ABSTRACT

Munich is situated in the south of Germany. It is the capital of the State of Bavaria and, with a population of 1.3 million, the third largest city of Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg. The city is the centre of an urban region with about 2.4 million inhabitants. Munich is presently the only big city in Germany that is not losing population. Besides the city of Munich, the urban region comprises eight Landkreisen with populations varying from 97,000 to 278,000. These administrative bodies are clusters of relatively small but influential municipalities.