Essen

Understand

thumb|Winding tower of "Zollverein" pit—Essen's most iconic landmark With almost 582,000 inhabitants (2020), Essen is a service and administrative city, with several large companies headquartered here.

Essen is a regional centre of the Ruhr area. Although its history goes back a long way, it was not until the middle of the 19th century that it grew from a small town to a large industrial city, with over 750,000 inhabitants at its heyday.

Essen was famous as a classic heavy industry centre; this has changed since the 1970s. Only a few symbols remain from the former mining industry. Steel production is no longer as important as it used to be. Like the rest of the Ruhr area, Essen is affected by emigration. From 1990 to 2008 alone, the population fell by almost 50,000. However, unlike most of the Ruhr area, Essen's economy is one of the strongest in Germany; it houses numerous energy companies (thus giving it the title of "energy capital of Germany") and logistics firms.

The meaning of the city name is unclear; it probably means "(place in) the east".

Get around

thumb|left|Light rail (blue) and trams (orange) Essen has an extensive Stadtbahn (light rail), tram, bus and night bus system.

The Light Rail (Stadtbahn, not to be confused with mainline S-Bahn suburban trains) has 3 routes: U11 from the Messe/Grugapark, U17 from Margarethenhöhe, U18 from Mülheim, that merge together south of the central station and cross the city centre underground together, with U18 terminating at Berliner Platz, U11 and U17 passing the University and stopping in Altenessen where U17 terminates and U11 continues into Gelsenkirchen-Horst.

The local tram network extends into Gelsenkirchen and Mülheim, it also runs underground in the city centre and shares some of its stations and routes with the Stadtbahn. The vast majority of trams are accessible, some stops still need to be upgraded with platforms and require boarding from the street, be careful of cars passing dangerously.

Buses have a vast network that covers most of the city, including with express buses, and there is a night service during weekend nights. All buses are disabled-accessible. During off-peak times some underused routes get replaced by a Taxibus (TB) service that requires prior booking.

S-Bahn trains connect the entire Ruhrgebiet and also cross Essen. There are 23 stations within the city.