The Federation, North Rhine-Westphalia and the municipal government, as the main political decision makers, promote the transformation of Ruhr area according to law within their respective responsibilities. For example, the Federal District Development Planning Committee of the federal government and the Executive Committee of the Ministry of Economic Affairs are responsible for funding the transformation of old industrial bases. The role of governments at all levels is mainly reflected in providing social security and reducing social tension. In view of the shrinking industry and employment difficulties, they have taken many "shock absorption" measures and implemented a rest and recuperation strategy. In addition, Ruhr pays more attention to endogenous regional development and establishes a democratic management mechanism. North Rhine-westfalen divided the whole state into 15 regions, and established a regional parliament. Its members include representatives of towns, trade associations, trade unions, social work institutions and "groups demanding equal rights". District meetings are held twice a year? Three times, its task is to analyze and study the market, discuss the local development potential and issues related to labor and employment market, infrastructure, environmental protection, energy, housing quality, technological development and so on. , formulate development strategies and goals, determine specific measures and put forward specific projects. This is the basis of national decision-making. Decentralization creates transparent procedures for public decision-making, and more importantly, decentralization enables regional cooperation, which promotes the self-cohesion and self-development of those who tend to be decentralized.
Second, change the single economic structure and diversify the regional economic development.
First of all, traditional enterprises should be centralized, rationalized, reformed and reorganized. At 1966? During the period of 1976, the government allocated1500 million marks to support the centralized transformation of coal mines and formulated corresponding policies to protect the coal industry. 1969, 26 coal companies in Ruhr District jointly established Ruhr Coal Company, concentrated coal mining in large mines with high mechanization and high profits, closed unprofitable small enterprises, re-planned, unified deployed and guided the production of the whole Ruhr coalfield, and implemented overall mechanization. In the same period, the iron and steel industry also carried out equipment renewal and technical transformation, closed or merged old factories, expanded new ones, adjusted the inside and outside of enterprises, and strengthened the specialization and cooperation within and between enterprises. Now steel production is concentrated in several large enterprises. In order to facilitate the transportation of goods, the Ruhr area has also adjusted the layout of steel and metallurgical industries. In addition, while rectifying the coal and steel industries, the scientific and technological content of traditional industries is also constantly improving. For example, the special steel products, coal mining equipment and oil refining technology in Ruhr always rank among the top in the world.
Secondly, Ruhr is committed to the diversified and integrated development of mining economy. Taking the improvement of environmental conditions as a breakthrough, the district has extensively attracted investment and vigorously supported the establishment of emerging industries such as chemistry, automobile, machinery manufacturing, information communication and environmental protection on the basis of strengthening infrastructure construction and concentrating on land development and utilization. Retail, tourism, legal advice, advertising, multimedia and other emerging service industries are in full bloom. At present, there are 6.5438+0.5 million enterprises in Ruhr District, most of which are tertiary industries. In addition, in order to promote the development of high technology, North Rhine-Westphalia stipulates that enterprises in emerging industries such as information technology, large enterprise investors will be given 28% economic subsidies, and small enterprise investors will be given 18% economic subsidies. Preferential policies and strong support measures have enabled information, telecommunications and other "new economy" industries to flourish in Ruhr. At present, there are more than 1 1000 enterprises engaged in data processing, software and information services in North Rhine-Westphalia, and there are more than 380 telecom companies, most of which are located in Ruhr District.
After years of efforts, Ruhr District has gradually changed from a "coal and steel center" to a new economic zone where traditional industries such as coal and steel are combined with "new economy" industries such as information technology and service industry, and all industries develop in harmony. The adjustment of industrial structure in Ruhr District has achieved remarkable results.
Third, give full play to the advantages of science and technology and promote the transformation of science and technology into real productive forces.
In order to meet the demand for talents and technology in industrial transformation, Ruhr cities such as Bochum and Dortmund have set up universities since 196 1, and started the wave of university construction. Ruhr District has become the industrial zone with the highest density of universities in Europe, with more than 654.38+0.4 million students, of whom 63.5% are students majoring in science and engineering and economics, which is 654.38+0.2 percentage points higher than the national level. In view of the development direction and unique resources of the region, these universities and research institutes have vigorously carried out applied technology research and continuously delivered technological achievements, which has played an important role in promoting the transformation of industrial structure. Almost all cities in Ruhr have established technology development centers. At present, there are 30 technology centers and 600 companies in the whole region devoted to developing new technologies.
Ruhr also has a system to turn technology into market application. All universities and research institutes have "technology transformation centers" to help enterprises transform technology into productivity. The government has also established many scenic high-tech parks in Ruhr District, and provided support for enterprises settled here. Newly established companies can get preferential treatment such as low-interest loans or partial free assistance, especially small and medium-sized companies.
Fourth, improve the construction of transportation infrastructure.
Ruhr district has a dense railway and highway network and a well-developed transportation system. There are two ICE high-speed railways from Dortmund, a famous industrial city in Ruhr, to Cologne, with a speed of 300 kilometers per hour. Expressway in Ruhr is criss-crossed, and it is very easy for cars to enter expressway from urban roads. The urban transportation facilities in Ruhr district are also perfect. Take Dortmund as an example. Besides buses, there are four light rail lines, six subway lines and two tram lines in this city.
The dense and convenient road and railway transportation network has also promoted the development of shipping in the Rhine River basin. Land-water combined transport has formed a unified transport system, which has greatly strengthened the close ties between industrial zones and made important contributions to the economic development of the whole region. Now, Duisburg has become the largest inland river port in the world because of the rise of Ruhr area.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) has made remarkable achievements in environmental protection and resource development and construction.
The achievements of the new look of Ruhr District are attributed to effective environmental management. In order to eradicate public hazards, the government invested in the establishment of environmental protection agencies, promulgated environmental protection laws and regulations, and made unified planning. First of all, transform the river to solve the water pollution problem. Four reservoirs and 108 clarifier were built on the river surface with a length of 100 km to purify sewage. Secondly, an air quality monitoring system has been established in the whole region, and devices for recovering harmful gases and dust have been set up in various factories to effectively control air pollution. In addition, the region has also carried out large-scale afforestation, protected green spaces and wetlands, and developed new energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy. In Ruhr area, windmills for developing wind energy can be seen everywhere.
Ruhr district is good at turning waste into treasure and developing and utilizing old industrial resources. Traditionally, industry and tourism seem to be antagonistic, but in Ruhr, people's ideas have quietly changed. One of them is to develop industrial tourism, and the most typical one is to transform abandoned mines and workshops into industrial history museums. 1998 The planning agency of Ruhr District has worked out the regional tourist routes connecting the tourist attractions in the whole region. This "industrial heritage road" connects 19 industrial tourist attractions, 6 national museums and 12 typical industrial towns, covering almost the whole Ruhr area. Ruhr district also declared its industrial heritage and culture as world cultural heritage and won this honor.