Post-war, most of the historic buildings in the city centre were not restored, and large parts of the inner city area were completely rebuilt in the style of the 1950s. A few historic buildings such as the main churches Reinoldikirche and Marienkirche were restored or rebuilt, and extensive parks and gardens were laid out. The simple but successful postwar rebuilding has resulted in a very mixed and unique inner cityscape. Today nearly 30 % of the city consists of buildings from before World War II. Dortmund was in the British zone of occupation of Germany, and became part of the new state (Land) of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946. The LWL-Industriemuseum was founded in 1969. In 1987 the pit Minister Stein closed, marking the end of more than 150 years of coal mining. Dortmund has since adapted, with its century-long steel and coal industries having been replaced by high-technology areas, including biomedical technology, micro systems technology, and services. This has led Dortmund to become a regional centre for hi-tech industry.

In 2001 a new era began for the district Hörde in Dortmund, 160 years of industrial history ended with the beginning of the Phoenix See. The development of the Phoenix See area was carried out by a subsidiary of the Stadtwerke AG. In 2005 the first cornerstone was laid on the Phoenix area. The work started with full speed to manage the work with over 2.5 million meters of ground motion and 420.000 cubic meters of ferroconcrete. On 1 October 2010, the largest and most highly anticipated milestone could be celebrated: the launch of the flooding of the Phoenix See. Since 9 May 2011, the fences disappeared and the Phoenix See has been completed. In 2009, Dortmund was classified as a Node city in the Innovation Cities Index published by 2thinknow and is the most sustainable city in Germany.

On 3 November 2013, more than 20,000 people were evacuated after a 4,000-pound bomb from World War II was found. German authorities safely defused the bomb. The bomb was found after analysing old aerial photographs while searching for unexploded bombs dropped by Allied aircraft over Germany's industrial Ruhr region.

Dortmund is an independent city located in the east of the Ruhr area, one of the largest urban areas in Europe (see also: megalopolis), comprising eleven independent cities and four districts with some 5.3 million inhabitants. The city limits of Dortmund itself are 87 km (54 mi) long and border twelve cities, two independent and ten kreisangehörig (i.e., belonging to a district), with a total population of approximately 2.4 million. The following cities border Dortmund (clockwise starting from west): Bochum, Castrop-Rauxel, Waltrop, Lünen, Kamen, Unna, Holzwickede, Schwerte, Hagen, Herdecke, and Witten. Historically speaking, Dortmund is a part of Westphalia which is situated in the Bundesland North Rhine-Westphalia. Moreover, Dortmund is part of Westphalian Lowland and adjoins with the Ardey Hills, in the south of the city, to the Sauerland.

The Ruhr forms the reservoir on the Hengsteysee next to the borough of Syburg in the south of Dortmund between the cities of Hagen and Herdecke, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Klusenberg, a hill that is part of the Ardey range, is located just north of the Hengsteysee and the highest point of Dortmund 254.3 m (834 ft). There is also a pumped-storage plant on this reservoir, named Koepchenwerk. The lowest point can be found in the northern borough of Brechten at 48.9 m (160 ft).

The Emscher is a small river and has its wellspring in Holzwickede, east of the city of Dortmund, and flows west through Dortmund. Towns along the Emscher take in Dortmund, Castrop-Rauxel, Herne, Recklinghausen, Gelsenkirchen, Essen, Bottrop, Oberhausen, and Dinslaken, where it flows into the Rhine.

Dortmund comprises 62 neighbourhoods which in turn are grouped into twelve boroughs (called "Stadtbezirke"), often named after the most important neighbourhood. Three boroughs cover the area of the inner city (Innenstadt-West (City centre West), Innenstadt-Nord (City centre North), Innenstadt-Ost (City centre East)) and the remaining nine boroughs make up the surrounding area (Eving, Scharnhorst, Brackel, Aplerbeck, Hörde, Hombruch, Lütgendortmund, Huckarde, Mengede). Each "Stadtbezirk" is assigned a Roman numeral and has a local governing body of nineteen members with limited authority. Most of the boroughs were originally independent municipalities but were gradually annexed from 1905 to 1975. This long-lasting process of annexation has led to a strong identification of the population with "their" boroughs or districts and to a rare peculiarity: The borough of Hörde, located in the south of Dortmund and independent until 1928, has its own coat of arms.

The centre can be subdivided into historically evolved city districts, whose borders are not always strictly defined, such as:

• Stadtzentrum (City centre)
• Hafenviertel (Harbour Quarter)
• Nordmarkt (Northern market)
• Borsigplatz
• Kaiserviertel (Emperor Quarter)
• Kronenviertel (Crown Quarter)
• Kreuzviertel (Cross Quarter)
• Klinikviertel (Clinical Quarter)
• Saarlandstraßenviertel (Saarland street Quarter)
• Unionviertel (Union Quarter)
• Gartenstadt (Garden Town)

Dortmund is situated in the temperate climate zone with oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb). Winters are cool; summers are warm. The average annual temperature lies at approximately 9 to 10 °C (48 to 50 °F), the total average annual amount of precipitation lies at approximately 800 mm (31 in). Precipitation evenly falls throughout the year; steady rain (with some snow), prevails in the wintertime, isolated showers dominate the summer season. Dortmund features characteristics of densely populated areas as for example the occurrence of urban heat islands is typical.

