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Düsseldorf-Hafen means "Düsseldorf harbour" in German, and is also the name of the Düsseldorf district in which the harbour is located.
Map of Hafen, D%C3%BCsseldorf, Germany
The borough covers 3.85 km2, but there were only 212 inhabitants in the year 2000. With 55 inhabitants per km², this is the thinnest density of population in Düsseldorf.
For decades the harbour has been an area of workers, industry and trade. But after the Mannesmann company had discontinued its tube production in Düsseldorf, parts of the central harbour lost their reason for being (another harbour is in Düsseldorf-Reisholz). As a result, the eastern part of the harbour started to be redeveloped.
Mainly third sector businesses were attracted to move to the Hafen: media companies, but also fashion and design offices. One of the first new residents to the so-called Media Harbour was Westdeutscher Rundfunk with its current affairs TV and radio studios. There is also Düsseldorf's local radio station, Antenne Düsseldorf, in the harbour. CNN used to have an office there. One of the largest cinemas of Düsseldorf is in the Hafen. The Landtag (State parliament) of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Rheinturm are situated right next to the harbour.
The Hafen district itself contains some spectacular post-modern architecture, most famously the three twisted constructions by renowned architect Frank Gehry, Neuer Zollhof. There are also many restaurants, bars, and a few clubs, which make the Hafen a prominent lifestyle district. But one of its main attractions, the beach bar "Monkey's Island", had to close for the sake of one further newly planned upscale hotel.
The western part of the harbour is still industrially used, but there are plans for further redevelopment with the construction of high end apartment buildings.
In 2003 the port company merged with the port of Neuss on the opposite bank of the Rhine to form Neuss-Düsseldorfer Häfen GmbH & Co. KG.