Description:
<jats:p>Structural transformation still constitutes one of the major challenges of cities in the Ruhr area. Against this background it is worth asking the question how the Ruhr cities absorbed the recent economic crisis. In this article, we compare the economic resilience of the two cities of Dortmund und Duisburg (Germany). Resilience theory is a promising perspective with regard to the transformation of post-industrial regions. However, measuring resilience is, in terms of methods and indicators, still an evolving task. We use qualitative as well as quantitative approaches to measure the resilience of the two cities. Our study shows that the two cities differ remarkably in the way they coped with the recent crisis. According to our empirical analysis this can be explained by different capacities of resilience that have been built up in the decades before.</jats:p>