Aachen (district)

The district of Aachen (Städteregion Aachen) is a district in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heinsberg, Düren, Euskirchen, and also the Netherlands province of Limburg and the Belgian province of Liège. Its administrative body is the Städteregionsparlament ("regional parliament"), headed by the Städteregionspräsident or "region president" (Tim Grüttemeier (CDU) since 2019).

As of 21 October 2009, the Städteregion Aachen (literally: "cities region" Aachen) was formed from the former district Aachen (Kreis Aachen) and the city of Aachen. This is the first Städteregion that was formed in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its status is similar to that of the district Hanover (Region Hannover) in Lower Saxony, in that the powers of the city of Aachen are slightly less than those of a district-free city (Kreisfreie Stadt).

History
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
Geographically the district covers a part of the Eifel mountains in the south, but also the lowlands of the Lower Rhine Bay.

Coat of arms
The top of the coat of arms shows the black lion, the sign of Jülich, as the district contains mostly former parts of the duchy of Jülich. In the bottom the swan on a deer antler is the sign of the city of Burtscheid, which was the capital of the Landkreis Aachen until 1897, when it was incorporated into the city of Aachen.