Raumforschung und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning

„Das ging ja nur hier…“ – Wohneigentümerstrukturen und Segregation in ostdeutschen Großwohnsiedlungen

Matthias Bernt, Felix Böhmer — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Throughout the last two decades, large housing estates in eastern Germany have become the scene of an increased concentration of low-income households. At the same time, considerable shifts in the structure of home ownership have been documented in these areas. National and international investors have acquired large housing stocks here and become a fundamental part of the local housing markets. This paper discusses the connection between both developments. Based on a case study in two large housing estates in Halle (Saale) and Schwerin, it is argued that the relative impoverishment of large housing estates can be traced back to two developments on the supply side: On the one hand, municipal housing companies are increasingly made responsible for the provision of homes for households that cannot provide for themselves on the market. Due to the uneven spatial distribution of municipal housing, this leads to an increased concentration of poor households in the large housing estates. On the other hand, letting policies of financial investors are characterised by tight yield requirements. In view of a rather restrained demand for the housing they manage, they therefore increasingly rent their flats to population groups that are avoided by other landlords. Together, these developments operate like a ‘segregation machine’, which continuously shifts low-income population groups to the large housing estates.

How Walkable are German Cities? New Results from the Field of Walkability Research

Julian Schmitz, Stefan Fina, Christian Gerten — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Pedestrian-friendly urban structures motivate people to use active modes of mobility and walk instead of using their car. Active mobility is associated with health-promoting benefits and assumed to support neighbourhood-based social interaction. In this context, walkability assessment tools help urban and transport planning to identify deficiencies for the walkability of urban neighbourhoods and use the results to work towards improvements. The results contribute towards the establishment of indicators to measure development and planning targets with respect to the walkability of urban neighbourhoods and continuous monitoring over time. Based on a newly developed and free available GIS-measurement tool this paper assesses the walkability of the 16 most populated Germany cities at a small scale. The lowest average walkability can be found in the city of Dortmund, while Frankfurt am Main shows the highest values. The paper discusses the methodology and the results for the 16 cities and uses short portrayals of the town planning history and pedestrian infrastructure in Dortmund and Frankfurt am Main to explain possible reasons for the differences in the measurement results.

Making land available. Cultural legal comparison of the German Building Land Mobilisation Act and the partial revision of the Swiss Spatial Planning Act

Andreas Hengstermann, Nadja Skala — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Planning practice is confronted with seemingly contradictory challenges, such as the qualitative and quantitative provision of housing paired with reducing land consumption. To address this apparent dilemma, legislators are increasingly relying on densification. However, a fundamental prerequisite (and often a significant challenge) for this is the availability of the land required. Recent planning law reforms in Germany and Switzerland aim to increase the effectiveness and speed at which land is made available for inner development, thus meeting the seemingly conflicting planning policy goals. This paper compares recent legislative efforts in Germany and Switzerland using the comparative law method. The German Building Land Mobilization Act includes amendments to the Building Code (Baugesetzbuch) and the Building Use Ordinance (Baunutzungsverordnung), intended to enable faster activation of building land and the creation of more affordable housing. To this end, the amendment expands existing instruments for the activation of building land and introduces simplifications to the planning law. In Switzerland, the Spatial Planning Act has been partially revised to achieve inner urban development through precise regulations on the expansion of building zones and instruments to ensure the implementation of zoning plans.

Spatial Income and Purchasing Power Disparities in the Context of the Policy Goal of Equivalent Living Conditions in Bavaria

Frank Swiaczny, Deutsch Deutsch, Deutsch Deutsch — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The spatial differences in income in Bavaria were examined in the context of the goal of equivalent living and working conditions anchored in the Bavarian constitution and state planning. Disparities in income distribution, taking into account spatial differences in purchasing power, are of central importance as a measure of equal living conditions. The presented analysis of spatial income disparities uses consistent time series data for the Bavarian counties in the period 1991 to 2018, which were determined as part of the national accounts. Using the Theil index, it can be shown for Bavaria that spatial disparities in the primary income of counties are significantly reduced by taxes and social benefits, and have generally decreased in recent decades. This applies both to differences between and within administrative districts, as well as to differences between and within types of counties which reflect the degree of urbanisation. An adjustment for regional housing costs further reduces spatial disparities in material living standards, whereby large-scale interregional differences become less significant.

