Ripuaria City

Ripuaria, also known as Ripuaria City (: Stadt Ripuaria, : Ripuarië Stad, : Ville de Ripuaria) is the capital city of Ripuaria and the country's most populous city. Standing on the banks of the Hove river in north-central Ripuaria, the city lies at the heart of Vestea.

Originally the location of the Roman fort Riparium, The city itself dates back to the 11th and 12th century as an outskirts town under the ownership of the baron of Ripuariaschloss. The two towns under the barony, Ripuaria and Hazenberg developed throughout the 13th and 14th century. While Hazenberg didn't manage to grow as much due to constrain in the mountainous terrain it sat on, Ripuaria managed to outgrow it and became the largest city in the region by the 15th century.

As of 2020, Ripuaria has a population of 813,713 inhabitants which is 28% of the country's whole population. The city's population consists of many different and diverse nationalities and cultures especially Vestean and including Lindian, Umber and Nordalan. It is estimated that foreigners represent at least 60% and at most 80% of the city's population while Ripuarians only consist of between 20% and 40% of the city's population. While recently immigration to the city was high, the number of citizens born in the city is on the rise.

Ripuaria City is the capital of the Vestean Union and it seats many of the institutes of the Union.

History
In the Roman era, the city was the location of a fortified tower guarding an important roads intersection called Riparium. The fort grew into a small town named after the tower. In the 11th century an acquisition treaty was discovered that revealed another bigger fortress called Ripuariaschloss nearby. The baron of Ripuariaschloss ruled over two towns, the first one is the aforementioned Riparium, now called Ripuaria, and the second is Hazenberg. Due to the flatter terrain and better water and agriculture access of Ripuaria it outgrew Hazenberg which nowadays still sits on the outskirts of Ripuaria City.

Throughout the middle ages, Ripuaria became a strategic military center in the region. By the end of the 11th century, fortifications and walls were built around the city. By the 12th century the city had expanded to include the Cathedral of Saint Hubris, new fortifications and walls that included around 12 hectares of land were constructed. In the 15th and 16th century it was already considered one of the most fortified cities in the world with the addition of and tunnels.

After years of being the capital of the Duchy of Ripuaria, 1839 saw the establishment of Ripuarian independence and accession of the duchy to a grand duchy. This elevated the status of the city as a capital for an independent state in Vestea and brought massive growth to the city. Around the same time the city was no longer constrained to the 16th century fortification and grew beyond the walls. Industrialization brought the city an economic golden age with the growth of local steel and coal companies and factories. As one of the first cities to industrialize, Ripuaria sought many worker immigrants from around Vestea.

During the first half of the 20th century, Ripuaria City did not see exponentially larger growth than the rest of the grand duchy while its metropolitan area and outskirts disproportionately outgrew the capital with the revolution of agriculture at the time. Nowadays Ripuaria-Sud which is considered an outskirt to the city is not far behind in population with only a different of less than 100,000 inhabitants.

Geography
Ripuaria lies on the southern point of Howffwiese and partially on Lauterhügel. While most of the city is flat elevation-wise the highest point in the south of the city is 200 meters higher than the rest of the city.

The city urban area covers 80.36 km squared while the metropolitan area which also includes Ripuaria-Sud, Sudderstadt and Hazenberg cover a total of 360.8 km squared of urban development.

Climate
Considering it's latitude, Ripuaria has an with moderate precipitation, cool winters and warm summers. Moderate to heavy cloud coverage is present for more than two-thirds of the year.

Local government
Ripuaria City's local government is seated at the communal council. Consisting of a mayor and thirty-three other councilors each elected every seven years. The Ripuaria City council is the largest communal council of all the Ripuarian communes both in budget and number of councilors. The council is considered a Chrëschtlech Union stronghold with the last change of leadership happening in 1992.

The City's administration is headed by the communal mayor, currently Paul Elias Behringer of the Chrëschtlech Union. The mayor leads the city cabinet of six members to run the city's executive administration.

National government
Ripuaria City is the seat of power of the Ripuarian government. The Grand Duke's family resides in the Staatsschloss on the outskirts of the city. The city also has within its borders the Chamber of Deputies and many of the other legislative, judiciary and executive institutes of the Ripuarian government.

For election purposes, Ripuaria city is considered part of the Center District.