Dortmund's population grew rapidly in the time of the 19th century industrialisation, when coal mining and steel processing in the city began. 1904 marks the year when Dortmund saw a population of more than 100,000 for the first time in its history. During the 19th century the area around Dortmund, called Ruhr, attracted up to 500,000 ethnic Poles, Masurians, and Silesians from East Prussia and Silesia, in a migration known as Ostflucht (flight from the east). Most of the new inhabitants came from Eastern Europe, but immigrants also came from France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Almost all their descendants today speak German as a mother tongue, and for various reasons, they do not identify with their Polish roots and traditions; often only their Polish family names remaining as a sign of their past. Not taking the fluctuation of war years into account, the population figures rose constantly to 657,804 in 1965. As a result of the city's post-industrial decline, the population fell to just under 580,000 in 2011. Today, with a population of 601.402 (2017), the City of Dortmund is the eighth largest city in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Düsseldorf. It is also the largest city in the Ruhr agglomeration.

Contrary to earlier projections, population figures have been on the rise in recent years due to net migration gains. Dortmund has seen a moderate influx of younger people (18 to 25 years of age) mainly because of its universities. Data of the EU-wide 2011 census revealed massive inaccuracies with regard to German population figures. Consequently, respective figures have been corrected, which resulted in a statistical "loss" of 9,000 inhabitants in Dortmund. In 2016 it was announced that the population was back above 600,000.

Largest groups of foreign residents

Nationality	Population (31 December 2022)
Turkey	22,154
Poland	11,388
Syria	7,791
Ukraine	7,368
Romania	4,561
Greece	4,132
Spain	3,623
Italy	3,569
Morocco	3,421
Bulgaria	3,416
Iraq	2,229
Croatia	2,103
North Macedonia	2,034
Russia	1,902
Portugal	1,851
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,780
Serbia	1,532
China	1,304
Hungary	1,284
Kosovo	1,225

As of 2012, Dortmund had a population of 571,403, of whom about 177,000 (roughly 30%) were of non-German origin. The table shows the number of first and second generation immigrants in Dortmund by nationality as of 31 December 2014. As with much of the Ruhr area, Dortmund has sizable Turkish and South European communities (particularly Spanish), and had one of Germany's most visible Slavic populations.

As of 2022, the largest Christian denominations were Protestantism (23,7%) and Catholicism (22,6% of the population). Furthermore, in Dortmund the Greek Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the Macedonian Orthodox Church are represented. The Church of the Holy Apostles (gre. I.N. Αγίων Αποστόλων Ντόρτμουντ – I.N. Agíon Apostólon Dortmund) was the first Greek church in Germany to be founded due to the influx of "guest workers". Also Dortmund is home of the New Apostolic Church in North Rhine-Westphalia, with more than 84,944 community members.

The Jewish community has a history dating back to Medieval times and has always ranked among the largest in Westphalia. Dortmund is home to the National Association of Jewish Communities of Westfalen-Lippe. The synagogues operate there in City center, Hörde, and Dorstfeld. Due to the growing immigration of people from Muslim countries beginning in the 1960s, Dortmund has a large Muslim community with more than 30 mosques.

In June 2019 Dortmund hosted the 37th Evangelischer Kirchentag – German Evangelical Church Assembly.

Dortmund is one of nineteen independent district-free cities (kreisfreie Städte) in North Rhine-Westphalia, which means that it does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity, in this case it is not part of a Landkreis. Since 1975, Dortmund is divided into twelve administrative districts. Each district (Bezirk) has its own elected district council (Bezirksvertretung) and its own district mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The district councils are advisory only.

Dortmund is often called the Herzkammer der SPD (roughly translated as "heartland of the Social democrats"), after the politically dominant party in the city. During the Nazi era (1933–1945), mayors were installed by the Nazi Party. After World War II, the military government of the British occupation zone installed a new mayor and a municipal constitution modeled on that of British cities. The first major elected by the population of Dortmund was Fritz Henßler. Since the end of the war, the SPD has held a plurality in the city council, except for the period from 1999 to 2004.

The current mayor of Dortmund is Thomas Westphal of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who was elected in 2020.

