Zehn Jahre gemeinsame Planung von Berlin und Brandenburg

Rück- und Ausblick

Abstract

The states of Berlin and Brandenburg, for centuries component parts of one common state, sought co-operation immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and in a very short time they were able to formulate initial common foundations for planning. While the two sides were able to reach a speedy and lasting agreement on content (general guidelines and aims for regional policy and joint spatial development), the search for a suitable institutional form for co-operation developed into something of a “march through the institutions”. In the end, the political will to unify both states solved the problem of institutional form: as a “partial merger”, the amalgamation of the planning authorities of both states to create the Joint Spatial Development Department was intended to serve as an example of what could be achieved in the run-up to the referendum on “full merger” in May 1996. Berlin’s accretion of competences in the Joint Spatial Development Department has settled the controversy about the extension and the cut of sub-regional planning areas (a planning association for Berlin and its hinterland (Berlin) versus the so-called “pie-slice model” (Brandenburg)).