Stuttgart Region
Stuttgart Region (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) is an urban agglomeration at the heart of the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region. It consists of the city of Stuttgart and the surrounding districts of Ludwigsburg, Esslingen, Böblingen, Rems-Murr and Göppingen (each 10–20 km from Stuttgart city center). About 2.7 million inhabitants live in that area (3,700 km). In fact, with 708 people per square kilometre, the Stuttgart Region () is one of the most densely populated areas in Germany. Stuttgart Region is governed by a directly elected parliament. Situated at the heart of Baden-Württemberg, the "Stuttgart Region" is the hub of economic , scientific, and political life in Southwest Germany. The area currently has Germany's highest density of scientific, academic and research organisations, and tops the national league for patent applications. Geography. From northwest to southeast the region is 90 kilometers long and from southwest to northeast 80 kilometers. The size of the area is 3.654 km. According to calculations made by the land surveying office, the geographical center is located in the south of the district Rems-Murr a few hundred meters east from the village Weinstadt-Strümpfelbach in a vineyard. An erratic placed after the vine field reform - the so -called "Vogelstein" - lays by accident almost exactly in that center. The Neckar flows through the region for about 90 kilometers, of which about 70 kilometers are navigable waterway. The longest tributary in the region is the Fils (50 km), followed by Murr (45 km), the Rems (35 km) and the Enz (30 km). Topographically the Region lays between 170 m above sea level (Neckar near Kirchheim am Neckar) and 835 m above sea level (swabian albs plateau near Hohenstadt). Demographics. About 2.7 Million people live in the Stuttgart Region, which corresponds to a quarter of the entire population of Baden -Württemberg at about on tenth of its size. 749 people/km is the regions average population density. The numbers of inhabitants are census results (¹) or official updates of the statistical state office of Baden-Württemberg (only primary residence). Verband Region Stuttgart. The Verband Region Stuttgart (VRS) a public body, is as one of 12 regional associations in Baden-Württemberg political and administrative instance of the Stuttgart Region. Its predecessor is the "Regionalverband Mittlerer Neckar" founded in 1973 which was renamed to "Regionalverband Stuttgart" in 1992. By law it was transferred into the "Verband Region Stuttgart" on February, 7th 1994 . Thereby the new association besides the regional planning, received additional tasks and has as the only regional association in Baden-Württemberg a directly elected parliament. The "regional assembly of the Verband Region Stuttgart" is elected every five years. Further association bodies besides the regional assembly are the honorary chairman elected by the assembly out of its members for 5 years and the regional director elected for 8 years who is temporary full-time public official. The regional director represents the association and leads the Administration. His office is located in the associations office in Stuttgart. The association additionally has an  office in Brussels. The Budget of the VRS for 2016 was 389 million Euro (2015: 323 million Euro). Tasks. Important compulsory tasks of the VRS are amongst others: Spatial Planning. The VRS is the representative for the regional spatial planning (regional planning). Most important tool herefore is the regional plan according to § 9 ROG. This plan names the following central places. Transport. The VRS is responsible for the regional transport planning and the regional significant local public transport. In the regional transport plan it makes forecasts of the traffic development for longer periods of time and names and evaluates urgent  measures to cope with traffic. The VRS is sponsor of the S-Bahn Stuttgart and stakeholder of the Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund Stuttgart (VVS). Moreover, he co-finances Stuttgart 21. Out of the 323 million Euro in the budget of 2015, 300.4 million Euro went to the transport budget. Of those, 80.5 Million Euro was for the operation of the S-Bahn, the Schuster and the small Teckbahn. According to a financing agreement the VRS receives for the S-Bahn Stuttgart 9,1 % of the states regionalization budget from 2018 until 2031, 88 million Euro in 2018. Economic promotion. In order to  exercise as required by law, the regionally important task of economic promotion, the VRS founded together with other Stakeholders the die "Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH (in 1995)." Besides the recruitment and the guidance of companies which want to locate in the Stuttgart Region (Exogenic economic promotion) the about 50 employees of WRS consult and assist within the scope of site development already locally based companies (endogenous economic promotion). Besides the classical economic promotion in the narrower sense (e.g. through the marketing of industry sites, guidance of investors at their search for a location as well as location marketing) one focus  is on the economic promotion activities of the Stuttgart Region and the Support of certain business clusters. Amongst others.: In order to support these Clusters, the WRS initiates, coordinates and mentors the WRS branch networks (e.g. the "Clusterinitiative Automotive CARS", the "MedienInitiative Region Stuttg"art or the "Initiative Open Source Region Stuttgart"), organises Symposiums (as for example the annual fuel cell congress f-cell) and gathers and publishes a variety of branch information. In order to promote the employer attractiveness of the regions small and medium-sized employers to the pupils, students and