Oberbilk is an inner-city urban quarter in the south-east of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

city of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. The back exit of the

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

leads to Oberbilk. The new District Court of Düsseldorf is located in Oberbilk since 2010, as is the main office of the Communal Library of Düsseldorf. Oberbilk is also home to the

Mitsubishi Electric Halle Mitsubishi Electric Halle (formerly branded ''Philips Halle'') is an indoor arena located in Düsseldorf, Germany. It opened in 1971 and has a capacity of 7,500 people. History It was originally named after Dutch electronics conglomerate Phi ...

, a concert arena with a capacity for 7,500. Oberbilk has a high population density, with 31,179 people (2020) living in just 3.94 km². 36.6% are non-German, which is higher than the 23.6% found in Düsseldorf as a whole. Traditionally Oberbilk was a working class borough containing

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

. This changed in the 1980s and, following restructuring, employment is now dominated by the third sector. Unemployment is high.

Geography

Oberbilk lies to the south-east of the Central Station and borders on Stadtmitte, Bilk,

Flingern Flingern is a quarter of Düsseldorf, part of Borough 2 (Düsseldorf), Borough 2. Located northeast of Düsseldorf (proper), it is divided into two ''Stadtteile'' today: Flingern-Nord and Flingern-Süd. While Flingern-Nord has a younger populati ...

, Lierenfeld and Wersten.

Public transport

In Oberbilk there are five underground lines, leading in one direction to the south of Düsseldorf, in the other direction to the Central District and the northern and western boroughs of the city. There are also metro lines to the neighboring cities of

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

and

Meerbusch Meerbusch () is a town in Rhein-Kreis Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It has been an incorporated town since 1970. Meerbusch is the municipality with the most income millionaires in North Rhine-Westphalia. Geography Meerbusch is a town i ...

Düsseldorf-Oberbilk station Düsseldorf-Oberbilk (Oberbilk Bf./PhilipsHalle for the subway station) is an interchange railway station situated at Oberbilk, Düsseldorf in western Germany. It is served by the S1, S6 and S68 lines of Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn,Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

, the

International Airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

, other parts of Düsseldorf,

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. The city is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan ...

Solingen Solingen (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. After Wuppertal, it is the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land, and a member of ...

, Ratingen Ost,

Mülheim Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is ho ...

and

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

. There are two tram lines and some bus lines as well.

History

Oberbilk was a part of Bilk from 1384. There were only a few farms then and agriculture dominated until 1838 when the

Düsseldorf–Elberfeld railway The Düsseldorf–Elberfeld railway is a 27 km long main line railway in Germany, originally built by the Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company, connecting Düsseldorf and Elberfeld (now Wuppertal) via Erkrath, Hochdahl and Vohwinkel. It ...

was built through Oberbilk; the Cologne-Minden railway followed in 1845. With good railway connections to the

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

s of the

Ruhr area The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

, the

steel industry Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high elastic modulus, yield strength, fracture strength and low raw material cost, steel is one of the ...

built factories in Oberbilk, starting in 1852 with the Belgian Richard Brothers' Pudelstahlwerk. The industrial dynasty of Poensgen settled in Oberbilk in the 1860s. The main part of Oberbilk was industrial or basic housing for the workers until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when much of it was destroyed. Until the 1970s, when the war damage was repaired, restoration was piecemeal and rents in Oberbilk, especially its central district, were very low, in contrast to most other parts of Düsseldorf. This attracted

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

and vice, with some

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

s operating in the borough. Oberbilk had three cinemas, a department store and a lot of small shops, but in the past many in Düsseldorf used to regard it as a problem area. In the 1980s the last industrial jobs left.

Restructuring

In the late 1970s, restructuring began. After the last steel factory left Oberbilk in 1979, the communal administration planned Oberbilk as a third sector area. In the 1980s the Central Station of Düsseldorf was renovated, after which the area behind the railway station was planned anew. Insurance offices, the main seat of the Communal Library (Stadtbücherei), the State Court for Labour and Social Law (Landesarbeits und Landessozialgericht) settled in Oberbilk, bringing employment in services. The quality of life is much higher than in the 1980s, but it's still one of the poorer parts of Düsseldorf.

References

{{Authority control

Oberbilk Oberbilk is an inner-city urban quarter in the south-east of the German city of Düsseldorf. The back exit of the Central Station leads to Oberbilk. The new District Court of Düsseldorf is located in Oberbilk since 2010, as is the main office ...