Berlin did not find a place among the most dynamically developing German megacities
The cities of the Federal Republic generate steady interest and sympathy among foreigners. As 'Russkaya Germaniya' notes, many foreign guests consider the German capital not only the largest but also the most dynamically developing metropolis. However, Berliners themselves are probably not so pleased to realize that the city on the Spree lags behind many others, from Munich to Münster, from the Rhine to the Main, in most major economic-demographic disciplines – in terms of employment, tax collection, and population growth.
Experts from the Federal Institute for Building, Urban and Spatial Research (Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung, BBSR), who prepared a detailed analytical document examining the growth and shrinkage of German cities and municipalities, came to a clear conclusion not in Berlin's favor. The institute's detailed work assesses the scale and development prospects of megacities, medium and small towns, and rural regions of the Federal Republic from the perspective of six main factors – from simple population growth to increases in the number of people able to work and actually working, unemployment, and tax collection.
Alas, Berlin did not find a place among the most dynamically developing German megacities: image is one thing, the corresponding indicators in boring tables are fundamentally another. According to the BBSR classification, Berlin and Hamburg fall into the category of 'growing cities,' but they lag noticeably in development pace behind Münster, Munich, Hanover, Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main, Cologne, Bonn, and Koblenz, which are recognized as 'fast-growing cities.' 'Shrinking' became, for example, Bremen: although the population here increased minimally from 2008 to 2013, this one factor is clearly insufficient for overall growth. A significant decrease in corporate tax revenue over the same period predetermined the city on the Weser with state status falling into the category of lagging cities.
The same fate befell many cities in the Ruhr region – the most densely populated agglomeration in Europe, the lion's share of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia (except for the mentioned Münster, also Düsseldorf, Cologne and areas south of it), the surroundings of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg, and almost the entire federal state of Saarland.
The study allows us to consider Münster (its population from 2008 to 2013 increased by 8.9%), Frankfurt am Main (+7.6%), Darmstadt (+7.3%), and Munich (plus 7%) as the most 'popular' German cities. Three East German cities – Leipzig, Potsdam, and Dresden – also made it into the top ten.
The BBSR study includes Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart, Hanover, Frankfurt am Main, and Freiburg among the cities around which the so-called 'Speckgürtel' (fat belt) – prosperous suburbs inhabited mainly by wealthy and successful citizens – continues to grow. The situation is different on the Rhine, as well as around the consistently developing cities of the former GDR – Leipzig and Dresden, notes Antonia Milbert, author of the project at the Institute for Building, Urban and Spatial Research. Here, suburbs and surroundings do not experience the positive influence of the neighboring metropolis: apparently, these cities themselves, in terms of the balance between quality of life and housing prices, provide conditions that do not require moving to the suburbs.
The greatest population decline is experienced by small municipalities located far from large cities – and not only in the east of the country, where the problem of outflow of residents has been discussed for a long time. The 'champion' of Germany in losses was the district of Osterheide on the southern tip of the Lüneburg Heath – a flat triangle in Lower Saxony, stretching between Wolfsburg, Hamburg and Hanover: from here, 12.8% of the population fled over a five-year period. Saxon Johanngeorgenstadt in the Ore Mountains on the border with the Czech Republic lost 12.1% of its residents, and Büdenstedt in eastern Lower Saxony lost 11.9%.
Among small towns, only some resorts, mainly on the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas and in Bavaria, are able to resist the steady trend of their decline.
Overall, researchers note changes in the urban landscape of Germany. The population of large cities grew by almost 3% from 2008 to 2013, but medium and small cities noticeably 'lost weight' over the same period. In the new federal states, this trend is still much stronger than in the old ones. The population is declining especially rapidly in sparsely populated rural regions of the country.