Essen is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of 574,682 makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after

Dortmund is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city of t