What are the characteristics of traditional industrial zones in Germany?

After 1950s, the economy of traditional industrial areas began to decline, and the root causes of the decline in Ruhr area are as follows.

1. Single production structure. Ruhr is rich in coal resources, and with its convenient traffic conditions, iron ore can be transported from nearby. According to its main location conditions, Ruhr's industry is naturally dominated by coal and steel. Finally, Ruhr is based on coal industry, led by steel industry, and the industrial production of electricity, machinery and chemical industry is highly concentrated, that is, Ruhr has formed five traditional industrial sectors of coal, steel, electricity, machinery and chemical industry. In this economic structure, if the production of one industrial sector declines, it will cause the production of the whole region to decline.

2. The status of coal energy is declining. Since 1950s, with the development of social economy, the improvement of people's living standards and the development of exploration technology, oil and natural gas have been widely used. In the composition of world energy consumption, the proportion of coal is gradually decreasing, while the proportion of oil and natural gas is gradually increasing. On the other hand, due to the progress of science and technology, the consumption of coal in steelmaking is gradually decreasing, which makes the energy status of coal begin to decline, which directly leads to the decline of market demand for coal, which in turn affects the iron and steel industry and eventually causes a chain reaction and a decline in output in the whole region.

3. There is a surplus of steel in the world. After 1950s, with the development of social economy, more and more countries produced and exported steel. After independence, developing countries actively developed national industries, which made the competition in the world steel market fierce and the market demand decreased one after another. Subsequently, the economic crisis in the 1970s and the widespread use of steel substitutes (such as aluminum alloy and plastic steel) led to a sharp decrease in steel consumption in the world, which showed a worldwide steel surplus and led to the shrinkage of the steel industry in Ruhr. ?

4. The influence of the new technological revolution. With the continuous improvement of productive forces, every innovation in the scientific and technological revolution will promote the rapid development of industrial production, not only produce a large number of emerging industrial sectors, but also change the traditional industrial production and organization methods. Ruhr was born in the second technological revolution from 65438 to 70' s. After about a century of prosperity, it encountered the severe challenge of the third technological revolution since the 1950s, which made the traditional production and organization methods of industrial enterprises in Ruhr district unsuitable for the development of the times, which was also the fundamental reason for the decline of Ruhr district. Ruhr area was in its heyday before 1950s, and its industrial layout had reached a certain density and scale, which was basically in a "saturated state". If a new industrial sector is built, there will be problems such as land, water, electricity, public facilities and environmental pollution. Therefore, those emerging industrial sectors (such as electronics industry and aerospace industry) emerging in the new technological revolution (the third technological revolution) are reluctant to set up factories and mine here. They rearranged production in places with suitable environment and conditions, thus forming new industrial zones and weakening the economic strength of the old industrial zones.