The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows:

The Dortmund city council (Dortmunder Stadtrat) governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	63,096	30.0	8.2	27	9
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	52,241	24.8	9.4	22	7
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	47,405	22.5	4.7	20	6
	The Left (Die Linke)	11,825	5.6	1.2	5	1
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	11,547	5.5	2.1	5	2
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	7,345	3.5	1.0	3	1
	Die PARTEI (PARTEI)	5,851	2.8	2.6	3	3
	The Right (Die Rechte)	2,369	1.1	0.1	1	±0
	Human Environment Animal Protection (Tierschutz)	1,995	0.9	New	1	New
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	1,848	0.9	1.5	1	1
	Alliance for Diversity and Tolerance (BVT)	1,737	0.8	New	1	New
	Citizens' List (Bürgerliste)	1,359	0.6	New	1	New
	Free Citizens' Initiative (FBI)	1,087	0.5	New	0	New
	Grassroots Democracy Now	560	0.3	New	0	New
	Digital Ecological Social (DOS)	219	0.1	New	0	New
	Heinz Augat – Together	53	0.0	New	0	New
	We in Dortmund	39	0.0	New	0	New
	German Communist Party (DKP)	16	0.0	0.1	0	±0
Valid votes		210,592	99.0
Invalid votes		2,047	1.0
Total		212,639	100.0		90	4
Electorate/voter turnout		451,925	47.1	2.2
Source: State Returning Officer Archived 27 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine

Dortmund is twinned with:

Dortmund's city centre offers a picture full of contrasts. Historic buildings like Altes Stadthaus or the Krügerpassage rub shoulders with post-war architecture like Gesundheitshaus and concrete constructions with Romanesque churches like the Reinoldikirche and the Marienkirche. The near-complete destruction of Dortmund's city centre during World War II (98%) has resulted in a varied architectural landscape. The reconstruction of the city centre followed the style of the 1950s, while respecting the old layout and naming of the streets. The downtown of Dortmund still retains the outline of the medieval city. A ring road marks the former city wall, and the Westen-/Ostenhellweg, part of a medieval salt trading route, is still the major (pedestrian) street bisecting the city centre.

Thus, the inner city today is characterized by simple and modest post-war buildings, with a few interspersed pre-war buildings which were reconstructed due to their historical importance. Some buildings of the "Wiederaufbauzeit" (era of reconstruction), for example the opera house are nowadays regarded as classics of modern architecture.

Unlike the Dortmund city centre, much of the inner districts around the old medieval centre escaped damage in the second world war and post war redevelopment.

The Kreuzviertel is characterised by old buildings, the majority of which come from the turn of the 20th century (1884 to 1908). Over 80% of all housing in this area was constructed before 1948, with the oldest building the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts still standing being from 1896. In the Second World War, relatively few buildings were destroyed in comparison to other areas of the city. Today, Kreuzviertel forms a nearly homogeneous historic building area. Over 100 buildings remain protected as historic monuments, like the Kreuzkirche at Kreuzstraße and the first concrete church in Germany St.-Nicolai. Nowadays the Kreuzviertel is a trendy district with pubs, restaurants, cafés, galleries, and little shops. Moreover, local efforts to beautify and invigorate the neighbourhood have reinforced a budding sense of community and artistic expression. The West park is the green lung of the Kreuzviertel and in the months between May and October a centre of the student urban life. The district has the highest real estate prices in Dortmund.

Even today many artists choose Kreuzviertel as their residence: Sascha Schmitz, Christina Hammer, and players of Borussia Dortmund.

The northern downtown part of Dortmund called Nordstadt, situated in a territory of 14.42 km (5.57 sq mi) is shaped by a colorful variety of cultures. As the largest homogeneous old building area in Ruhr the Nordstadt is a melting pot of different people of different countries and habits just a few steps from the city center. The Nordstadt is an industrial urban area that was mainly developed in the 19th century to serve the Westfalenhütte steelworks, port and rail freight depot. All of the residents live in a densely populated 300 hectare area (the most densely populated residential area in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with steelworks, port and railway lines acting as physical barriers cutting off the area from the city centre and other residential districts).

The area has been badly affected by the deindustrialisation of these heavy industries, with the target area developing a role as the home for growing numbers of immigrants and socially disadvantaged groups partly because of the availability of cheaper (although poor quality) accommodation. Nevertheless, two parks – Fredenbaumpark and Hoeschpark – are situated there. There is also much equipment for children to spend their free time. For example, the 35 meters high Big Tipi, which was brought in from the Expo 2000 in Hanover. All of that should attract families to settle in, but low prices of apartments and a variety of renting offers speak for the contrary. This developed into the youngest population of Dortmund is living and created a district with art house cinemas to ethnic stores, from exotic restaurants to student pubs.

The Borsigplatz is probably one of the best known squares in Germany. Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund was founded nearby, north-east of the main railway station. The streets radiating outward to form a star shape, the sycamore in the middle of the square and the tramline running diagonally across the square give Borsigplatz its very own flair.

The Kaiserstraßen District is located east of the former ramparts of Dortmund and follows the course of the Westenhellweg. In this district numerous magnificent buildings from the 1900s and new buildings from the 1950s are located next to the heritage-protected State Mining Office Dortmund, several Courts, Consulate and the East Cemetery. The district is characterize by the employee of the Amtsgericht, Landgericht (the first and second instances of ordinary jurisdiction) and the Prison.