The Development of the Regulatory Intensity of German Regional Plans from 1985 to 2017. An Empirical Contribution to the Discussion on the Loss of Importance of Spatial Planning

Sebastian Eichhorn, Christian Diller, David Pehlke — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As a contribution to the debate on deregulation of spatial planning and lean regional plans, this paper presents the first long-term study for Germany analysing the regulatory intensity of all regional plans legally valid in 2017 on the topics of settlement and open space development over time. As a final result, the assumption of a general deregulation and streamlining of regional plans cannot be confirmed. In contrast, changes in the legal basis, such as the priority of inner over outer urban development, have led to a continuous increase in the regulatory intensity over time, particularly in the case of positive growth management policies with an active role of regional planning. At the same time, there is evidence of streamlining tendencies in some states, which can partly be interpreted as deregulation tendencies. To date, however, they are merely an expression of state-specific ways of shaping regional planning and not a sign of an accelerated deregulation competition.

Significant cities beyond the metropolises? Regiopolises and their role in the German urban system

Anna Growe, Thomas Terfrüchte — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Regiopolises and regiopolitan regions are receiving unprecedented attention in German spatial planning policy. In addition to the promotion of the German RegioPole network by the federal government, regiopolises and regiopolitan regions are already designated in several spatial development plans. In the academic discourse, however, regiopolises are hardly taken up. This is particularly evident in the fact that dimensions such as city size (more than 100,000 inhabitants) and spatial location (outside metropolitan regions) are used to empirically identify regiopolises as such. A specific functionality or a specific significance in the German urban system, however, is only hinted at, following the established spatial planning concepts of metropolitan regions and central places. Against this background, this paper examines the question of what constitutes a regional centre or region in terms of its specific functionality and what significance it has in the urban system. The international discourses on second-tires-cities, borrowed size and agglomeration shadow are also taken up.

Mobile telephony yes – but no masts and antennas here, please! Discursive negotiation processes around the installation of transmitters in Germany

Julia Dittel, Florian Weber, Karsten Berr, Olaf Kühne — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A stable and nationwide mobile network coverage is increasingly regarded as essential. This requires an expansion of mobile networks throughout the country. However, the installation of masts and antennas has often been the subject of conflict in Germany, especially due to fears about potential health effects of electromagnetic fields. Transmitters become both a trigger and a target of social protests. From a discourse-theoretical perspective, we identify central lines of argumentation in the German cellular network conflicts. A triangulation of quantitatively oriented and qualitative analysis components forms the methodological basis. Regional case studies provide an opportunity to identify local differences. A comparison of past and recent conflicts reveals discursive shifts over time. Debates about the possible health effects of mobile radio were particularly contentious in the context of UMTS mobile phone expansion at the turn of the millennium. The (planned) installation of transmitters at the local level often sparked this discussion. During the expansion of the 5G network, in addition to the debate about the health risks of the technology, questions are now being raised about whether and to whom the expansion is necessary. Compared to the previous period of investigation, local conflicts about transmitters now appear to be less virulent and can be found primarily in southern and southwestern Germany.

Regional planning steering types of residential development in Germany. A nationwide analysis of planning instruments in all German planning regions

David Pehlke — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The steering of the residential development on the regional level is one of the major tasks of regional planning. Nevertheless, no nationwide information is yet available on the implementation of the planning instruments in regional plans. Moreover, for potential steering types, only one approach on the level of the German federal states exists. To reduce this information deficit, a plan content analysis is used to determine which positive planning instruments were implemented in the state development plans and regional plans valid in 2017. The data basis for negative planning instruments is the spatial development plan monitor of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBSR). With these data, a non-linear principal component analysis and a cluster analysis is carried out to identify specific steering types. As a result, six regional planning steering types of pre-use planning, quantitative control, settlement axes, positive planning location control, intra-municipal framework with extensive mono-functional open space protection and extensive location control through multifunctional open space protection can be identified. The different steering types are often spatially clustered, so that a significant influence of state planning requirements can be assumed.

