Cooperation at the level of the Cologne/Bonn region is based on the collaboration between the three independent cities of Cologne, Bonn and Leverkusen and the districts of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Rhein-Kreis-Neuss, Oberbergischer Kreis and Rheinisch Bergischer Kreis in the Cologne/Bonn region. In addition to the districts of Ahrweiler, Düren and Euskirchen as guests, the Kreisparkasse Köln, the Sparkassen KölnBonn and Leverkusen, the Landschaftsverband Rheinland, the DGB Cologne-Bonn region, the Cologne Chamber of Skilled Crafts and the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg and Cologne Chambers of Industry and Commerce are also represented as important regional players in the membership.

As regional management, the association identifies challenges in the region within the fields of work and program lines defined by the Board of Directors and the General Assembly. It develops strategic approaches, creates the necessary funding requirements and provides technical and funding support for the realization of (regionally significant) projects. 

The agglomeration program is a regional, concept-based and project-oriented spatial development program that has been developed since mid-2020 in a cooperative dialogue and planning process with stakeholders from politics and administration in the region. It describes the spatial-structural transformation and conversion tasks in program lines and underpins these with strategic goals, principles of action and implementation-oriented tasks.

The program was accredited by the board of the Cologne/Bonn Region e.V. in November 2022. 

While conceptual, strategic and programmatic work has been at the heart of the work of the Cologne/Bonn Region e.V. in recent years, the focus of the association's work in 2023ff will be on projects. Among other things, so-called future projects will be used to create benchmarks for sustainable and coordinated spatial development and exemplary solutions in the areas of infrastructure and business. 

In addition to the technical support provided by the Compass funding management, the association also provides technical support and regional exchange, including knowledge transfer in the region. 

For Bonn, the agglomeration program offers a variety of starting points: This is because the available space and future space potential in Bonn's urban area is also clearly limited. Among other things, the commercial areas are in competition with housing requirements, office use and retail. The components of the agglomeration program “multiple internal development” and “inter-municipal commercial space development” are used to identify appropriate solutions in order to be able to offer companies development opportunities in the future. 

Furthermore, the future topics of climate, energy and mobility are playing an increasingly important role and require regionally coordinated solutions. In this context, the regional expert dialog on climate change prevention initiated by Region Köln/Bonn e.V. should be mentioned, which was concluded in 2023 with a regional forum in Bonn and is now to be further developed into an activation and transfer format.

In the areas of structural policy and economic development, regional exchange and mutual support on current issues and challenges will continue to play a major role in the work of the Cologne/Bonn Region e.V. in the coming years. Among other things, through the new approach of workshops and closed meetings on focus topics such as sustainable business, (renewable) energy & infrastructure and (international) skilled workers. 

With regard to a sustainable increase in the attractiveness and quality of tourism, the association has developed a territorial strategy concept for the Cologne/Bonn region, the existence of which is a fundamental prerequisite for ERDF applications from the region. The aim here is to promote innovative approaches to the development and expansion of tourist sites as well as offers for their sustainable use.

Over the last 15 years, the Cologne/Bonn Region e.V. has built up expertise with COMPASS Funding Management in order to provide its members and the region with active support in accessing funding. Among other things, so-called funding nodes have been set up or named in the member cities and districts and regionally significant calls for funding have been summarized in the form of clear fact sheets. In Bonn, COMPASS works closely with the Department of Urban Development and Strategic Projects, which is also designated as a funding node.

The federal city of Bonn is a founding member of Metropolregion Rheinland e.V., which was established in 2017. The metropolitan region has around 8.6 million inhabitants and comprises 23 districts and independent cities as well as the city region of Aachen in the administrative districts of Düsseldorf and Cologne. 

The aim of the association is to intensify cooperation between the local authorities and chambers of commerce in the Rhineland at a political, economic and administrative level in order to create a metropolitan region of European significance. The aim is to make the region more attractive as a business and residential location and to strengthen its perception both internally and externally. 

The main tasks include structural policy lobbying, particularly in Berlin and Brussels, as well as the promotion of marketing and profile building both internally and externally.

The transdisciplinary and inter-municipal NEILA project came to a regular conclusion in 2023. The aim of the project was to develop a sustainable land management system at regional level in order to jointly resolve land use conflicts within the functionally closely networked region and to take into account the consequences and costs of settlement development from the outset. In doing so, it was possible to draw on the many years of cooperation in the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahrweiler regional working group (:rak).

The result is, among other things, an inter-municipally coordinated settlement development concept for the entire region, in which the commercial and residential development priorities of the coming decades are reflected.

In order to meet the overall regional land requirements, it is necessary for the municipalities to enter into a dialog with each other and drive forward developments together. In particular, the development of inter-municipal commercial areas should be mentioned here as an instrument to counter the growing shortage of space in the region.

After the regular project phase, NEILA was extended for a further year. The focus here is on the topic of inner-city development.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) selected the NEILA joint project as part of the “Stadt-Land-Plus” funding measure in a nationwide competition. The project will run from 2018 to 2024.