The Ruhr: The region of diversity and transformation

Do you want to live in a region with diverse cultural opportunities? Then the Ruhr is for you! Theatres, operas, museums, events and concerts of every imaginable musical genre: the "Revier" (as the Ruhr area is known locally) has something for everyone. The density of cultural opportunities is unique in Europe. This is why Essen was chosen to represent the Ruhr as the European Capital of Culture 2010.

The Ruhr is the largest economic area in Europe with 5.3 million inhabitants. The heavy industrial area has developed into a modern economic, trade and service metropolis with a great variety of small and medium sized enterprises and well-known corporations.

Former heavy industrial sites have been transformed into industrial monuments, theatres, museums and restaurants. The most well known example of this change is the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex which was appointed a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

Life in the Ruhr can be very varied. Nowhere else are there so many urban centres with popular shopping and pedestrian zones. And nowhere else are there more green spaces both in and between the cities, which make it possible to live amongst greenery without being far from the city centre.

Large parks, woods and landscape brighten up the Ruhr and offer great leisure and sports opportunities. The largest inland port of Europe in Duisburg, the historical old town of Hattingen, the worldly Grugapark in Essen, the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen - discover the variety of the Ruhr!

Whether it is Duisburg, Mülheim, Essen, Bochum, Dortmund or wherever in the Ruhr it is that you would like to settle: we are there for you!