Central German Metropolitan Region
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Central German Metropolitan Region () is one of the officially established
metropolitan regions in Germany There are eleven metropolitan regions in Germany consisting of the country's most densely populated cities and their catchment areas. They represent Germany's political, commercial and cultural centres. The eleven metropolitan regions in Germany ...
. It is centered on the major cities of
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
and Halle, extending over
Central German Central German or Middle German () is a group of High German languages spoken from the Rhineland in the west to the former eastern territories of Germany. Central German divides into two subgroups, West Central German and East Central Ger ...
parts of the states of
Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...
,
Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...
and
Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
. The Central German metropolitan region is the only one located entirely within the former
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
. The "region" is not actually a
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
in the geographic sense of the word as an agglomeration of nearby urban areas, rather it is a registered association, the ''Europäische Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland e.V.'' whose membership is composed of towns, cities, municipalities, and companies, colleges and chambers of commerce in the central German geographic area, whose representatives vote upon new members. For example,
Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...
joined the Metropolitan Region in 2009. The registered association owns the management company Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland Management GmbH. As such it forms a planning and marketing framework for the region while retaining the legal independence of its members.


History


Saxon Triangle (Sachsendreieck)

In 1997 the German Ministerial Conference for Regional Development declared the 'Saxon Triangle' (Dresden, Leipzig/Halle, and Chemnitz) as the seventh of 11 metropolitan regions in German.


Central German Metropolitan Region

Out of this initial conference the Initiativkreis Europäische Metropolregionen in Deutschland IKM (Initiative Group for European Metropolitan Regions in Germany) was formed in 2001 which developed the concept of the Central German Metropolitan Region in 2012. In 2013, Dresden and Magdeburg dropped out of the association and the membership has been focused more on cities and towns around Leipzig and Halle.


Members

The largest of the eight member cities are Leipzig in Saxony and Halle (Saale) in Saxony-Anhalt.


Member cities

The member cities have changed over time and the current member cities are as follows: *
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
(570,000 inhabitants) *
Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...
(245,500) *
Halle (Saale) Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (), is the second largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is the sixth-most populous city in the area of former East Germany after (East Berlin, East) Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Chem ...
(236,000) *
Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...
(105,000) *
Gera Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of ...
(99,000) *
Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...
(97,000) * Dessau-Roßlau (87,000) Except for Zwickau and Wittenberg, all towns hold the status of an
independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...
(i.e. municipalities which are also counties).
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
and
Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
are no longer part of the organization. Some surrounding districts have also joined the association.


Counties

6 districts (German: '' Landkreis,'' similar to
counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
) are also members of the CGMR: * Altenburger Land (90.650 inhabitants) *
Burgenlandkreis Burgenlandkreis () is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its area is . History The district was established as Landkreis Burgenland by the merger of the former Burgenlandkreis and Landkreis Weißenfels as part of the reform of 2007. ...
(181.968) * Landkreis Leipzig (258.008) * Landkreis Mansfeld-Südharz (138.013) *
Saalekreis Saalekreis is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The district seat is Merseburg. Its area is . It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts Kyffhäuserkreis (Thuringia), Mansfeld-Südharz, Salzlandkreis, Anhalt-Bitterfeld, ...
(185.494) * Landkreis Wittenberg (126.815)


Non-governmental partners

Apart from these administrative units, the metropolitan region publishes a list of industry partners which are official members of the regions planning framework.


Demographics

All towns and cities in the so-called metropolitan region suffered population decline after
German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
; however in recent years the populations of Leipzig and Halle have been increasing again. Other urban areas, such as Dessau-Roslau are however still declining.


Transport

The region contains important trade corridors in central Europe, including the routes of several highways of the International E-road network as well as two major German expressways ( A9 Munich–Berlin and A14 Dresden–Wismar). Leipzig-Halle is a major railway hub along the Berlin–Palermo railway axis which is part of the Trans-European high-speed rail network. Other railway mainlines connect it with Dresden, Frankfurt,
Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport ( ) , is Germany's busiest international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. Its official name according to the German Aeronautical Information Publication is Frankfurt Main Airpor ...
and Prague. Leipzig-Halle airport serves as the main airport of the region. It is the second largest freight airport in Germany and a hub of
DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...
's express service. The metropolitan region association has set up a working group on traffic and mobility, the members of which are delegated from various regional stakeholders, i.e. state ministries, cities, counties and public transport associations.https://www.mitteldeutschland.com/sites/default/files/uploads/2018/01/26/180123mitgliederagvemo.pdf


Gallery


References


External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20120110152519/http://www.region-mitteldeutschland.com/en/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Central German Metropolitan Region Metropolitan areas of Germany Geography of Saxony Geography of Saxony-Anhalt Geography of Thuringia