graduates, the Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH hosts an  online Stuttgart Region employer directory. There organizations have the possibility to present themselves and their current offers for junior employees. In order to improve the knowledge transfer and contacts between industry and science, 15 competence and Innovation Centers have been established in the Region within which organisations, universities and research facilities work together interdisciplinary on industries related projects. Examples for such competence and Innovation Centers are the Virtual Dimension Center (VDC, competence Center for virtual reality in Fellbach), the Kompetenznetzwerk Mechatronik in Göppingen, the Packaging Excellence Center (PEC, competence Center for packaging and automation technology) in Waiblingen or the Software  center Böblingen/Sindelfingen. Further activities aim at the supply of skilled employees (for example through advancing the compatibility of family and careers and model projects on professional development). As well as the support of company foundations (for example through the partner network "Partnernetz für Unternehmensgründungen aus Stuttgarter Hochschulen (PUSH)" or the agency of founders and private Investors; see also Business Angels). In order to sponsor the music and film industry the Region has established two separate institutions: The "Film Commission Region Stuttgart" and the "Popbüro Region Stuttgart". Honorary Chairmans. The designations were: 1974–1994 „Vorsitzender des Regionalverbands Mittlerer Neckar“ respectively „Vorsitzender  des Regionalverbands Stuttgart“; since 1994 „Vorsitzender des Verbands Region Stuttgart“. Regional Directors. The designations were: 1974–1994 "Verbandsdirektor des Regionalverbands Mittlerer Neckar" respectively "Verbandsdirektor des Regionalverbands Stuttgart"; since 1994 "Regionaldirektor des Verbands Region Stuttgart". Infrastructure. The Stuttgart Region is accessed through a dense roadenetwork of controlled access highways (Autobahn), federal Highway (Bundesstraßen), district roads (Kreisstrassen). The Bundesstraßen, enhanced to four to six lanes run in a star pattern towards the states capital. There are only few efficient tangential Connections. The two Autobahns A 8 and A 81 meet in the Region at the Leonberg triangle, one of the most used Autobahn  junctions in Germany. Stuttgarter Hauptbahnhof, the main railway station is hub for the long-distance, regional and S-Bahn-Verkehr. Within a radius of 100 km you thereby can reach about 12 million people. Stuttgart Airport has become a European hub for almost 60 airlines. 10 Million passengers use it annually and 65,000 tons of air freight is shipped here. Flights are offered to over 120 destinations in more than 40 countries. Through the Stuttgarter Harbour the Region is connected to the inner German and western European waterway network. Cargo ships with a tonnage of up to 2,800 t are  loaded and unloaded here daily. In order to accommodate the large number of commuters in the Region and relieve the roads, the Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund Stuttgart (VVS) offers, counting only the S-Bahn already a network of 215 km length and Services 83 stops. The leisure traffic accumulates the majority of the distances taken by the regions 2.7 Million inhabitants. About 800,000 People, roundabout three quarters of the socially insured employees, don't work where they live. Economic significance. The Gross Domestic Product for Stuttgart Region was recorded at about €35,000 per capita, about €64,000 per employed person  and €120 billion total. The unemployment rate is 4.8 per cent. Stuttgart Region is one of Europe's economic centres. This is due not only to the influence of international companies, such as Daimler, Porsche, Robert Bosch, Celesio, Hewlett-Packard and IBM (all of whom have their world or German headquarters here), but also to the influence of medium-sized enterprises such as Behr, Kärcher, Märklin, Stihl, Festo, and Trumpf. In total, approximately 150,000 companies are located in the Stuttgart Region. 24 per cent of employees in the Stuttgart Region work in the high-tech sector – a European record . The "Verband Region Stuttgart" as a political entity is responsible for regional transportation planning and for the basic network of public transport in Stuttgart Region. Research and development. Out of the total Investments in R&D of German companies, more than 10% is invested by companies from the Stuttgart Region, which is one of the reasons for its leading high patent application amount. Two institutes of the Max Planck Society, six of the Fraunhofer Society, for industrial development institutes where several companies work together, one large research institution, 88 transfer centers of the Steinbeis foundation for economic Promotion and many research  facilities at Universities and Universities of Applied sciences are located in the region.. Administrative District of Stuttgart. Stuttgart Region shouldn't be confused with the Administrative District of Stuttgart. The German state of Baden-Württemberg is sub-divided into four districts: Stuttgart Region is part of the "Administrative District of Stuttgart" (Regierungsbezirk Stuttgart, 4 million inhabitants, 11,000 km). Stuttgart Metropolitan Area. The Stuttgart Metropolitan Area (pop. 5.3 million), according to the definition of the European Union, is neither identical with the "inner" Stuttgart Region nor with the Administrative District of Stuttgart. The Stuttgart Metropolitan Area consists i.a. of the following  larger cities (approx. 50 km from Stuttgart City Center): and their surrounding counties. Maps. map of Baden-WürttembergLeft: Stuttgart Region - Right: Stuttgart Administrative District Tourism. A selection of regional attractions: