The
Landkreis Aachen was formed in 1816 from the two
French cantons Burtscheid and
Eschweiler, with its capital set to the city of
Burtscheid. In 1897 Burtscheid was incorporated into the city of
Aachen, but the administrative seat stayed there, even though the capital was no longer part of the district.
Kreis Aachen (1972) The Aachen district was re-formed in 1972, and part of it was incorporated to the district-free city of
Aachen. At that point in time, the policy that no independent large city in
North Rhine-Westphalia should be the seat of its district was not yet in effect. In the larger independent cities of Bielefeld (1973) and Münster (1975), the districts named after them were consistently dissolved and several of their communities were incorporated into the respective large city. In the case of Aachen, however, no further municipal reform was carried out and the separation of city and district remained. In 1975 this district of Aachen was merged with the district of
Monschau, and parts of the districts of
Düren,
Jülich,
Schleiden and
Selfkant.
Städteregion Aachen (2009) In 2004, a special-purpose association was formed including the city of Aachen, the district of Aachen, and the nine municipalities belonging to the district. Its regular meetings consisted of 60 representatives of the association members with voting rights, and focused on expanding cooperation between the members, road traffic management, school administration, and economic development. This was a predecessor to the 2009
Städteregion. In 2009, the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament reorganized the district to include the city of Aachen, modeled after the district of Hanover. The existing Aachen district was dissolved and the new
Städteregion Aachen took over tasks such as traffic planning and emergency services from the cities within it. == Geography ==