BONN

Bonn, the former capital of West Germany, is a historic city known for its rich cultural heritage, including Beethoven's birthplace and the University of Bonn. With a population of over 300,000 people speaking various languages, it is a hub of international cooperation and a blend of ancient charm and modern progress.

Türkiye

Country

330,000

Population

Introduction

The Federal city of Bonn is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About 24 km south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region, Germany's largest metropolitan area, with over 11 million inhabitants. It is famously known as the birthplace of Ludwig Van Beethoven in 1770. He spent his childhood and teenage years in Bonn. The city is located on the Rhine River, about 15 miles south of Cologne. Founded in the 1st century BC as a Roman settlement, Bonn is one of Germany's oldest cities. From 1597 to 1794, Bonn was the capital of the Electorate of Cologne, and residence of the Archbishops and Prince-electors of Cologne. From 1949 to 1990, Bonn was the capital of West Germany, and Germany's present constitution, the Basic Law, was declared in the city in 1949. The era when Bonn served as the capital of West Germany is referred to by historians as the Bonn Republic. From 1990 to 1999, Bonn served as the seat of government – but no longer capital – of reunited Germany.

Roughly a third of all ministerial jobs are located in Bonn as of 2019, and the city is considered a second, unofficial, capital of the country. Bonn is the secondary seat of the President, the Chancellor, the Bundesrat and the primary seat of six federal government ministries and twenty federal authorities. The title of Federal City reflects its important political status within Germany. The headquarters of Deutsche Post DHL and Deutsche Telekom, both DAX-listed corporations, are in Bonn. The city is home to the University of Bonn and a total of 20 United Nations institutions, the highest number in all of Germany.
 

Data and Facts
  • Bonn is the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven, Germany’s greatest composer whose symphonies still enchant those who appreciate classical music
    Population: 311,800 (city); 11,800,000 (metropolitan area)
     
  • Most Precipitation: 5000 mm/ 197 in. Average Summer Temperature: 21 °C/ 70 °F Average Winter Temperature: .5 °C/ 33 °F Elevation: 16 m/ 54 ft 
    Every spring around April, the Japanese cherry blossom trees that line the streets of Bonn’s old town start to bloom. Heerstraße, in particular, downright transforms into a pink and purple tunnel that attracts photographers from all over the world
     
  • Bonn is the gateway to one of Germany’s most important wine regions. The Ahrtal centres around the town of Bad Neuenahr and is known for its steep terraced vineyards where the winemakers of the valley primarily cultivate Pinot Noir and Portugais Bleu grapes
     
  • Bonn is home to 18 organisations of the United Nations. The UN campus regularly hosts essential international events, such as 2017’s Climate Change Conference
     
Administration

German reunification in 1990 made Berlin the nominal capital of Germany again. This decision, however, did not mandate that the republic's political institutions would also move. While some argued for the seat of government to move to Berlin, others advocated leaving it in Bonn – a situation roughly analogous to that of the Netherlands, where Amsterdam is the capital but The Hague is the seat of government. Berlin's previous history as united Germany's capital was strongly connected with the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and more ominously with Nazi Germany. It was felt that a new peacefully united Germany should not be governed from a city connected to such overtones of war. Additionally, Bonn was closer to Brussels, headquarters of the European Economic Community. Former chancellor and mayor of West Berlin Willy Brandt caused considerable offence to the Western Allies during the debate by stating that France would not have kept the seat of government at Vichy after Liberation.The heated debate that resulted was settled by the Bundestag only on 20 June 1991. Ultimately, the votes of the eastern German legislators tipped the balance in favour of Berlin.From 1990 to 1999, Bonn served as the seat of government of reunited Germany. In recognition of its former status as German capital, it holds the name of Federal City . Bonn currently shares the status of Germany's seat of government with Berlin, with the President, the Chancellor and many government ministries maintaining large presences in Bonn. Over 8,000 of the 18,000 federal officials remain in Bonn. A total of 19 United Nations institutions operate from Bonn today.

The city council of Bonn used to be based in the Rococo-style and 1737 built Altes Rathaus adjacent to Bonn's central market square. As of the 2014–2020 election cycle, the Christian Democrats hold a plurality of mandates in the city council , followed by the Social Democrats with 20 seats, the Greens with 16 seats, the Liberals with 7 seats, the Left with 5 seats, the local Bürgerbund Bonn with 4 seats, the Alternative for Germany with 3 seats, and independent candidates with a total of 4 seats. There are currently 86 seats in the city council of Bonn. The mayor is Ashok-Alexander Sridharan , directly elected in 2015.Four delegates represent the Federal city of Bonn in the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia. The last election took place in May 2012. The current delegates are Bernhard von Grünberg ,Renate Hendricks , Joachim Stamp and Rolf Beu .
 