Today the historical Kaiserbrunnen and the entrance sign for Kaiserstraße are important starting points for a tour to the popular shopping district. The Moltkestreet also known as the Cherry Blossom Avenue, became famous after photographers started posting pictures of blooming trees. Every spring, usually in April, the street in the Kaiserstraßen district is booming with pink blossoms and attracts tourists.

The Union District is located west of the former ramparts of Dortmund and follows the course of the Westenhellweg. For a long time, the neighbourhood at the Dortmunder U and along the Rheinische Straße was marked by vacancy and social distortion due to structural change. Today it is developing an inspiring young artist scene, with more and more students thanks to cheaper apartments near the university and a vibrant gastronomy. This development benefits strongly from the new, widely visible beacon, the art and creative centre Dortmunder U, opened in 2010. Yet, for a time, it was mainly the Union Gewerbehof activists and other single stakeholders who initiated change.

Hörde is borough in the south of the city of Dortmund. Originally Hörde was a separate town (until 1929) and was founded by the Counts of Mark in opposition to their principal enemy, the town of Dortmund. In 1388, the "Großen Dortmunder Fehde" (great feud of Dortmund) took place, where the city of Dortmund battled against the alliance of surrounding towns. The struggle ended in 1390, with defeat for Hörde and its allies of Herdecke, Witten, Bochum, Castrop, Lünen, Unna, and Schwerte. Today Hörde is a part of Dortmund with restored old buildings combined with modern architecture. The Hörder Burg (Hörde castle) was built in the 12th century and is located in the east of the town, close to the Emscher and Lake Phoenix.

Lake Phoenix was one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in Europe. On the area of the former blast furnace and steel plant site of ThyssenKrupp newly formed and developed a new urban resident and recreational area 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the city centre of Dortmund. The development of the Phoenix See area cost €;170 million. The lake is 1.2 km long directed to east–west and 320 meters wide in north–south direction. The water surface area of 24 acres is larger than the Hamburg Alster. Lake Phoenix is a shallow water lake with a depth of 3 to 4 meters and a capacity of around 600,000 cubic meters. Attractive high priced residential areas were thus created on the southern and northern sides of the Lake. On the western lakeside, the existing district centre of Hörde is enlarged by a city port and a mixed functional urban area.

Companies with agencies and offices on the lakefront include:

• Zalando
• HSBC Trinkaus
• German Handball Association
• Handball-Bundesliga (HBL)
• Sparkassenakademie Nordrhein-Westfalen, a training organization of the Sparkassen
• Mircosonic

The finished sole is primarily fed by groundwater and unpolluted rainwater from the new building sites. The River Emscher flows through an embanked riverbed without direct link to the Lake. Together with the renatured Emscher, the Lake forms a water landscape of 33 hectares, which, as a linking area, is an important element of the Emscher landscape park. The renaturation of the Emscher River is managed by the public water board Emschergenossenschaft. The financial frame is 4.5 billion Euro and the aim is to finish the main work by 2020.

• 
  Oldtown Hörde
• 
  Lake Phoenix
• 
  Port Promenade
• 
  Kaiser Hill

• Reinoldikirche, a Protestant church (built in 1233–1450)
• Petrikirche [de], a now Protestant church (start of construction 1322). It is famous for the huge carved altar (known as "Golden Miracle of Dortmund"), from 1521. It consists of 633 gilt carved oak figures depicting 30 scenes about Easter.
• Marienkirche, a now Protestant church originally built in 1170–1200 but rebuilt after World War II. The altar is from 1420.
• Propsteikirche, Monastery of the Dominican Order in the city center (built in 1331–1353)
• St. Georg, Aplerbeck, the only Romanesque cross basilica of Dortmund
• Große Kirche Aplerbeck, a Gothic revival church
• St. Peter in Syburg suburb, the oldest church building in the city limits
• St. Patrokli, Kirchhörde, a 1954 church
• Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, a Protestant church (start of construction 1911)
• St. Margareta Chapel, a Protestant chapel built in 1348

• 
  Reinoldikirche
• 
  Marienkirche
• 
  St. Johannes Baptist
• 
  St. Peter in Syburg suburb

• Haus Bodelschwingh (13th century), a moated castle
• Haus Dellwig (13th century), a moated castle partly rebuilt in the 17th century. The façade and the steep tower, and two half-timbered buildings, are original.
• Haus Rodenberg (13th century), a moated castle
• Altes Stadthaus, built in 1899 by Friedrich Kullrich
• Romberg Park Gatehouse (17th century), once a gatehouse to a moated castle. Now it houses an art gallery.
• Husen Castle, the tower house of a former castle, in the borough of Syburg

• 
  Moated castle Bodelschwingh
• 
  Bodelschwingh garden
• 
  Bodelschwingh bridge

The most industrial building in Dortmund are part of the Industrial Heritage Trail (German: Route der Industriekultur). The trail links tourist attractions related to the industrial heritage in the whole Ruhr area in Germany. It is a part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

