Aachen (district)

The Aachen region (proper spelling usually Aachen region ) is a municipal association of a special kind in southwestern North Rhine- Westphalia. Council is based in Aachen.

The city region is since 21 October 2009 Legal successor to the district of Aachen, which was dissolved and the independent city of Aachen form its nine municipalities, the new city region. With the formation of the Aachen region is first tested a model region in North Rhine -Westphalia. In Lower Saxony, already exists the Hanover region, as well as in the Regional Association Saarland Saarbrücken.

• 2.1 waters

• 3.1 predecessor district of Aachen
• 3.2 Purpose Association
• 3.3 Local Government Association, a special kind

• 9.1 roads
• 9.2 Railways
• 9.3 air connection

Geography

Spatial location

The Aachen region consists of eight cities and two municipalities. It extends from the town of Baesweiler in the north to about 50 miles to the town of Monschau in the south.

While the northern and eastern parts of the city region geographically and topographically belong to the flange landscapes of the Lower Rhine Basin, the southern part of the city region expands to the low mountains of the Eifel.

Neighboring districts and provinces

The Aachen region is bordered to the north by the county Heinberg, to the east by the circles Düren and Euskirchen, in the south and west by the Belgian province of Liège and in the west to the Dutch province of Limburg.

Structure

In the Aachen region, there are the ten municipalities and members Aachen, Alsdorf, Baesweiler, Eschweiler, Duke Rath, Monschau, Roetgen, Simmerath, Stolberg ( Rhineland) and Wuerselen, eight of which had the title of " city ". Six of them are middle region belonging to cities with 25000-60000 inhabitants. Aachen is a city with more than 100,000 inhabitants. She has, according to the Aachen- law, a special legal status that restricted their concede the rights of an independent city.

The city region has three parts as follows:

1 partly rights of independent city

The Aachen region is roughly divided into

• The Northern District of Aachen as the northern part
• The city of Aachen as the western part
• The room Eschweiler- Stolberg eastern / central part and
• The south circle Aachen than the southern part.

Waters

Flow through the city region area

• The Kleinbroichenbach
• The Inde
• The Kall
• The Untermerzbach
• The Omerbach
• Pau
• The Rur
• The Saubach
• The Vicht
• Woe to the
• The worm.

Lie in the city region area

• The Blausteinsee
• The Dreilaegerbach dam
• The Kalltalsperre
• The beads Bach Dam
• The Rurtalsperre and the upper lake
• The Wehebach dam.

History

Predecessor in the district of Aachen

The district of Aachen was newly formed in 1972. At that time, was the maxim that no county-level city in North Rhine -Westphalia should be a seat ( hinterland ) circle, not yet effective. In the municipal reforms before 1972 but already some smaller independent towns were in the circles surrounding it incorporated (such as the city of Herford in the same circle). In the larger urban districts Bielefeld (1973) and Münster (1975 ) solved the one named after them circles consistently and incorporated many of their communities in the respective city a. In the case of Aachen but no other municipal reform was carried out, and so it remained in the separation of city and county. In North Rhine -Westphalia, the separation remained in district / county and county-level city is a special case, whereas this in other states (see district of Osnabrück and Osnabrück) is more common.

Purpose Association

Forerunner of the local authority and the local association of a special kind was initially an eponymous municipal purpose association, which also included the district of Aachen in addition to the now associated in the city region municipalities. Association members were therefore the district-free city of Aachen, the Aachen district and its nine municipalities belonging to a county. The purpose of association Aachen was agreed in 2004 and 2005 effectively. The purpose of association assembly consisted of a total of 60 voting representatives of the members. The purpose of association as a precursor of the community had set inter alia, the development of good cooperation among the member bodies, a bundled object perception, a common advocacy and the development of cross -border co-operation to the target. It especially common tasks in the field of road traffic management, school administration and economic development were perceived.

Local Government Association, a special kind

Per state law ( Aachen- law ) the establishment of the Aachen region, it was decided as a new Local Government Association and as a special kind of authority as the legal successor of Kreis Aachen October 21, 2009 by the North Rhine - Westphalian state. The district of Aachen was dissolved at the same time. As an example of the local authority served the Hanover region. However, the Aachen region did not reach the assumption of duties of the district government as opposed to the model. The Aachen region to various tasks of the municipalities take over, eg in the field of transport planning or the emergency service. Be it that this region could occur more outward, were to appear within synergies and less administrative work was concerned destination. Critics of this centralization point out that many problems could be solved more decentralized, such as youth work. Furthermore, there is a risk that smaller municipalities would receive less support in the cities of the region, particularly in terms of economic development, and would then develop worse.

