biggest conurbation in Germany by far. The area covers the old‐industrialized ‘Ruhrgebiet’ (Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg), the service cities of the Rhine‐axis (Düsseldorf, Köln, Bonn) as well as some light‐industrial areas (Mönchengladbach, Wuppertal). However, this agglomeration has in the past only on occasion been recognized as a unit. There are hardly any thorough studies on its structure and internal interconnections. According to their own judgement the population primarily lives in single cities or even in certain parts of towns and cities. Politics and spatial planning in particular became interested in a developmental perspective for a ‘Metropolitan Region Phine‐Ruhr’ only a few years ago. This contribution addresses the problem in a two‐fold way. First, some characteristics of the region's structure and delimitation are described as well as the internal division of labour amongst the various towns and cities and the position of the region within the wider European framework. Secondly, the question of why in the past the region was only rarely regarded as a unit and why this is changing at the moment is looked into. In this context the recent changes within the central and federal slate planning framework is of particular importance. Both levels of discourse do not exist independently of each other: the academic discourse on the real structure and interconnections on the one hand and the political and planning discourse on the envisaged development of the region on the other. Some considerations on the conditions underlying the shift in discourse which led to the recognition of the Rhine‐Ruhr region as a metropolitan region conclude this paper.