Frankfurt Rhine-Main

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.

Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region
Rhein-Main-Gebiet
Map of the Rhine-Main metropolitan region
Map of the Rhine-Main metropolitan region
Country Germany
States Hesse
 Rhineland-Palatinate
 Bavaria
Largest citiesFrankfurt am Main
Wiesbaden
Mainz
Darmstadt
Government
[1]
 • TypeFrankfurt/Rhine-Main Conurbation Planning Association
 • VerbandsdirektorThomas Horn (CDU)
Area
 • Metro
14,800 km2 (5,700 sq mi)
Population
 (2019)[2]
 • Metro
5,808,518
 • Metro density390/km2 (1,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
GMP2017
Nominal€268 billion[3]
WebsitePlanungsverband.de

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 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 sq mi).

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.

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 zone Major cities Population Area
Frankfurt am Main urban zone[4] 2,729,562 4,305 km2
Frankfurt am Main 773,068 248 km2
Offenbach am Main 134,170 45 km2
Wiesbaden urban zone 462,098 1,015 km2
Wiesbaden 283,083 204 km2
Darmstadt urban zone 439,084 781 km2
Darmstadt 162,243 122 km2
Mainz urban zone 403,849 704 km2
Mainz 218,578 98 km2
Rhine-Main 5,808,518 14,755 km2

Cities and districts
Picture City or district Area Population
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main 248 km2 750,000
Offenbach port Offenbach am Main 45 km2 118,245
Landkreis Offenbach 356 km2 337,986
Schlüchtern in Main Kinzig Kreis Main-Kinzig-Kreis 1,397 km2 411,956
Lohrberg Wetteraukreis 122 km2 142,191
Bad Homburg Hochtaunuskreis 482 km2 233,427
Kelkheim and further towns of Main-Taunus-Kreis Main-Taunus-Kreis 122 km2 142,191
Darmstadt Darmstadt 122 km2 142,191
Darmstadt Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg 659 km2 289,102
Rüsselsheim Landkreis Groß-Gerau 453 km2 253,502
Wiesbaden Wiesbaden 204 km2 275,489
Rüdesheim am Rhein Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis 98 km2 196,784
Subtotal Hesse 7,445 km2 3,778,689
Mainz Mainz 98 km2 196,784
Bingen am Rhein Mainz-Bingen 606 km2 201,451
Worms Worms 109 km2 81,784
— Landkreis Alzey-Worms 588 km2 124,758
Subtotal Rhineland-Palatinate 1405 km2 604,777
Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg 63 km2 68,646
— Landkreis Aschaffenburg 699 km2 173,946
Miltenberg Landkreis Miltenberg 716 km2 130,009
Subtotal Bavaria 1,478 km2 372,601
Total Frankfurt Rhine-Main metropolitan region 14,800 km2 5,800,000

Economy
Frankfurt Airport serves as a major gateway and logistical hub for the area and is Germany's busiest airport.

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.[5]

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.[6] 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. Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain. "Regionalverband FrankfurtRheinMain /". planungsverband.de.
  2. "Statistik-Viewer Metropolregion". 2019-12-31. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-11-08. Retrieved 2020-06-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Die Region Frankfurt Rhein-Main in Zahlen und Fakten (in German)
  5. "Frankfurt Rhein-Main in Zahlen" [Frankfurt Rhein-Main in Figures]. IHK Frankfurt am Main. (in German)
  6. Bau- und Immobilienstudie (Construction and Real Estate Study), IHK-Forum Rhein-Main. (in German)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rhein-Main.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Rhine-Main.

50.1°N 8.7°E / 50.1; 8.7

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