East Jutland metropolitan area

The National Planning Report of 2006, published by the Danish Environment Ministry, argued that "East Jutland is developing into a coherent area with high population growth and division of labour between the cities in the urban band that extends from Kolding to Randers" and foresaw "the contours of a future million-city". The report recommended dialogue about future development between the state, the region and the municipalities.

In the next National Planning Report of 2013, the area was split into East Jutland North (Danish: Østjylland Nord) and the Triangle Region (Danish: Trekantsområdet). The municipalities in the two subregions cooperate as Business Region Aarhus and the Triangle Region respectively.

With about 1.4 million people living in the area, it represents approximately 25% of the population of Denmark. The area has 19 municipalities as of 2016.

Economy

The metropolitan area is a major hub for education and is home to many large companies; in particular in the sectors of food production, agriculture, renewable energy and green tech. Major companies include Vestas Wind Systems A/S and Arla Foods. Vestas is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines and the largest in the world of its kind; and Arla is a Swedish-Danish dairy cooperative with headquarters in Aarhus and is the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia and the seventh largest dairy company in the world, measured by turnover. Among cooperative dairy companies, Arla is the third largest in the world.

The primary harbour of the region is Aarhus harbour. It is the largest industrial harbour in Denmark and among largest in Northern Europe, only surpassed by the Swedish industrial harbour in Gothenburg in the Kattegat sea area. With modern facilities, it handles approximately 12 million tonnes of cargo (2006) per year and is therefore among the 100 biggest container ports in the world.

Greater Aarhus boasts a unique position in the global wind energy market. It is home to some of the world's biggest manufacturers of wind turbines and constitutes the world's most advanced knowledge center. An array of suppliers and subcontractors, covers the entire supply chain and the sector benefits from a solid political backing of wind energy on local, regional and national level. The wind business cluster here has a long legacy of cooperation between manufacturers, suppliers, scientific communities and public authorities. As a knowledge hub and gathering point for the wind industry, Aarhus is likely to play a vital role in developing the wind energy systems of the future:

· 87% of Denmark's combined turnover from wind energy is generated by businesses in the Greater Aarhus area

· 53% of Denmark's high-skill wind employees work in the Greater Aarhus area

· 57% of all top executives in the Danish wind industry work in the Greater Aarhus area

· 14,000 employees in the Danish wind industry work within Central Region Denmark – 11,000 of them within one hour drive from Aarhus.