One of the most densely populated areas in Europe is the metropolitan area Rhine-Ruhr. One city follows another, they almost merge together. This region in the northwest of North-Rhine Westphalia counts about 5.1 million inhabitants. A whole series of known cities belong to Ruhr area, as for example Bochum, Bottrop, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Herne, Mulheim, Münster and Oberhausen.

Coal and steel industry have marked the area since decades. Still today enterprises like Ruhr AG, Degussa and ThyssenKrupp have their headquarters and production sites here. Nevertheless this region is regarded as economically underdeveloped.

The foundation of universities has been an important step towards becoming a research location and thus counteracting the underdevelopment. Dortmund University of Technology for example has a very good reputation and growing student numbers.

Today an active art and cultural scene has developed in the Ruhr area which was cultural capital of Europe in 2010. Today, museums of industrial history do attract international visitors as much as various theatres does.

Photo: Zollverein Museum, telesniuk/Shutterstock

More information: http://www.ruhr-tourismus.de/en