Düsseldorf
The City of Düsseldorf is the capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the seventh most populous city in the country. We are a center for international business with over 5000 international companies located in the metropolitan area and an exhibition center with 71 subsidiaries and representatives in 132 countries.
Apart from being an economical hub we also gained an international reputation in the field of arts and culture. Our Academy of Fine Arts brought forth artists such as Joseph Beuys, August Macke, and Gerhard Richter. On the banks of the RhineRiver, Düsseldorf holds its traditional Carnival celebrations every year in February. Our international, cultural, and economic diversity ranked us sixth in the world in Mercer's 2015 Quality of Living survey.
As any urbanized, metropolitan city Düsseldorf faces a variety of challenges. For me, as a Mayor, it is particularly important to provide sufficient housing for the constantly growing population. With the steady influx of people comes a variety of necessary infrastructure developments that will also help to provide efficient care for the many refugees that have been coming to Düsseldorf in recent months. This, of course, is an especially time-sensitive topic that requires the administration’s full efforts.
I am looking forward to work together with other city leaders from all over the world to learn from each other and to develop a more global perspective on current challenges and on chances that lie ahead.
Mayor of Düsseldorf
Mayor
Keys facts
People from all five continents live in the city: around 20% of Düsseldorf’s population is non-German, including the biggest Japanese community in all of Europe.
Düsseldorf is a “10-Minute City”: all the important sites, including the airport, are located within a 10 minute radius by car.
Düsseldorf is located in the very heart of Europe and is connected to the most concentrated freeway network of the continent (and within a 2 hours radius by plane of main European Capital Cities).