In the year 2020, according to the United Nations, there will be only five conurbation centres in Europe, each with more than five million inhabitants. One of these will be the Ruhr District. NRW is assuming the dimensions of a “hyper-city region” with more than 100 million people, due to the fact that the Rhine-Ruhr region is networking ever more visibly with the Rhine delta area in the Netherlands and with the Flemish triangle in Belgium. But this classification is no reason for delusions of grandeur. After all, whether a conurbation is a thriving region or one whose future is already behind it can only be answered at local level.