Urban development dynamics at long-distance railway stations in Germany

Sebastian Eichhorn, Christian Gerten, Manuel Weiß , Angelika Münter — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Changes in the accessibility of a city – for example, due to the connection to the long-distance rail network for the first time – not only affect transport demand but can also have catalytic effects on urban development. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study presented in this paper investigates whether long-distance rail stations in Germany between 2004/2005 and 2016/2017 generate such impulses for urban development in their catchment areas via their accessibility level and dynamics. Results show no direct impulses of accessibility on urban development in many cases, suggesting that other reasons such as population and housing pressure or the existence of inner-city (unused) development sites are the more significant factors for urban development dynamics. In addition, accessibility changes are often subject to business considerations that are generally detached from local political and planning goals and interests.

Collaborative Land-use Development in City Regions: Case Study Leipzig

Thomas Zimmermann, Judith Anna Marie Gollata, Jörg Knieling, Fabian Vogt — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

City-regional discourses around organisational forms offer little evidence to analyse and guide cooperative processes in a context-specific way. Design criteria can contribute to overcoming this deficit. This paper operationalises a proposed set of design criteria by drawing on the discourses on collaborative governance and land management. Subsequently, these design criteria are used to analyse an ongoing process for the development of a housing development concept in the Leipzig city region and to reflect on the criteria. This contributes to the question of how collaborative governance of land-use development in city regions should be designed. Important points of reference for the design of cooperations are the conscious selection of the actors to be involved and the development of mutual trust between them, joint definition of rules of the game for cooperation, determination of the nature of the emerging institution, orientation of the joint work towards the future and the development of a common understanding of the situation to be improved.

The domestic dimension of cross-border governance: Patterns of coordination and cooperation

Tobias Chilla — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Contemporary debates in border studies tend to see the national level as a rather residual category. There are, however, strong arguments that the national level still plays an important role for the governance of border regions. The question is what kind of formats are in place related to coordination and networking of border regions within national settings. The aim of this paper is to provide an exploratory typology of domestic governance settings. The underlying empirical study shows a large diversity of governance patterns in thirteen European countries. A synthetic typology reveals five approaches, namely centralist, decentral and selective coordination as well as transnational and laisser-faire approaches. On this basis, the explanatory factors of the revealed governance patterns are discussed. The state structure (federal, centralist) plays an important role. Moreover, contingent political strategies, embedded in political culture and path dependency, help to understand the differences and the similarities between the analysed countries. The domestic governance dimension seems to bridge the frictions between the rather classical inner-state hierarchies and the soft networking tools of cross-border governance in the strict sense.

Development and application of a spatial index for mobility

Alexander Rammert — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper discusses which methods can be used to operationalize mobility in German planning practice. In particular, the index methodology, which is rarely used in planning practice, is suitable for the systematic operationalization of complex phenomena such as mobility. After a short theoretical introduction, the concept of mobility will be operationalized step by step for indexing. For this purpose, in addition to a theoretical construction model for a mobility index, a science-based list of indicators necessary for its calculation is created. Subsequently, this spatial mobility index is calculated on the basis of accessibility and user survey data from the Berlin district of Pankow. As a result, the index clearly shows on maps where people have more or less mobility options. Thus, the mobility index provides a novel method for planning to identify high or low mobility in the study areas.

Foreign direct investment and local knowledge base: Embedding foreign subsidiaries in German dual vocational education and training

Martina Fuchs, Johannes Westermeyer, Lena Finken, Matthias Pilz — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Dual vocational education and training systematically combines the learning of apprentices (in vocational schools) or students (in applied universities) with the ‘learning venue’ of the company. The dual vocational education and training exists in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and stands for regional competitiveness as well as for job opportunities of young people on the local labour market. Outside of these three countries, the dual system hardly exists, but dual practices are subject of international skill transfer policies. While this transfer is well researched, it is hardly known to what extent (in mirror image) subsidiaries of foreign companies take part in the dual system of German speaking countries. This question was examined, by focussing on subsidiaries of multinational companies in Germany. Theoretically, the contribution relates to research on local knowledge bases and the embeddedness of foreign subsidiaires. The study pursues a qualitative method. The results show that the local training managers have freedom for decision-making and use this in favour of getting involved in dual vocational education and training. However, the effort turns out to be high. Dual activities take place primarily as a strategy for adapting to the institutional environment, not as a way of shaping the environment. The local stakeholders are mostly reactive in this regard. This points to possible future fields of research on local knowledge bases and local embeddedness and, with regard to practice, to the relevance of mutual coordination.