• U-Tower, former Dortmunder Union brewery, now a museum
• Zollern II/IV Colliery, now part of the Westphalian Industrial Museum and an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH)
• Hansa Coking Plant

• 
  Zollern II/IV Colliery
• 
  U-Tower
• 
  Phoenix-West coking plant
• 
  Port Authority

• Konzerthaus Dortmund
• Opernhaus Dortmund, opera house built in 1966 on the site of the old synagogue which was destroyed by the Nazis in 1938.
• The major art museums include the Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte and the more recent Museum Ostwall.
• DASA, Germany Occupational Health and Safety Exhibition (German: Deutsche Arbeitsschutzausstellung)
• Brewery Museum Dortmund
• Museum of Art and Cultural History
• German Football Museum

• 
  Opernhaus Dortmund
• 
  Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte
• 
  German Football Museum
• 
  DASA, Germany Occupational Health and Safety Exhibition

• Florianturm (television tower Florian)
• Westfalenstadion: football ground of Borussia Dortmund, licensed until 2021 under the name Signal Iduna Park
• Close to Westfalenstadion are the Westfalenhallen, a large convention centre, the site of several major conventions, trade fairs, ice-skating competitions, concerts and other major events since the 1950s.
• Steinwache memorial

Dortmund tallest structure is the Florianturm telecommunication tower at 266 m or 873 ft. Other tall buildings are the churches around the city centre. A selection of the tallest office buildings in Dortmund is listed below.

• RWE Tower (100 metre-high skyscraper)
• Westnetz Hochhaus Dortmund (100 metre-high skyscraper)
• Westfalentower (88 metre-high skyscraper)
• Harenberg City-Center (86 metre-high skyscraper)
• Sparkassen-Hochhaus (70 metre-high skyscraper)
• IWO-Hochhaus(70 metre-high skyscraper)
• Ellipson (66 metre-high skyscraper)
• Volkswohl Bund Hochhaus (60 metre-high skyscraper)

• 
  RWE Tower
• 
  HCC
• 
  IWO Tower
• 
  Ellipson

Dortmund also serves as a major European and German crossroads for the Autobahnsystem. The Ruhrschnellweg follows old Hanseatic trade routes to connect the city with the other metropolises of the Ruhr Area. It crosses the Dutch-German border as a continuation of the Dutch A67 and crosses the Rhine, leads through the Ruhr valley toward Bochum, becoming B 1 (Bundesstraße 1) at the Kreuz Dortmund West and eventually merging into the A 44 near Holzwickede. It has officially been named Ruhrschnellweg (Ruhr Fast Way), but locals usually call it Ruhrschleichweg (Ruhr Crawling Way) or "the Ruhr area's longest parking lot". According to Der Spiegel, it is the most congested motorway in Germany.

Connections to more distant parts of Germany are maintained by Autobahn routes A1 and A2, which traverse the north and east city limits and meet at the Kamener Kreuz interchange north-east of Dortmund. In combination with the Autobahn A45 to the west these form the Dortmund Beltway (Dortmunder Autobahnring).

Cycling in Dortmund is supported by urban planners – an extensive network of cycle paths exists which had its beginnings in the 1980s. Dortmund was admitted to the German "Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle-Friendly Cities and Municipalities in NRW" (AGFS) on August 8, 2007. Dortumund is connected to a number of long-distance cycle paths and a Bike freeway called the Radschnellweg Ruhr (Ruhr Area Fast Cycle Path).

As with most communes in the Ruhr area, local transport is carried out by a local, publicly owned company for transport within the city, the DB Regio subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn for regional transport and Deutsche Bahn itself for long-distance journeys. The local carrier, Dortmunder Stadtwerke (DSW21), is a member of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) association of public transport companies in the Ruhr area, which provides a uniform fare structure in the whole region. Within the VRR region, tickets are valid on lines of all members as well as DB's railway lines (except the high-speed InterCity and Intercity-Express networks) and can be bought at ticket machines and service centres of DSW21, all other members of VRR, and DB.

The central train station (Dortmund Hauptbahnhof) is the third largest long-distance traffic junction in Germany. Dortmund has a railway service with Deutsche Bahn InterCity and ICE-trains stopping at Dortmund Hauptbahnhof (Dortmund Main Station). ICE and TGV Thalys high-speed trains link Dortmund with Amsterdam, Brussels (in 2h 30) and Paris (in 3h 50). There are frequent ICE trains to other German cities, including Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and other cities in the Rhein-Ruhr Region.

For public transportation, the city has an extensive Stadtbahn and bus system. The Stadtbahn has eight lines (U41 to U47 and U49) serving Dortmund and the large suburb of Lünen in the north. The trains that run on the line are in fact lightrails as many lines travel along a track in the middle of the street instead of underground further from the city centre. The minimum service interval is 2.5 minutes, although the usual pattern is that each line runs at 5 to 10 minute intervals. On Sundays the trains run at a 15-minute interval. In April 2008, the newly constructed east–west underground light rail line was opened, completing the underground service in the city centre and replacing the last trams on the surface.

