Frankfurt Rhine-Main
Encyclopedia
The Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: Frankfurt/Rhein-Main, abbreviated FRM) is the second largest metropolitan region in Germany
, 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 federal states: Hesse
, Rhineland-Palatinate
and Bavaria
, as well as the cities of Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden
, Offenbach, Mainz
, Darmstadt
and Aschaffenburg
.
The polycentric region is named after its core city Frankfurt am Main 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 13000 square kilometres (5,019.3 sq mi).
metropolitan region, but 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 an 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, as it lies entirely within the metropolitan region and further includes the cities of Darmstadt
and Wiesbaden
and 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 adjoing federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate
and Bavaria
.
, which 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 International 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.
Notable colleges and universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen) include:
Metropolitan regions in Germany
The Metropolitan regions in Germany are eleven densely populated areas in the Federal Republic of Germany. They comprise the major German cities and their surrounding catchment areas and form the political, commercial and cultural centers of the country...
, 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 federal states: Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, as well as the cities of Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, Offenbach, Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
, Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
and Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg is a city in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat.Aschaffenburg is known as the Tor zum Spessart or "gate to the Spessart"...
.
The polycentric region is named after its core city Frankfurt am Main 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
Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development is a Ministry of Germany.It was created in 1998 by merger of the former Federal Ministry of Transport and the Federal Ministry of Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development, both established in 1949...
and covers an area of roughly 13000 square kilometres (5,019.3 sq mi).
Subdivisions
Rhine-Main is a polycentricPolycentrism
Polycentrism is the principle of organization of a region around several political, social or financial centres. Examples of polycentric cities include the Ruhr area in Germany, and Stoke-on-Trent in the UK. Today, the former is a large city that grew from a dozen smaller cities, the latter a...
metropolitan region, but 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 an area encompassing the cities of Frankfurt and Offenbach and their directly neighboring districts. The Regierungsbezirk Darmstadt of the state of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
could be seen as the next administrative division, as it lies entirely within the metropolitan region and further includes the cities of Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
and Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
and a number of larger districts. Only on a level further, the metropolitan region also includes the cities and districts of Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
and Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg is a city in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat.Aschaffenburg is known as the Tor zum Spessart or "gate to the Spessart"...
in the two adjoing federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
.
Metropolitan area/metropolitan region
| hierarchy of planning bodies | major cities | area | population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt am Main | 248 km² | 670,095 | |
| + Offenbach am Main | 45 km² | 118,245 | |
| Frankfurt am Main metropolitan area | 4,305 km² | 2,517,561 | |
| ↓ | + Wiesbaden Wiesbaden Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens... |
204 km² | 275,489 |
| + Darmstadt Darmstadt Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat... |
122 km² | 142,191 | |
| Regierungsbezirk Darmstadt | 7,445 km² | 3,778,689 | |
| ↓ | + Mainz Mainz Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire... |
98 km² | 196,784 |
| + Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg is a city in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat.Aschaffenburg is known as the Tor zum Spessart or "gate to the Spessart"... |
63 km² | 68,646 | |
| Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region | 14,800 km² | 5,800,000 |
Larger Urban Zones
Eurostat's Urban Audit splits the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region into four Larger Urban Zones (LUZ). These four Urban Zones do exclude a number of districts in the metropolitan area.| Larger Urban Zone | major cities | area | population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt am Main Larger Urban Zone | 4,305 km² | 2,517,561 | |
| Frankfurt am Main | 248 km² | 670,095 | |
| Offenbach am Main | 45 km² | 118,245 | |
| Wiesbaden Wiesbaden Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens... Larger Urban Zone |
1,015 km² | 459,633 | |
| Wiesbaden Wiesbaden Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens... |
204 km² | 275,489 | |
| Darmstadt Darmstadt Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat... Larger Urban Zone |
781 km² | 430,993 | |
| Darmstadt Darmstadt Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat... |
122 km² | 142,191 | |
| Mainz Mainz Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire... Larger Urban Zone |
704 km² | 386,173 | |
| Mainz Mainz Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire... |
98 km² | 196,784 | |
| Frankfurt/Rhine-Main |
Cities and districts
|
|
Traffic
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 bananaBlue Banana
The Blue Banana is a discontinuous corridor of urbanisation in Western Europe, with a population of around 110 million. It stretches approximately from North West England in the north to Milan in the south...
, which runs along the Rhine valley and the city is also a stepping stone from and to various parts of Switzerland and Southern Germany
Southern Germany
The term Southern Germany is used to describe a region in the south of Germany. There is no specific boundary to the region, but it usually includes all of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, and the southern part of Hesse...
. 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 International Airport
Frankfurt International Airport
Frankfurt am Main Airport , or simply Frankfurt Airport, known in German as Flughafen Frankfurt am Main or Rhein-Main-Flughafen, is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, Germany, southwest of the city centre....
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. Largest university is the University of Frankfurt and the oldest is the University of Mainz (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz), originally founded in 1477 AD. Other universities include:- the Darmstadt University of TechnologyDarmstadt University of TechnologyThe Technische Universität Darmstadt, abbreviated TU Darmstadt, is a university in the city of Darmstadt, Germany...
, - the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main,
- the Frankfurt School of Finance & ManagementFrankfurt School of Finance & ManagementThe Frankfurt School of Finance & Management is a state-accredited private university in Frankfurt, Hesse. The university is also accredited by Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation .-History:...
and - the European Business School International University Schloss ReichartshausenEuropean Business School International University Schloss ReichartshausenThe EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht in Wiesbaden and Oestrich-Winkel, Germany, was founded in 1971. The university's activities focus on 3 core areas: undergraduate, postgraduate programs and executive education...
.
Notable colleges and universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen) include:
- the Darmstadt University of Applied SciencesDarmstadt University of Applied SciencesThe Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, in Darmstadt, Germany, plays a significant role among German Universities of Applied Sciences. It is internationally known for its outstanding achievements in the areas of engineering and computer science...
, - the Frankfurt University of Applied SciencesFrankfurt University of Applied SciencesThe Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences is a large public university in Frankfurt am Main in Germany....
, - the RheinMain University of Applied SciencesRheinMain University of Applied SciencesThe RheinMain University of Applied Sciences is a university located in Wiesbaden, Germany.-History and Profile:The RheinMain University of Applied Sciences was founded in 1971....
- the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing ArtsFrankfurt University of Music and Performing ArtsThe Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts is a state Hochschule for Music, Theater and Dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its kind in the Federal State of Hesse. It was founded in 1938....
and - the StädelschuleStädelschuleStädelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, is a contemporary fine arts academy in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.- History :The Städelschule was established by a foundation set up by the Frankfurt merchant Johann Friedrich Städel in 1817...
.
External links
- Planungsverband Ballungsraum Frankfurt/Rhein-Main Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Conurbation Planning Association
- Region Frankfurt RheinMain online - Gateway to Europe
- Frankfurt International Airport
- Rhein-Main Metropolitan Transit
- Frankfurt Economic Support
- Frankfurt/Rhein-Main 2020 – the European metropolitan region
- One region - Boundless possibilities