Cities in the Ruhr region need room to develop and invest. Their commercial areas must remain attractive to companies, while housing, transport and public spaces also need to be planned for the future.

Brockhoff & Partner points to the importance of reserving sufficient land for businesses and allowing existing sites to be modernised and used more intensively. Reliable regional planning can help cities balance economic development with quality of life and protect the Ruhr region’s competitiveness.

• Debt relief can restore capacity to act
• Lower trade taxes can attract companies
• Higher property tax deters investors

The report is dated 10.10.2019. Monheim reduced its trade tax to 300€ in 2012; the article argues that lower rates and infrastructure investment can attract businesses to the Ruhr.