A number of bus lines complete the Dortmund public transport system. Night buses replace Stadtbahn services between 1:30 am and 7:30 am on weekends and public holidays. The central junction for the night bus service is Reinoldikirche in the city centre, where all night bus lines start and end.

The H-Bahn at Technical University of Dortmund is a hanging monorail built specifically to shuttle passengers between the university's two campuses, which are now also flanked by research laboratories and other high-tech corporations and startups. A nearly identical monorail system transfers passengers at Düsseldorf Airport.

Dortmund Airport is a medium-sized, but fast growing airport 13 km (8.1 mi) east of the city centre at the city limit to Holzwickede. The airport serves the area of the Ruhrgebiet, Sauerland, Westphalia and parts of the Netherlands and features flights to Munich, London, Vienna, Porto and a lot of eastern European city and leisure destinations. The airport is served by an express bus to Dortmund main station, a shuttle bus to the nearby railway station Holzwickede/Dortmund Flughafen, a bus to the city's metro line U47, as well as a bus to the city of Unna.

In 2019, the airport served 2,719,563 passengers mainly used for low-cost and leisure charter flights. The closest intercontinental airport is Düsseldorf Airport.

Dortmund Harbour (Hafen) is the largest canal harbour in Europe and the 11th fluvial harbour in Germany.

• Transport in Dortmund
• 
  Interchange station Möllerbrücke
• 
  ICE 3 on the Dortmund Hauptbahnhof
• 
  Stadtbahnwagen B Light Rail Vehicle
• 
  Bombardier Flexity Classic tram
• 
  Metropolrad Ruhr, City Bike
• 
  Hörde Bahnhof – second biggest in Dortmund
• 
  Dortmund Airport – Main Terminal (T2)

Dortmund has adapted since the collapse of its century long steel, coal and beer industries. The region has shifted to high technology, robotics, biomedical technology, micro systems technology, engineering, tourism, finance, education, and services, and is thus one of the most dynamic new-economy cities in Germany. In 2009, Dortmund was classified as a Node city in the Innovation Cities Index published by 2thinknow.

Hundreds of SMEs are still based in and around Dortmund (often termed Mittelstand). Dortmund is also home to a number of medium-sized information technology companies, many linked to the local university TU Dortmund at the first technology center in Germany named "Technologiepark Dortmund" opened in the 1980s. With around 280 companies, like Boehringer Ingelheim and Verizon Communications, and more than 8,500 employees, TechnologiePark Dortmund is one of the most successful technology parks in Europe. The city works closely with research institutes, private universities, and companies to collaborate on the commercialisation of science initiatives. Furthermore, 680 IT and software companies with 12,000 employees are based in Dortmund, making the city one of Germany's biggest software locations. Two of the top 10 IT service providers in Germany are based in Dortmund – adesso SE and Materna Group.

Dortmund is home to many insurance companies e.g. Signal Iduna, Continentale Krankenversicherung, Bundesinnungskrankenkasse Gesundheit (BIG direkt), and Volkswohl Bund. In recent years a service sector and high-tech industry have grown up. Some of its most prominent companies of these sectors include Amprion and RWE-Westnetz (Electricity), Rhenus Logistics (Logistics), Wilo, KHS GmbH, Elmos Semiconductor, ABP Induction Systems, Nordwest Handel AG – all of whom have their headquarters here. Companies with operations in or around Dortmund include Zalando, Daimler AG: EvoBus, RapidMiner, Gap Inc., and ThyssenKrupp.

Dortmund is also the headquarter of Century Media Records, a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million.

Tourism in Dortmund is a fast-growing economic factor every year: new overnight records can be announced, new hotels open and new visitor magnets are added. Starting in the mid-1990s, Dortmund, formerly an industrial centre, saw rapid development that expanded its cultural and tourism possibilities, and transformed it into a newly vibrant city. An important strategic step was the start of construction the new Konzerthaus Dortmund, the reuse of vacant old industrial buildings like the Zollern II/IV Colliery, Kokerei Hansa, Dortmund U-Tower, and the strategic reorientation of the Dortmund Christmas market with over 300 stalls packed around a gigantic Christmas tree creation that stands 45 metres tall – reputed to be the biggest in the world. A new Tourist Information centre right next to the U-Tower, gives visitors a quick overview of the tourist attractions in the City and Ruhr Area. Today Dortmund is with more than 1.450.528 (2017) overnight stays one of the most popular destinations in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The majority of tourists are domestic visitors, coming from Germany. International travellers arrive from the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland. Dortmund also draws business tourism, having been equipped with facilities like WILO, Amprion next to Westfalenhallen and football tourism with Fans of Borussia Dortmund. The top 5 most visited attractions were the Christmas market, with more than three and a half million visitors, Signal Iduna Park, Deutsches Fußballmuseum, Dortmund U-Tower, Zollern II/IV Colliery, and Westfalenpark.

