This municipality is found at the junction of the Leine River and its tributary the Ihme, located in the south of the North German Plain and is the largest urban center in the Hannover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region. It is the fifth-most populated city in the Low German speaking region after Hamburg, Dortmund, Essen and Bremen.
The city serves as a junction for railroad networks and highways, bridging two European primary paths east-west and north-south (Hamburg–Frankfurt/Stuttgart/Munich).
Hannover Airport is located in Langenhagen north of the city, ranking ninth in Germany in terms of busiest airports.
The major academic institutes of higher learning include Hannover Medical School, one of the most prestigious medical colleges in the country, its affiliated hospital, Klinikum der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover, and the Leibniz University Hannover.
This city also serves as the headquarters for the International Neuroscience Institute.
