Aachen (district)

The district of Aachen (German: Städteregion Aachen) is a special form of municipal association (German: Kommunalverband besonderer Art) in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, at the triple border of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Neighbouring districts are Heinsberg, Düren and Euskirchen, along with the Dutch province of Limburg and the Belgian province of Liège. The administrative seat is Aachen. The Städteregion Aachen was established on 21 October 2009 as the legal successor to the former Kreis Aachen, which was dissolved on the same date. The nine municipalities of the former district and the city of Aachen together form the Städteregion, with a total population of 582,463 over an area of 707.15 km². It is the first regional model of its kind in North Rhine-Westphalia; precedents exist in Lower Saxony with the Region Hannover and in the Saarland with the Regionalverband Saarbrücken. The city of Aachen holds a special legal position within the structure, with powers slightly less than those of a district-free city (Kreisfreie Stadt). The district's administrative body is the Städteregionstag (regional parliament), headed by the Städteregionsrat Dr. Tim Grüttemeier (CDU) since 2019.