Authorities

In the area of ​​Aachen region are legally the district courts of Aachen, Eschweiler and Monschau, belonging to the district of Aachen Regional Court, responsible. The city region is part of the Aachen Chamber of Commerce. Almost the entire city region area belongs to Regional Forest Office " Rureifel Jülich flaring " headquartered in Hurtgenwald; the southern tip part of the National Park forest office " Eifel " located in Schleiden. The headquarters of the job center is based in Eschweiler since 2009.

Projects

The city region has a " future program for the cities of Aachen " causes, which should be strengthened " based on our administrative tasks, the development of the new community association along policy guidelines ". In this context, together with the Aachen Foundation Kathy Beys four possible scenarios for the future of the Aachen region will be developed.

The Städteregionstag has 73 members. The CDU is after the first elections to Städteregionsrat August 30, 2009 with 27 members, the largest group, followed by the SPD ( 21) Green (11 ), FDP (6 ), left and UWG ( 3 each); added a fraction Loser and the Städteregionsrat. For the first Städteregionsrat Helmut Etschberg was chosen.

Seal, logo, coat of arms

The official seal by the association, was initially the small State seal with the state coat of arms in the lower and the term " special purpose association Aachen region " as the inscription in the upper semicircle. The logo of the administration union symbolized the geographic location in the border triangle of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is carried on today by the Association of Local Authorities, although it does not replace the sovereign emblem.

For effective from 21 October 2009 on local authority not a new coat of arms was designed. The provincial government has given with date of 28 May 2009, the Aachen region, the official license to run the coat of arms of the former district of Aachen. It was designed by Wolfgang Stecher Page. The blazon of the coat of arms of the district of Aachen was in the main statute of the former district of Aachen:

The lion in chief symbolizes that the area of ​​the city region is essentially composed of part of a territory of the former Duchy of Jülich. The Swan on the deer antler in the blue field represents the former imperial abbey and former city Burtscheid, whose former area is the county government of the former district of Aachen as well as the city region. Since this area is now part of the city of Aachen, including the reference to the city of Aachen is made. Burtscheid 1816 county town, received its coat of arms in 1882 and was incorporated in 1897 in Aachen. The border Jülich lion is also part of the coat of arms of Eschweiler, the canton was the eastern half of the Prussian district of Aachen to Alsdorf, Eschweiler, Stolberg and Wuerselen.

Jülich lion in Eschweiler Coat of Arms

Circle of Arms

Attractions and Museums

The city region is particularly rich in castles, manor houses and ruins. Please see the list of castles and fortresses in the Aachen region, list of Jewish cemeteries in the cities of Aachen and Aachen attractions.

In addition, there are numerous museums:

• Aachen, see museums in Aachen
• Alsdorf, see museums in Alsdorf
• Eschweiler- Dürwiß, see Eschweiler Carnival Museum
• Monschau, see museums in Monschau
• Simmerath, see museums in Simmerath
• Stolberg, see museums in Stolberg

House Kambach

Burg Frankenberg

Monschau castle

Traffic

Through the City Region territory extend the federal highways 4 with the motel Aachener Land, 44 and 544

Federal Roads are the B1, B1a, B56, B57, B258, B264, B266 and B399.

The Department of Motor Vehicles is located in Wuerselen with a branch office in Monschau.

Railways

The city region is located in the area of ​​Aachen traffic network. Railway lines leading towards Heerlen, Monchengladbach, Dusseldorf, Duren, Cologne and Liege.

The Aachen region is traversed since 1841 by the high-speed line between Cologne and Aachen, and since 1852 of the railway line Aachen -Mönchengladbach. The euregiobahn operates a passenger rail transport on the branch lines. Other major routes are the railway line Mönchengladbach- Stolberg, the railway line Stolberg- Herzogenrath and Vennbahn.

The main passenger stations are Aachen Hbf, Aachen - Rothe Erde, Aachen -Schanz, Aachen-West, Eschweiler Hbf, Eschweiler - Talbahnhof, Duke Rath and Stolberg ( Rheinl ) Hbf

Air connection

The Maastricht Aachen Airport International Airport is about 35 kilometers from the city region removed in the Dutch city of Maastricht. He is served, among others, Transavia, Sky Airlines and Ryanair on charter flights.

The airports of Cologne / Bonn and Dusseldorf International at 80 kilometers distance can be reached by railway RE 1 and RE with the lines 4 and S 11.

For smaller aircraft, it is the airport Merzbrück off the A44 or B264 between Broichweiden and Röhe.

