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North Rhine-Westphalia
A European industrial area. Industrial heartland, modern
technology center, land of culture and the media: Formerly an
industrial landscape dominated by factory smokestacks, winding
towers and blast furnaces, North
Rhine-Westphalia - with nearly
18 million inhabitants the most populous federal state - has undergone
a profound structural change in recent decades. The land of coal
and steel has become a land of coal, steel and promising new industries,
an attractive site for domestic and foreign investors not least
because of its outstanding infrastructure. About half of its people
live in large cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants; at 521
persons per square kilometer, its population density is one of
the highest in Europe. The nickname "Kohlenpott” (coal
scuttle) is a thing of the past, for the state has long since
satisfied the call of the 1960s for "blue skies over the
Ruhr”. Nevertheless, the Ruhr area - Europe's largest industrial
region with a population of about 7.5 million people and more
than 30 power plants - is still Germany's main source of energy.
The creation of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia dates back
to the time of British occupation after World War II: In 1946
the greater part of the former Prussian Rhine province and the
province of Westphalia were merged - and later augmented by the
inclusion of the former state of Lippe-Detmold.
In 1949 the city of Bonn on the Rhine was chosen the provisional
capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. After the unification
of Germany, Berlin became the permanent capital. Around the year
2000 the seat of the German Bundestag and the Federal Government
will also be moved to the banks of the Spree River in Berlin.
The "federal city” of Bonn, however, will continue to
play an important role in the future as an administrative and
scientific center.
Coal, steel and the media. Today North Rhine-Westphalia's
economy has a broader foundation than ever before. Since 1960
the number of people employed in the coal and steel industry has
dropped dramatically: Back then this branch of industry employed
one in eight workers; today the figure is only one in twenty-five.
Many new jobs have been created in the media and cultural sector,
for instance, which meanwhile generates an annual turnover of
DM 60 billion and employs more than 230,000 people - more than
coal and steel. The American media conglomerate Time Warner is
presently building a film park and film studio complex in Bottrop-Kirchhellen
at a cost of more than DM 360 million - the largest investment
ever made in this sector in Germany. The Academy of Media
Arts
in Cologne, the Institute for Media Practice and Media Transfer
at the Folkwang
Academy in Essen and the academy for the media
in Siegen are only a few examples of the endeavors undertaken
by the state in this area.
Today about 60 percent of the work force in North Rhine-Westphalia
is employed in the service sector. Here the restructuring process
was always conjoined with ecological innovation as well: With
1,600 firms active in the field of environmental protection, the
state has become one of Europe's foremost centers of environmental
technology.
North Rhine-Westphalia's bustling economic life is supported by
a dense network of autobahns, rail lines and waterways connecting
the state's numerous big cities such as Cologne, Essen, Dortmund,
Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Bochum, Wuppertal, Bielefeld, Gelsenkirchen,
Solingen, Leverkusen and Aachen. The Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn
airports round out this network; Duisburg on the Rhine has the
world's largest inland port.
45 of Germany's 100 largest firms have their headquarters in North
Rhine-Westphalia. In addition to industrial giants such as Bayer
Leverkusen, VEBA
AG or the printing and publishing corporation
Bertelsmann, about 500,000 small and medium-sized businesses are
engaged in production. Düsseldorf is one of Germany's largest
banking centers. Dortmund and Cologne are two of the nation's
leading insurance headquarters. Dortmund has long since overtaken
Munich as a "beer city”. North Rhine-Westphalia generates
more than one fifth of all German exports and consumes nearly
one fourth of the Federal Republic's imports. The state does not
bear the imprint of industry alone, however: More than 52 percent
of its area is given over to farming, and nearly 25 percent is
woodlands.
Scholarship, culture and leisure. Since the 1970s North
Rhine-Westphalia has developed an extraordinarily dense network
of the most diverse kinds of higher education institutions: 54
higher education
institutions and trade and technical schools
prepare well over 500,000 students for professional careers. A
network of technology centers and transfer sites - including ten
institutes operated by the Max Planck
Society, six run by the
Fraunhofer Society, and
ZENIT, a center for innovation and technology
in Mülheim an der Ruhr - ensures that small and medium-sized
businesses also profit from higher education know-how. Ernst-Ulrich
von Weizsäcker heads the Wuppertal Institute for Climate,
Environment and Energy. The first allergological environmental
station in Europe has taken up its work at Children's City Hospital
in Gelsenkirchen.
Twelve million people visit the state's 390 museums every year, for example Bonn's Museum Mile, the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum and Museum Ludwig in Cologne, the Düsseldorf State Art Collection, and the Folkwang Museum in Essen. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia contributes to the maintenance of 68,000 architectural monuments. Nowhere else in the world do so many prominent representatives of the modern fine arts pursue their work as at the academies of art in Düsseldorf and Cologne. 99 theater stages and 15 opera houses ensure cultural diversity and international renown. The Ruhr Festival, the NRW Theater Encounter and the Oberhausen Days of Short Films as well as the Europäisches Übersetzer-Kollegium Nordrhein-Westfalen in Straelen e.V. and the Bochumer Schauspielschule are famous far beyond the state's boundaries. Pina Bausch and her dance theater are just as well known in New York and Tokyo as they are in their native city of Wuppertal. Given this wealth of cultural offerings it is no wonder that more than twelve million people visit the state of North Rhine-Westphalia every year, many of whom are likewise attracted by the unspoiled scenery of the Münsterland with its charming moated castles or by recreational opportunities such as skiing in the Sauerland or windsurfing on one of the state's many artificial lakes.