Nordstad

Nordstad is a development area in north-central Luxembourg, and a colloquial term to refer to the combined urban areas in the region. The name is Luxembourgish for 'northern city', but it remains the title, both formal and informal, of the region in any language.

The idea was coined by Luxembourgish economist Adrien Ries in 1973. The idea of a unified urban area in the north of the country was put forward to decentralise and diversify the economy, and develop a third major urban area, along with Luxembourg City and the southern Red Lands.

A project of four of the Nordstad's core communes - Ettelbruck, Diekirch, Erpeldange-sur-Sûre and Schieren - to merge into a single municipality has been ongoing since 2018.^[1] The project initially also included the communes of Colmar-Berg and Bettendorf, but their communal councils chose to leave negotiations in November 2018 and October 2024, respectively.^[2][3] A non-binding referendum in Bettendorf on rejoining the merger project on 23 March 2025^[4] resulted in a majority for enjoining the merger,^[5] after which the communal council had a “working meeting” with the other communes.^[6] Another referendum is scheduled for 2027 across the remaining communes, with a stated goal of completing the merger before the 2029 communal elections.^[7]

As of 2025, the four communes have a combined population of 22,204^[8] - were the merger to take place, the commune of Nordstad would become the fourth-most populous in the country, and the number of communes in Luxembourg would drop to 97, the lowest since the creation of the municipal system in Luxembourg in 1843.