city harbour during
Hanse Sail The first German city region to work with the regiopolis concept is
Rostock. A taskforce with different actors such as the hanseatic city of Rostock, the administrative district of Rostock, the Regional Planning Association Mid Mecklenburg/Rostock and the local business organizations is working on the promotion of the concept. They aim to build up a national and a European network of regiopolis, comparable to the network of European Metropolitan Regions and Areas.
Characteristics of the Rostock Regiopolis • Rostock is the urban center in between the metropolitan areas of
Hamburg to the west,
Szczecin to the east,
Copenhagen-Malmö to the north and
Berlin to the south; • Rostock region is the German gateway to the Baltic states, Russia and to Scandinavia; • Rostock is the economically strongest city of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania; • Rostock Port is a major hub in Northern Germany; • more than 30 of the 100 biggest enterprises in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania operate in Rostock Region; • the oldest university in Northern Europe is located in Rostock; • Rostock is the biggest city in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, with more people moving in than moving out; • Rostock Region lies on the European axis connecting the Baltic and the Adriatic Sea; • Rostock is host to the annual "
Hanse Sail" event; • Rostock is the major destination of city tourism in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania; • Rostock Region is a location within the "BioConValley" research network.
Achievements • The concept of Regiopolis was developed at the
University of Kassel in 2006; •
Rostock was the first city to adopt the concept; • since 2009 it has been more and more widely discussed within the region; • the term is increasingly adopted by the federal and the state governments; • in 2009 the first congress of German Regiopolises was initiated by the Rostock Region; • in 2010 the first mayors’ conference of Rostock Region was held; • in 2011 an informal meeting of representatives of potential other regiopolises was held in
Berlin; • in 2012 the agency of the Regiopolis has been established; • A cooperation agreement has been signed by the main partners of Regiopolis Rostock - City of Rostock, administrative district Rostock, chamber of commerce Rostock, Ministry for Energy, Infrastructure and Regional Development Mecklenburg Western Pomerania and the planning association Region Rostock. • In March 2013, the Regiopolis Rostock organized the workshop for "potential Regiopolises and other city-regions cooperation" in Berlin. • In April 2013, the festival regio:polis has been organized for the first time. It displays the plurality of arts and cultural events in the Regiopolis of Rostock. • A taskforce for the future development of the Rostock Regiopolis was established in 2013. • In 2014, the Regiopolis Rostock celebrated the regio:polis festival again, this time with partners from
Guldborgsund Municipality (Denmark). • In 2015, the cities of
Bielefeld and
Paderborn started to adopt the concept.
Erfurt is implementing it already. • In 2022, the brand GREATER ROSTOCK was published. It communicates the strengths of the Regiopolis Rostock within Germany and abroad. ==See also==