Perceptions of Refugee Migration from a Postmigrant Perspective – Alliances, Antagonists and Ambivalences in Everswinkel

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

For this paper, the perception of the integration of refugees in the community of Everswinkel (North Rhine-Westphalia) was traced from a post-migrant perspective. For this purpose, representatives of the community, volunteers and residents of suburban neighbourhoods were asked about the changed situation of refugee migration since 2015. In order to arrive at a broader perspective on migration, which no longer sees immigration as a downstream problem affecting only migrants, but rather as a condition to be negotiated for the entire host society, the conceptual triad of alliances, antagonists and ambivalences of Naika Foroutan was operationalized. The results of the surveys turned out to be very heterogeneous and some contradicting views of integration were observed. On the one hand, diverse pro-plural alliances have emerged in Everswinkel, which materialize in particular in the offers and institutions of the community. On the other hand, these are accompanied by anti-plural antagonists who are, for example, strongly conveyed through topics such as neighbourhood coexistence or the topic of living. In addition, a third perspective, that of the ambivalence and contradictions in the perception of the integration of refugees, comes into focus.

Energy justice in wind energy development – Strengthening local acceptance through financial participation?

Sarah Olbrich, Hartmut Fünfgeld — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Onshore wind energy development is often delayed or even prevented by local resistance. Against this backdrop, we discuss financial participation as a measure to promote local acceptance by positively influencing the perceived experience of justice. Building on the concept of energy justice, this paper investigates the extent to which different forms of financial participation are suitable for better distributing costs and benefits, creating opportunities for participation, and examining who can participate financially. In addition to a comprehensive literature review, interviews were conducted with wind turbine planners and operators. These show that stakeholders engage in financial participation to different degrees across different projects and that the preferred form of participation varies from one region to another. Moreover, no model of financial participation appears to be suited to address all dimensions of energy justice, as all models are characterised by certain advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the availability of financial participation options alone is unlikely to increase local acceptance. Such options can, however, be effective when combined with other measures to increase acceptance.

Book review of: Drilling, M.; Tappert, S.; Schnur, O.; Käser, N.; Oehler, P. (2022): Nachbarschaften in der Stadtentwicklung. Idealisierungen, Alltagsräume und professionelles Handlungswissen

Ralf Zimmer-Hegmann — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Book review

Expansion of ground-mounted photovoltaic. Support and control options for federal spatial planning and state planning

Hauke von Seht — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Ground-mounted photovoltaic systems have the potential to become one of the central elements of the coming energy system. The German federal government is now planning a significant and rapid expansion. However, the extent to which appropriate planning and measures take place in regions and municipalities will also depend on the spatial planning regulations of the federal and state governments. This paper explains that considerable support and control options are available to accompany expansion efforts. Cross-references to the Renewable Energy Sources Act and the Building Code are also shown and it is explained that the different types of ground-mounted photovoltaic systems may partially require a differentiated approach.

Determination of the demand for residential building land taking into account small-scale migration movements. A practical approach using the example of the Halle-Leipzig region

Thorben Sell, Anna Dunkl, Sebastian Henn, Annedore Bergfeld — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Small-scale, often polarizing changes in the population structure characterized by migration, have a crucial influence on the current development of settlements in Germany. Although state and regional planning tries to manage related demands for residential areas, competition for potential migration gains on the municipal level often leads to an unregulated development of residential areas within the region. This paper therefore seeks to develop an approach for an inter-municipally coordinated planning of residential areas, which takes into account demographic developments, in order to reduce the overall land consumption. In a first step, the residential land requirements that can be derived from expected small-scale population movements are presented in the form of different scenarios for specific municipalities. In a second step, a screening approach is used to identify those municipalities that appear to be suitable for accommodating additional residential development land requirements on the basis of their amenities and accessibility. In a third step, the identified residential land requirements are assigned to test areas with the help of various indicators. The approach is illustrated using the example of the Halle-Leipzig region.