Economy

In the last 20 years, Bonn has successfully engineered a transition from mainly governmental functions to an internationally competitive business structure. This process is driven by the group of companies ranked in the German stock index DAX and further 16,000 small and medium-sized enterprises.

Dynamic technology clusters have emerged as a result of the close exchange between business and science, for example in the field of information and communication technologies and the health sector. As the German United Nations City, hosting 18 UN organisations, Bonn has developed a new international profile. The strong growth in the knowledge-intensive services as well as the close interaction between the city and the business and science communities make Bonn particularly attractive. These assets are being recognised by an increasing number of people: Experts predict that Bonn - the City of Beethoven on the Rhine - will see the highest population growth of all cities and counties in Nordrhein-Westfalen.

By comparison, employment across NRW increased by around 2.3% over the same period and the figure for the Rhein-Sieg District around Bonn showed a rise of 2.5%. Owing to the vigorous long-term growth of employment, the number of persons with socially insured jobs in Bonn today is 39,332 more than the 134,199 recorded in 1991 when parliament passed the resolution to transfer the German capital from Bonn to Berlin.

The Office for Economic Development registered a total of 143 take-up transactions in the Bonn office market in 2017. They included 142 lettings and one owner-occupier office development. The volume of space taken up in the Bonn office market totalled 108,210 sq m in 2017. This followed a record figure of 126,200 sq m in 2016. With the aggregate floor space of office premises in Bonn totalling around 3.86 million sq m, this amounts to 100,989 sq m. Against the previous year, the vacancy rate edged up by 0.45 percentage points. Nevertheless, the annual level of vacancy – even compared with other cities – still points to undiminished strong demand for office properties in Bonn.

In relation to North Rhine-Westphalia as a whole, Bonn enjoys relatively low unemployment. In 2017, the unemployment rate in the city averaged 6.7%, compared to 5.2% in the surrounding Rhein-Sieg District, 7.4% across NRW and 5.7% nationwide. Unemployment decreased by 0.4 percentage points in Bonn during the course of 2017 and shrank by a moderate 0.3 percentage points in the Rhein-Sieg District while the national figure fell by 0.4 percentage points and state-wide unemployment eased by 0.3 percentage points.
 

Infrastructure

Named after Konrad Adenauer, the first post-war Chancellor of West Germany, Cologne Bonn Airport is situated 15 kilometres north-east from the city centre of Bonn. With around 10.3 million passengers passing through it in 2015, it is the seventh-largest passenger airport in Germany and the third-largest in terms of cargo operations. By traffic units, which combines cargo and passengers, the airport is in fifth position in Germany. As of March 2015, Cologne Bonn Airport had services to 115 passenger destinations in 35 countries. The airport is one of Germany's few 24-hour airports, and is a hub for Eurowings and cargo operators FedEx Express and UPS Airlines. The federal motorway A59 connects the airport with the city. Bonn's central railway station, Bonn Hauptbahnhof, serves urban , regional , and long-distance destinations such as Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Zurich, Vienna, Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris. Daily, more than 67,000 people travel via Bonn Hauptbahnhof. In late 2016, around 80 long distance and more than 165 regional trains departed to or from Bonn every day. The other major railway station lies on the high-speed rail line between Cologne and Frankfurt. The bus system of Bonn is composed of roughly 30 lines which operate on a regular basis. During peaks, buses usually run every 5 minutes; off-peak buses run every 20 minutes. Four Autobahns run through or are adjacent to Bonn: the A59 , the A555 , the A562 , and the A565 . Three Bundesstraßen, which have a general 100 kilometres per hour speed limit in contrast to the Autobahn, connect Bonn to its immediate surroundings .

With Bonn being divided into two parts by the Rhine, three bridges are crucial for inner-city road traffic: the Konrad-Adenauer-Brücke , the Friedrich-Ebert-Brücke , and the Kennedybrücke . In addition, regular ferries operate between Bonn-Mehlem and Königswinter, Bonn-Bad Godesberg and Niederdollendorf, and Graurheindorf and Mondorf. Located in the northern sub-district of Graurheindorf, the inland harbour of Bonn is used for container traffic as well as oversea transport.
 

Region
North Rhine-Westphalia
District
Bonn, Beuel, Bad Godesberg, Hardtberg
Government Type
Lord Mayor-Council
Area
• Total Area
141.22 km²
• Center Area
Town Center
• Grand City Area
325.79 km²
Time Zone
Central European Time
Area Code
0228
Postal Code
53111-53229
Social Media
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