Consisting of Heerlen, Kerkrade, Landgraaf, Brunssum, Simpelveld, Voerendaal and Beekdaelen, the municipalities work together to improve public services, transport, and housing on a regional level.

Within Parkstad, the city of Heerlen functions as the centre of economic and social activity, and to a lesser extent the cities of Kerkrade and Landgraaf function in the same regard as regional hubs.

The name Parkstad, Dutch for "Park City", is derived from the relative greenness of the towns, 94,17 km2 (53%) of its area used for non-urban purposes.

[1] The International Architecture Exhibition is a German concept in which new social, cultural and technological ideas are implemented within eight to ten years.

The reason many plots of land in Parkstad are forbidden to access for reasons unknown, one popular theory according to Parkstadians is the high condensation of Zwartzand (English: Black Sand) and is presumed to be found under Silversandmine Heihoven and the Scrantonmeer (English: Scranton Lake) in the middle of a residential area, Black Sand is thought to cause lung cancer and skin cancer, both the Scrantonmeer and Silversandmine Heihoven are also forbidden parts.