The Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), English: Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe) is a higher-level local authority in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Based in Münster, it serves as a regional provider of social welfare, healthcare, and cultural services for the approximately 8 million people living in the historical regions of Westphalia and Lippe.
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Regional associations in North Rhine-Westphalia
In the administrative structure of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the two Landschaftsverbände (LWL for Westphalia and LVR for the Rhineland) occupy a middle tier. Such a tier exists only in the state of NRW. They perform tasks that exceed the capacity of individual cities or districts but do not fall under the direct jurisdiction of the state government.
They can be seen as regional cooperatives. While the state government in Düsseldorf handles sovereign tasks (like policing or education), the LWL operates as a service provider for its member municipalities, focusing on specialised social services and regional identity.
History and organisation
The LWL's roots date back to the 19th-century provincial self-administration of the Province of Westphalia within the state of Prussia. After World War II and the founding of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946, the association was formally established in its current form in 1953 to preserve the regional traditions and administrative autonomy of the Westphalian and Lippe regions. Lippe used to be one of the German states before it was added to North Rhine-Westphalia in 1947.
Unlike a typical city council, the LWL is governed by the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Assembly (Landschaftsversammlung Westfalen-Lippe), also referred to as the "Westphalian Parliament". Its members are not elected directly by the inhabitants but are delegated by the councils of the member districts and independent cities.
Activities and institutions
The LWL operates with an annual budget of several billion euros, funded primarily by a levy from its member municipalities and state grants. It has more than 150 facilities, responsible for services in the fields of social welfare, culture, youth and education, forensic psychiatry and general psychiatry.
LWL health and clinics
The Psychiatry Network of the LWL is one of the largest providers of mental health services in Germany. It operates numerous specialised hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation centres:
LWL Clinics (Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, Psychotherapy)
LWL-Klinik Dortmund
LWL-Klinik Hemer
LWL-Klinik Herford
LWL-Klinik Lippstadt
LWL-Klinik Lengerich
LWL-Klinik Marsberg
LWL-Klinik Münster
LWL-Klinik Paderborn
LWL-Klinik Warstein
LWL-Universitätsklinik Bochum
LWL-Universitätsklinik Hamm (child and adolescent psychiatry)
Forensic Psychiatric Clinics
LWL-Zentrum für Forensische Psychiatrie Lippstadt
LWL-Therapiezentrum für Forensische Psychiatrie Marsberg
LWL-Klinik für Forensische Psychiatrie Dortmund
LWL-Klinik Schloss Haldem
Museums and cultural sites
The Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) operates a network of around 18 museums and several cultural sites across the region of Westphalia-Lippe. These institutions focus on industrial heritage, art, history, and natural sciences.
The LWL's industrial heritage sites are managed under a decentralized museum structure, presenting the region's industrial history at original production sites:
LWL-Museum Zeche Zollern (Dortmund) – A former coal mine known for its Art Nouveau architecture.
LWL-Museum Schiffshebewerk Henrichenburg (Waltrop) – A historic boat lift dating from 1899.
LWL-Museum Henrichshütte (Hattingen) – A former ironworks and blast furnace site.
LWL-Museum Textilwerk (Bocholt) – A textile museum with spinning and weaving facilities at two locations.
LWL-Museum Ziegelei Lage (Lage) – A historic brickworks museum.
LWL-Museum Glashütte Gernheim (Petershagen) – A glass production site featuring a historic cone-shaped furnace tower.
LWL-Museum Zeche Hannover (Bochum) – A former coal mine site.
LWL-Museum Zeche Nachtigall (Witten) – An early coal mining site located in the Ruhr area.
The LWL operates several regional museums covering art, archaeology, and natural history:
LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur (Münster) – The central museum for art and cultural history in Westphalia.
LWL schools
The LWL is the administrative body for 35 special schools (Förderschulen) for pupils with specific needs that cannot be met by standard local schools:
Schools for Sensory Impairment (Vision/Hearing), e.g., Moritz-von-Büren-Schule, for the hearing impaired (Dortmund), Pauline-Schule, for the visually impaired (Paderborn).
Schools for Physical and Motor Development, e.g., LWL-Schule in Bochum, LWL-Christoph-Schlingensief-Schule (Oberhausen).
Schools for Mental and Emotional Development. Distributed across all major districts to ensure regional coverage.
Other institutions
LWL-Archivamt für Westfalen: advice and support for municipal and private archives.
LWL-Medienzentrum für Westfalen: providing educational media and historical film/photo archives.
LWL-Landeshaus: the administrative headquarters in Münster.
Member authorities
The LWL area comprises 18 rural districts (Kreise) and 9 independent cities (kreisfreie Städte):
Independent cities
Bielefeld
Bochum
Bottrop
Dortmund
Gelsenkirchen
Hagen
Hamm
Herne
Münster