Each MINIInternational print magazine issue takes a particular global city as its theme, showcasing its culture, people and pulsating life. MINIInternational absorbs the world and conveys it to its readers. Read a selection of articles right here online.

MINIInternational #30: The Ruhr Metropolis

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The "Ruhr Metropolis" is fast becoming an insider tip. Everyone knows London and Berlin, but if you want to see or hear something really new, out of the ordinary and unconventional, take a look around the Ruhr district - one of Europe's most extensive conurbations. Just because the down-to-earth citizens of the Ruhr don't bang the drum as loudly as others doesn't mean they have nothing to say. more

Blogger in the boardroom

A website is the latest career high-flier in the Ruhr: derwesten.de is the name of the online site of media enterprise WAZ, whose chief editor is arguably Germany's best-known female blogger - Katharina Borchert. She became popular with "Lyssa's Lounge", a blog treating such themes as men and women, love and sex, and life among the digital in-crowd. Since then she has moved into the boardroom of a traditional media corporation.  more

Where the town of Unna glows brightly

Instead of beer, Unna now serves up art - light-art, to be precise. Among the convoluted vaults of the 150-year-old Linden Brewery there are now light-art works to be discovered, created by leading international artists like James Turell, Olafur Eliasson and Christian Boltanski. And shining brightly into the heavens above the Ruhr district is a stunning installation by Mario Merz.  more

Deep house from the Ruhr takes off

Yes, there's the Love Parade and Herbert Grönemeyer's song "Bochum", but there's a great deal more to music in the Ruhr region than that. Because so many different people live in this vast conurbation, the music scene is similarly multifaceted, ranging from deep house to electro trash to jazzy avant-garde. There's something for everyone in the region's club and indie scene.  more

To hell with fashion

Gothic is at the cutting edge. True aficionados don't buy their sombre gear from Dolce & Gabbana or Givenchy, but in the "Kohlenpott", the Ruhr's former coalmining area. To be precise, they source their clothes from a fashion company aptly named "Aderlass" ("bloodletting"). Here you can get floor-length dresses, tutus, miniskirts and elegant frock coats - all in deepest black. more

MINIInternational: People Video Ruhr

From underground theater performers in old coal mines to designers using industrial structures, the Ruhr Metropolis is a hub for creative networkers with the "Ruhr Spirit". more

MINIInternational: City Video Ruhr

Coal mines and various abandoned industrial structures serve as a backdrop for the creative efforts in the Ruhr Metropolis - A stark contrast to the polished, uber-urban appearance of most of today's creative hotspots. more

Local Heroes

Coal and steel are out; the Ruhr district has now trained its sights on design. Creativity rather than hard graft underground is the watchword. Essen and the other cities in the region are pulling out all the stops to become one of Europe's leading centres of design. Playing a highly active part in this are the people from Dortmund's Heimatdesign agency. They organise exhibitions, publish a design magazine and run their own shop selling design products "made by local heroes". Find out more about Heimatdesign and the best designers in the Ruhr metropolis. more

Phillip Boa

Phillip Boa is known as a moody enfant terrible of the German indie scene - one who has achieved huge international success. He habitually causes a stir with his music, which straddles pop and avant-garde, and the vicious abuse he flings at his audiences. In an interview with MINIInternational, the Dortmund performer talks about the wild days of the past in the Ruhr clubs, where he met future stars such as DJ Westbam, sizes up the contemporary music scene in the area, explains why he likes the people of the Ruhr and describes how he would like to see the future pan out. more

Solar City Gelsenkirchen

Who's got the biggest? In the city of Gelsenkirchen, companies, residents and the council are competing for the largest solar installation. Where once coking plants burnt off mine gas, today the sun shines down on 180 photovoltaic cells. As a result, the "solar city" of Gelsenkirchen is already generating three million kilowatt hours of electricity a year. Even the Schalke 04 football team are in on the game. 
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A plug for the new MINI - exclusive interview with the creators

MINI is preparing to release a fleet of 500 purely electrically driven cars onto American roads. Selected MINI fans will be asked to give the MINI E a thorough workout over the course of the year and use their experiences to help the MINI experts perfect its innovative drive system. Dr Wolfgang Armbrecht, Senior Vice President Brand Management MINI, and Ulrich Kranz, Head of Project i, present the new MINI E. more