The Westenhellweg is a popular shopping destination and with nearly 13,000 visitors per hour it was Germany's most frequented shopping street in 2013. During the Middle Ages, Dortmund was the only free imperial city in Westphalia, having already been regarded as an important centre of trade. Today some of the most reputed shops, department stores have stores here. It is a pedestrian-only area and is bordered by the Reinoldikirche in the east and U-Tower in the west. The Westenhellweg has one of the highest rents for retail and office space in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Three more shopping malls occupy the Thier-Galerie; Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt, as well as large fashion retail clothing stores. During the month before Christmas, the extended pedestrian-only zone is host to Dortmund Christmas Market, one of the largest and oldest Christmas markets in Germany. With more than 3.5 million visitors and 300 stalls around a gigantic Christmas tree that stands 45 metres tall, it is one of the most visited and popular market in the world.

In close proximity to the Dortmund concert hall lies the Brückstraßenviertel – a quarter hub especially for young people. The "Rue de Pommes Frites", which is what the Dortmund citizens have called the Brückstraße, has turned into a modern shopping promenade, geared towards a younger market.

For a long time, the Kampstraße had a shadowy existence as a parallel street to the Westenhellweg and Ostenhellweg, but it has become a grand boulevard containing specialist stores. Right next to the Kampstraße is the Kleppingstraße – a shopping street with a high concentration of gastronomy and expensive, prestigious shops. It is located between the Ostenhellweg and Neutor to Wallring.

Dortmund is one of the most important logistic hubs in Germany, more than 900 companies working in logistics, as well as nationally and internationally recognised scientific institutes. Dortmund Port, which terminates the Dortmund-Ems Canal connecting Dortmund to the North Sea, is the biggest European canal port with 10 docks and a pier length of 11 km. The variety of different activities taking place at the Fraunhofer Institute Material Flow and Logistics (Fraunhofer Society) has, over the past few years, led to a bundling of skills in the areas of logistics and digitalisation in the city. Industry-based initiatives and pilot projects, such as the Hybrid Services in Logistics innovation lab, the efficiency cluster LogistikRuhr, Industrial Data Space, the Dortmund Mittelstand 4.0 Centre of Excellence, and the enterprise labs. The Digital Hub for Logistics of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is based in Dortmund and twinned with Hamburg.

Companies with big logistic hubs for Germany and Europe in Dortmund include:

• Amazon
• IKEA
• Decathlon
• Rhenus Logistics
• Schenker AG
• TEDi GmbH & Co. KG

Dortmund is home to Germany's twelve biggest exhibition centre, Halls of Westphalia which lies near the city center next to Dortmund Airport. With around 77.000 visitors each year, Jagd & Hund is by far the largest event held there. Other important fairs open to consumers include "Intermodelbau", the world's biggest consumer fair for model making, and one of the leading fairs for youth culture "YOU". Important fairs restricted to professionals include "D.I.M" (Deutsche Immobilienmesse, German property fair), Creativa (Hobby) and InterTabac (Tabaco).

• 
  Messe Dortmund logo
• 
  Main Hall
• 
  Rosenterassen south entrance
• 
  Headquarter

Dortmund is home of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Material Testing Office of North Rhine-Westphalia material and the main customs office.

As a profoundly international city, Dortmund hosts diplomatic missions (consulates and consulates-general) of Italy, Greece, Bangladesh, Ghana, South Africa, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia.

Several courts are located in Dortmund, including:

• Landgericht Dortmund (Regional Court Dortmund)
• Amtsgericht Dortmund (Local Court Dortmund)
• Sozialgericht Dortmund (Social Court Dortmund)
• Arbeitsgericht Dortmund (Employment Court Dortmund)

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2022)

Two important daily newspapers are published in and around Dortmund. The conservative Ruhr Nachrichten, also known as RN, was founded in 1949. The RN has a circulation of over 225,000 copies daily. The other important newspaper, the Westfälische Rundschau, was first published in 1945 and has a daily circulation of over 181,000. The WR is published by Germany's third largest newspaper and magazine publisher Funke Mediengruppe.

Several magazines also originate from Dortmund. The Rock Rock hard (magazine) is a metal and hard rock magazine, with subsidiaries in various countries worldwide, including France, Spain, Brazil/Portugal, Italy, and Greece. Visions is a German music magazine with a circulation of approximately 35,000.

The Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR, West German Broadcasting Cologne has a sizable studio in Dortmund, which is responsible for the east Ruhr area. Each day, it produces a 30-minute regional evening news magazine (called Lokalzeit Ruhr), a 5-minute afternoon news programme, and several radio news programmes. A local broadcasting station called Radio 91.2 went "on-the-air" in the early 1990s. Sat.1 have a regional studio in Dortmund. The City stands alongside London and Paris as one of the three head offices of Global Tamil Vision and GTV-Deutschland.