Economy

Structural Overview

In economic structural point of the territory of the Aachen region is divided into four sections: the north is the so-called Northern circle - essentially the former worm area - with the cities of Alsdorf (around 46,000 inhabitants), Baesweiler (around 28,000 inhabitants), Duke Rath (about 47,000 inhabitants) and Wuerselen (about 37,000 inhabitants). There are mainly traditional glass, needle and food industry and since recently also technology-oriented and medium-sized companies.

In the south, the south circle or Altkreis Monschau is from the town of Monschau (about 13,000 inhabitants) and the municipalities Roetgen (about 8,000 inhabitants) and Simmerath (about 16,000 inhabitants ) is formed. It forms part of the natural park Venn- Eifel and the Eifel National Park is located along with the area around the Rurtalsperre the tourism focus of the city region.

Between the north and south circle the room Eschweiler- Stolberg lies with the two traditional industrial cities Eschweiler (about 56,000 inhabitants) and Stolberg (about 58,000 inhabitants). This is the former Inderevier substantially. Here, for example, took the Hoesch and Thyssen began. Glass, plastic and metal processing plants especially are here today as well as resident companies from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. In addition, in both cities is a variety of medium and small enterprises resident, while Eschweiler particularly focuses on retail in downtown. While Stolberg calls with its numerous copper courtyards " brass Oldest city in the world ", designed for Eschweiler Eschweiler, founded in 1834 for mining association and the Eschweiler Kohlberg called the " cradle of the Rhenish mining " near. The common wealth of the copper town of Stolberg and Eschweiler Indestadt are hard coal, brown coal, zinc and other ores. However, the high level of industrialization also left environmental damage as the Gressenicher disease that lead children and the Vegla -Polder. On the other hand, can be found on the Stolberg city 's unique Galmeiflora.

The withdrawal of the coal industry led in the 1980s in worm and Inderevier to a great spirit of optimism. A number of pioneering projects are planned or already underway. This includes, inter alia, the development of large-scale industrial and commercial areas. In the former lignite mine "future" of Blausteinsee has arisen a nationwide leisure and recreation area within the Indelands.

The city of Aachen as finally the fourth part is with many companies and research centers an outstanding business and science location in the city region. Traditionally in Aachen needle and cloth industry was located. See in particular Aachen-based company, RWTH Aachen University Hospital Aachen.

Significant entrepreneurs and business families

• James Cockerill
• Family Englerth
• Family Hoesch
• Family Neuman
• Henry Joseph Napoléon Lambertz
• Hugo Merckens

• Family Peltzer
• Prym family
• Scheibler family
• Family Schleicher
• William Prym
• Barthold Suermondt

• Johann Hugo Jacob Talbot
• August Thyssen
• Friedrich Thyssen
• Michael Wirtz
• Johann Peter Wültgens

Medical care

In the Aachen region are the following hospitals:

• Aachen Francis Hospital
• Luis Hospital
• St. Mary's Hospital
• University Hospital Aachen

• St. Anthony's Hospital

• Malteser Krankenhaus St. Brigida

• Bethlehem Health Center Stolberg

• Medical Center Aachen region

Education and youth facilities

In the city region there are numerous kindergartens and day care centers and 110 primary schools, 25 special schools, 23 high schools, 17 primary schools, 15 secondary schools, 11 vocational schools and comprehensive schools 7.

Four universities with up to 50,000 students are based in the city region, all in the field of Aachen: RWTH Aachen, Aachen University of Applied Sciences and departments of the Catholic University of North Rhine -Westphalia and the Musikhochschule in Cologne.

Media

Since October 4, 2010 AC antenna transmits as a common commercial local radio and is the successor of 107.8 antenna AC ( district of Aachen ) and radio Aachen ( Aachen ). In the cable networks center.tv reported Aachen and the region as well as the West German Broadcasting with its WDR Studio Aachen.

Partnership

As the legal successor of the district Aachen, Aachen region leads the agreed in March 1990 and in February 2000 endorsed partnership with the county Jeleniogórski with the county town of Jelenia Góra on. After a council decision in 1985 negotiations with the Polish embassy were taken for the purpose of a partnership with a Polish administrative district in October. After the administrative reform in Poland in 1999, the transfer of the partnership to the newly formed Polish district had to be decided.

Under the seal region Charlemagne ( = region Charlemagne) seeks the Aachen region an even closer cooperation across borders in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, particularly in relation to the transport and foreign language teaching. Tight teeth already exist with the Parkstad Limburg and the German-speaking Community of East Belgium.