Germany is on the way to becoming a service oriented society. This can be illustrated especially with the Rhine-Main area. The most important city of the region is Frankfurt [1]. In the course of its history [2] it became an important political, administrative and commercial centre. Even in the time of the Romans the city on the Main was a central supply base for the neighbouring garrisons. Today, the district name "Römerstadt" still refers to this period in Frankfurt's history.
Frankfurt became a supra-regional commercial city under the "Staufer" during the Middle Ages. The development was, above all, supported by Frederick II.; Frankfurt was determined to be a so-called "market of the markets" (Dieckhoff 1987: 312). This meant, that even then Frankfurt had markets of supra-regional importance, and which were also designated as fairs. As a fair-city [3], Frankfurt attracted the first booksellers [4] in the year 1478. In 1530 typography was established in Frankfurt. Because of the connection of fair and typography, the city became the most important printing centre in Germany, which is still reflected in the book fair today and in the presence of important publishing houses such as Suhrkamp [5] and Fischer.
In the course of the 17th/18th centuries, the economic structure of the city was determined by the settlement of religious refugees or by a growing concentration of Jewish citizens. Especially the Protestants, who had been coming since the middle of the 16th century, were wealthy tradepeople. In contrast to this, the Jewish population was more committed to financial affairs and stock exchange transactions (Pletsch 1989: 213). In this context the significance of Frankfurt as a financial centre grew; in the 18th and 19th century the city was pre-eminent on the European money market. The first big banks were created, for example the "Bankhaus Bethmann" [6] or the "Frankfurter Gesellschaftsbank" as the first company-bank.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the region underwent an economic crisis, caused by the crash in Wall Street and the world depression which followed. After the Second World War, Frankfurt got a new impulse and it could continue the traditions as an accepted metropolis in the Federal Republic of Germany. In this time, the city was favoured to become the new capital, but it wasn't nominated for geopolitical reasons. Frankfurt was situated too close to the frontier to the East Bloc and the Allies didn't like to have a unit of political and economic power in one city. On Allied initiative, the "Bank der deutschen Länder" [Bank of the German lands] (the predecessor of the German Federal Bank) was transferred from Berlin to Frankfurt in 1948. In this context, many companies and associations moved from Berlin to the Rhine-Main area. The first fair after the war took place on 3.10.1948. Further more Frankfurt was the Allies' contact base optimally located inside Germany, which is confirmed by the proximity to the airport [7].
Today, you can find more than 400 national and foreign finance and credit institutes [8]. This number shows the great importance of Frankfurt as one of the most important financial centres in the world. Some of the finance institutes that stand out are the "Deutsche Bundesbank"[9] (reserve bank [10] of the Federal Republic), the European Central Bank [11] and the "Frankfurter Börse"[12] (stock exchange of Frankfurt), where about 80% of the returns of all German stock exchanges are done.
Apart from other big banks [13] like "Deutsche Bank", "Commerzbank" and "Dresdner Bank" as German enterprises and "Bankers Trust International" and "Schweizerische Bank Gesellschaft" as foreign enterprises regional banks, private banks, saving banks and "Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken" are also represented.
Next to the banks, the importance of the Rhine-Main area [14] as an important location for the service sector can be illustrated by the presence of numerous other service companies [15] such as assurances (e.g., R+V Versicherungen), advertising agencies, head offices of multinational firms (e.g., Nestlé, Ferrero), and by the concentration of media companies like radio and t.v. stations and national newspapers. The t.v. stations ZDF and SAT1, for example, are located in Mainz whereas Frankfurt is home of the Hessische Rundfunk The two national newspapers Frankfurter Rundschau and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung are also published in Frankfurt.
Fairs and conferences [16] are other important functions of the region. In total, 34 fairs with 40,600 exhibitors and 1.6 million visitors take place in Frankfurt (numbers for 2003). Especially the Book Fair and the International Automobile Exhibit (IAA) gain international reputation.
Most of these functions are concentrated in the inner-city of Frankfurt. Here, the banks are located mainly in the so-called bank district that stretches from the downtown area over the area surrounding the main station up to a mostly residential neighbourhood, the Westend. Due to this spatial concentration the typical skyline of several skyscrapers emerged and gave Frankfurt its nickname ‘Mainhattan [17]’.
In this context, further spatial concentrations of tertiary functions took place. One noticeable example is the ‘office city’ of Niederrad that is located in the vicinity of Frankfurt Airport and thus provides a good office or firm location.
Frankfurt Airport is part of the more recent developments in the region. It was founded in 1911/12 in Zeppelinheim, a little town close to Frankfurt. With the foundation of the Deutsche Lufthansa [18] airline in 1926, a systematic expansion of air traffic started in Germany which lead to the expansion of the airport. Since the 1950s, the number of passengers as well as the amount of freight [19] has grown enormously and contributes to the development of the region. Regarding freight, Frankfurt Airport is the biggest airport in Europe. Many parts of the town as well as many neighbouring communities profit directly from the vicinity of the airport. This holds true for example for the town of Kelsterbach which is the location of several cargo agencies. The importance regarding freight can also be seen in the circumstance that almost the whole of Germany is regarded as the catchment area for the airport. Furthermore, many supply companies for air cargo packaging are located in the Frankfurt area. The influential function of Frankfurt Airport is also illustrated by ongoing expansion plans [20] (e.g., Cargo City Süd, a new runway, expansion of the terminal).
Employment [21] is another factor that reveals the importance of the Rhine-Main area as a tertiary centre. In total, 3.8 million inhabitants live in the region (1991); 65 percent of them live in rural districts that are surrounding the cities. However, 53 percent of a total of 1.9 million work-places can be found in the city districts. Only 16 percent of the population live in Frankfurt itself where 29 percent of the work-places are located. In the Rhine-Main area, out of 100 inhabitants 90 are employed. This is a much higher number than in any other comparable German city (Freund 1991: 276).
This short overview shows that Frankfurt already became a metropolis quite early. The national and international significance of the Rhine-Main area [22] is growing constantly. It does not only consist of the city of Frankfurt with a strong service sector but also of other towns such as Ruesselsheim [23] (location of Opel), Offenbach [24] and Hanau [25] that are important industrial locations. Due to its excellent situation, the Rhine-Main area will remain the service metropolis of Europe also in the course of globalization.
Links: ZDF, SAT 1, Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurter Rundschau, FAZ
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