Two big Radio Channels of Westdeutscher Rundfunk are sending from Dortmund.

• WDR 2, featuring adult-oriented popular music, focuses strongly on national and regional news, current affairs, and sport.
• WDR 4 (motto: Meine Lieblingshits, "my favourite hits") is a channel aimed chiefly towards an older audience. Its focus is on tuneful music – in particular, oldies and classic hits: popular music of the 1960s to the 1980s or later – with more specialized programming (operetta, country, folk) in the evenings. Around 30–40% of WDR 4's musical output is made up of German-language songs.

Other radio broadcasters include Radio NRW and eldoradio*.

The films Trains'n'Roses, Bang Boom Bang, Oi! Warning, Do Fish Do It?, If It Don't Fit, Use a Bigger Hammer, Guys and Balls, Goldene Zeiten, Marija and television series Tatort, Balko, Helden der Kreisklasse, and more German movies like The Crocodiles [de], The Rhino and the Dragonfly [de], Ein Schnitzel für alle, Young Light [de], and Radio Heimat [de] were filmed in the city.

Dortmund has 160 schools and 17 business, technical colleges teach more than 85,000 pupils. The city has a 4-year primary education program. After completing primary school, students continue to the Hauptschule, Realschule, Gesamtschule or Gymnasium (college preparatory school). The Stadtgymnasium Dortmund which was founded in 1543 as Archigymnasium is one of the oldest schools in Europe. The Leibniz Gymnasium, a bilingual public school located in the Kreuzviertel district, is particularly popular with children of the English-speaking expatriate community. The school is an International Baccalaureate school. The Goethe-Gymnasium was founded in 1867 as the first school offering higher education to girls in the city. It has been a NRW Sportschule, focused on sports, from 2009.

TU Dortmund (Technical University of Dortmund) was founded in 1968 and is located in the southern part of the city. It has about 30,000 students and offers a wide range of subjects in of physics, electrical engineering, chemistry, spatial planning, and economics. The university has a dedicated railway station at the campus's main gate, the journey from the city centre lasting merely seven minutes. The university is highly ranked in terms of its research performance in the areas of physics, electrical engineering, chemistry, and economics. The university's most noticeable landmark is the H-Bahn, a monorail train which connects the north and south campuses.

Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts is a Fachhochschule with 12,300 students, and 669 staff, 232 of which are professors. The Fachhochschule was created by a merger of several institutions of higher learning in 1971. Owing to its history as separate institutions, it consists of three campuses in different parts of Dortmund. The departments of mechanical and electrical engineering are located at Sonnenstraße near the city center. The department of design has its own campus at Max-Ophüls-Platz while the departments of social work, economics, computer science and architecture are housed in several buildings next to the Technical University of Dortmund campus in the suburb of Eichlinghofen. Additional offices in the city centre are used for administrative purposes.

The city is the site of several other universities, colleges and academies, which attract about 45,000 students. Among them there are:

• FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, Standort Dortmund: academy for management, founded in 1993.
• Fachhochschule für öffentliche Verwaltung Nordrhein-Westfalen: academy for public administration.
• International School of Management: private academy focussing on management and economics, founded in 1990.
• IT-Center Dortmund: private college founded in 2000.
• International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef – Bonn: is a private, state-recognised university of business and management.

• 
  TU Dortmund
• 
  Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts
• 
  Department of at Design Max-Ophüls-Platz
• 
  Department of Architecture

The city has a high density of internationally renowned research institutions, such as the Fraunhofer Society, the Leibniz Association, and the Max Planck Society, which are independent of, or only loosely connected to its universities.

In November 2017, according to a study by data of the German National Statistics Office, the National Employment Agency, Mercer, Handelsblatt, Numbeo, and Immowelt, Dortmund was ranked on position seven of the most livable cities in Germany for expats. In September 2017, The New York Times praised the city of Dortmund, which has been adapting since the collapse of its century-old steel and coal industries and has shifted to high technology biomedical technology, micro systems technology and other services, as the hidden star of structural change providing a good quality of life for employees. According to the 2017 Global Least & Most Stressful Cities Ranking, Dortmund is one of the least stressful cities in the world. It is ranked 27th out of 150, between Copenhagen and Vancouver, and is highly ranked in the categories traffic & public transport, gender equality and debt per capital.

Like a Phoenix Rising from the Ashes and exemplary for structural transformation – This was the title of an article in the online version on Neue Zürcher Zeitung of the urban livability and new exceptional architecture in Dortmund.

In a 2015/2016 survey centred on student life in Germany, Dortmund ranked as seventh-best.

In a 2012 study of the most livable biggest cities in Germany, Dortmund ranked on position ten between Nuremberg and Stuttgart and first of all large cities in Germany due to sport, gastronomy, and shopping opportunities.

In 2009, Dortmund was classified as a Node city in the Innovation Cities Index published by 2thinknow, and in 2014 acclaimed as the most sustainable city in Germany.