Thuringian city chain
Thuringian chain of cities: Erfurt, Jena and Gera highlighted as regional centers and potential regiopoles . |
The term Thuringian chain of cities describes a 130-kilometer-long imaginary line on which the six largest cities in the German state of Thuringia line up in a west-east direction.
description
The Thuringian city chain begins in the west of the country near the border with Hesse in Eisenach , the sixth largest city in Thuringia. 30 km to the east follows Gotha , the fifth largest city in Thuringia, 20 km east of Gotha is Erfurt , the largest city and state capital of Thuringia. Another 20 km east of Erfurt is Weimar , the fourth largest city, and 20 km east of Weimar is Jena , the second largest city in the country. The Thuringian chain of cities ends 40 km east of Jena in Gera , the third largest city in Thuringia.
The central area around the cities of Erfurt, Weimar and Jena has the highest population density in the state. The three cities have a combined population of over 375,000; With the surrounding area, almost a quarter of the Thuringian population lives in this 1500 km² area (about a tenth of the area of the country).
Erfurt, Jena and Gera are considered to be potential regiopolises , which already played a role in the 2008 urban development concept of Erfurt for networking with neighboring cities to form a regiopole region .
The Thuringian city chain is also the most important transport axis in the country. All cities are connected by the A 4 , the B 7 and the Eisenach – Gotha – Erfurt – Weimar and Weimar – Jena – Gera railway lines. It is also the most important economic area in the country; the Erfurt-Weimar-Jena region is one of the strongest economic areas in the new federal states .
The four middle cities of the city chain are located in a similar way: They are all located at the intersection of two former trade routes (the city chain and a path in north-south direction), which today have mostly become federal roads, and in the valley of a larger river (mostly in South-north direction).
The 240 km long long- distance cycle path Thuringian city chain connects the six cities from Creuzburg and leads to Altenburg . It is part of the long- distance cycle route network in Germany , the Mittelland Route (D4) from Aachen to Görlitz. This long-distance cycle route connects the big cities of Thuringia as well as major tourist attractions.
history
The term itself is more recent and was only established after Thuringia was re-established in 1990. The emergence of the chain of cities as the population center of the country was primarily a result of industrialization and migration processes from 1850. The three western cities of Eisenach, Gotha and Erfurt had been connected by the Via Regia , one of the most important long-distance trade routes in Central Europe, and already belonged since the Middle Ages since then one of the largest cities in the state. Weimar, located south of this trade route, owed its rise to the time as the residence of the Ernestines in the early modern period, while Jena and Gera only became prominent points in the regional city network with the industrialization of the late 19th century. Compared to the northern and southern environs, the construction of the main railway lines in 1847 and 1876 as well as the motorway in the 1930s provided an infrastructural advantage that has caused further congestion since then, so that the proportion of the population living in the area continues to rise steadily compared to the rest of the state. Furthermore, the chain of cities has been broadcasting regionally since around 2005, for example to the south around Gotha, where the area around Waltershausen and Ohrdruf developed above average, and along the new federal motorway 71 on the one hand to Arnstadt south of Erfurt, on the other hand also to a lesser extent in the Sömmerda / Kölleda area north of the state capital.
See also
literature
- Thuringian chain of cities - discover fascinating history, culture and nature by bike . 1: 75,000, BVA Bielefelder Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-87073-415-2
Individual evidence
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Erfurt urban development concept (PDF; 22.0 MB)