Frankfurt Rhine-Main Explained

Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region
Native Name:Rhein-Main-Gebiet
Mapsize:200px
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Germany
Subdivision Type1:States
Subdivision Name1:

----

Government Footnotes:[1]
Government Type:Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Conurbation Planning Association
Leader Party:CDU
Leader Title:Verbandsdirektor
Leader Name:Thomas Horn
Established Date:1 April 2001
Subdivision Type3:Largest cities
Subdivision Name3:Frankfurt am Main
Wiesbaden
Mainz
Darmstadt
Population Metro:5808518
Area Metro Km2:14800
Population As Of:2019
Population Footnotes:[2]
Population Density Metro Km2:auto
Demographics Type2:GDP
Demographics2 Footnotes:[3]
Demographics2 Title1:Metro
Demographics2 Info1:€300.868 billion (2021)
Timezone:CET
Utc Offset:+1
Website:Planungsverband.de

The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: Rhein-Main-Gebiet or Frankfurt/Rhein-Main, abbreviated FRM), is the second-largest metropolitan region in Germany after Rhine-Ruhr, with a total population exceeding 5.8 million. The metropolitan region is located in the central-western part of Germany, and stretches over parts of three German states: Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Bavaria. The largest cities in the region are Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Darmstadt, Offenbach, Worms, Hanau, and Aschaffenburg.

The polycentric region is named after its core city, Frankfurt, and the two rivers Rhine and Main. The Frankfurt Rhine-Main area is officially designated as a European Metropolitan region by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs and covers an area of roughly 13000km2.

The region is the 4th biggest by GDP in the European Union.

Subdivisions

Although Rhine-Main is considered to be a polycentric metropolitan region, the economic size and political weight of the city of Frankfurt sets it into a very monocentric relation with her commuter belt. Since the early 1970s, the Frankfurt am Main metropolitan area (German: Ballungsraum Frankfurt/Rhein-Main) is defined as the area encompassing the cities of Frankfurt and Offenbach and their directly neighboring districts.

The Regierungsbezirk Darmstadt of the state of Hesse could be seen as the next administrative division, for it lies entirely within the metropolitan region and further includes the cities of Darmstadt and Wiesbaden along with a number of larger districts. Only on a level further, the metropolitan region also includes the cities and districts of Mainz and Aschaffenburg in the two adjoining federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Bavaria.[4]

Metropolitan region and larger urban zones

Eurostat's 'Urban Audit' splits the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region into four Larger Urban Zones (LUZ). These zones do exclude a number of districts in the metropolitan area.

Urban zoneMajor citiesPopulationArea
Frankfurt am Main urban zone[5] 2,729,5624,305 km2
Frankfurt am Main773,068248 km2
Offenbach am Main134,17045 km2
Wiesbaden urban zone462,0981,015 km2
Wiesbaden283,083204 km2
Darmstadt urban zone439,084781 km2
Darmstadt162,243 122 km2
Mainz urban zone403,849704 km2
Mainz218,57898 km2
Rhine-Main5,808,51814,755 km2

Cities and districts

valign=bottom class="unsortable" Picturevalign=bottom City or district valign=bottom Areavalign=bottom Population
248 km2750,000
45 km2118,245
356 km2337,986
1,397 km2411,956
122 km2142,191
482 km2233,427
122 km2142,191
122 km2142,191
Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg659 km2289,102
453 km2253,502
204 km2275,489
98 km2196,784
Subtotal Hesse 7,445 km23,778,689
Mainz98 km2196,784
606 km2201,451
109 km281,784
- 588 km2124,758
SubtotalRhineland-Palatinate 1405 km2604,777
63 km268,646
- 699 km2173,946
716 km2130,009
SubtotalBavaria 1,478 km2372,601
TotalFrankfurt Rhine-Main metropolitan region 14,800 km2 5,800,000

Economy

With its central location in southwestern Germany, the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region has been an important industrial and transport center since industrialization began in the mid-19th century. The region is a major financial center of both Germany and Europe, with the European Central Bank headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. In 2018, about 7.9% of Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) was generated in the region, as well as over three-fourths of the state of Hesse's GDP.[6]

In addition to banking and finance, the chemical industry has had a long established presence in the metropolitan region, with the Industriepark Höchst (Höchst Industrial Park) in the southwestern outskirts of Frankfurt am Main being one of the largest industrial parks in Germany and host to over 90 chemical and pharmaceutical firms. The automobile, construction, and real estate sectors also contribute to a significant sector of the regional economy, with the latter two accounting for 18% of the GDP.[7] Darmstadt and Wiesbaden are the site of headquarters and major offices for insurance firms.

Geographically situated in the middle of the European continent, Frankfurt Rhine-Main is one of the largest logistics hubs in the world, with major connections provided by Frankfurt Airport, Germany's and one of the world's busiest air hubs, and an extensive road and rail system. The Frankfurter Kreuz and Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof are among the busiest road and rail interchanges in Europe respectively. Other major rail stations include Mainz, Frankfurt Süd, and Frankfurt Airport.

Transport

The growth of the area is chiefly to be traced to the favorable communications that promoted an early industrialization. Today, however, the importance of industrial concerns has to a great extent been replaced by banking, trade and logistics. Frankfurt lies within the populous Blue Banana region of Europe, which here runs along the Rhine valley, and the city is also a stepping stone from and to various parts of Switzerland and Southern Germany. The Rhine-Ruhr is accessible via a one-hour trip on the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line, and the air route Frankfurt–Berlin is the busiest in German domestic air travel.

Frankfurt Airport is the busiest airport by passenger traffic in Germany and one of the three busiest airports in Europe. Thereby, along with a strong railway connection, the area also serves as a major transportation hub.

Education

The Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region is home to five universities and over 20 partly postgraduate colleges, with a total of over 200,000 students. The region's three public research universities, the

make up the Rhine Main Universities alliance. Private universities in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region are

Notable colleges and universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen) include:

See also

References

  1. Web site: Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain / . Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain . planungsverband.de.
  2. Web site: Statistik-Viewer Metropolregion. 2020-12-31. 2019-12-31.
  3. Web site: Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) in den Metropolregionen* in Deutschland im Jahr 2021. de.
  4. Book: Adams . Tracy . The Life and Afterlife of Isabeau of Bavaria . 2010 . Johns Hopkins University Press . . 978-1-4214-2799-7 .
  5. http://www.region-frankfurt.de/Regionalverband/Region-in-Zahlen?&La=1 Die Region Frankfurt Rhein-Main in Zahlen und Fakten
  6. Web site: Frankfurt Rhein-Main in Zahlen. Frankfurt Rhein-Main in Figures. IHK Frankfurt am Main. (in German)
  7. http://www.frankfurt-main.ihk.de/standortpolitik/metropolregion/zahlen_fakten/immobilienstudie/ Bau- und Immobilienstudie (Construction and Real Estate Study)

External links

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