Now Vienna surpassed Hamburg by 51.000 inhabitants!

The results of the German Census 2011 has been published on May 31th 2013 and represents the feeling of many people that Vienna (with its 1.757.353 inhabitants according to "Statistik Austria") is the second largest metropolis in the German speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg), right after Berlin (with its 3.292.365 citizens, according to the newspaper "Berliner Morgenpost"). 

This makes Hamburg (with its 1.706.696 people according to the newspaper "Welt") the 3rd largest city in the German speaking countries and Munich the 4rd largest city (with its 1.443.112 inhabitants according to Munich City Officials). Cologne (with its 1.005.775 citizens according to the newspaper "Express") ranks 5th slightly above the one-million mark.

The 5 cities in the German speaking countries with more than a million citizens are as follows: 

1. Berlin: __________   3.292 millions
2. Vienna/Wien: _____  1.757 millions
3. Hamburg: ________  1.706 millions
4. Munich/München: __ 1.443 millions 
5. Cologne/Köln: _____  1.005 millions

Since I had the opportunity to visit many world cities (all over Europe, in the USA, Asia, Australia and even Africa) I experienced that the feel of a city (whether or not the city feels like a metropolis) depends strongly on its population density. 
So with respect to the cultural density, in line with the population density, a different picture can be drawn:              

1. Munich/München: __    4.649 people/km²
2. Vienna/Wien: ______    4.238 people/km²
3. Berlin: ____________   3.692 people/km²
4. Cologne/Köln: ______   2.482 people/km²
5. Hamburg: __________  2.261 people/km²

From a psychogeographic viewpoint and also considering Teilhard de Jardin's Omega point, there is a special evolutionary quality when cities have high population densities. This cultural density comes from biological pressure deriving from accumulated aggregation caused by many people living together on a small spot. This accelerates evolution. 

So to get a full picture for the sensible cultural density when being in a city, it is important to respect both factors: first the absolute inhabitant figures and second the population density figures of a given city. The sensible grade of differentiation of a city goes also along with its grade of diversity and heterogeneity.

I would say it can be seen as a rule of thumb, that the more diverse a city is the more creativity is set free and the more innovations come from think tanks due to the eclectic influences and different strategies people use.

So as the results of the Census 2011 also have shown, not just Hamburg has lost 82.833 people but also many other cities in Northern Germany such as Bremen, Osnabrück, Hildesheim, Salzgitter have shrunk. In contrast to this Vienna and Munich are growing. 

© by Dr. Dr. Immanuel Fruhmann
Global Philosopher