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Urban expansion poses significant challenges to sustainability and undermines efforts for efficient spatial development. This study examines the relationship between regional planning regulations, interest groups and contextual factors affecting residential land take in Germany. The study employs a multi-level regression approach, analysing 4032 municipalities nested in 91 planning regions and utilizes a nationwide dataset on changes in residential and mixed land use. The overall goal of the study is to examine the effect of regional planning regulations and local interest groups, within varying contextual factors, on residential land take. Results show a dampening effect of regional regulatory intensity on residential land take at the local level. However, the effect becomes non-significant when considering local and regional covariates, revealing that regional planning alone may not be sufficient to reduce residential land take effectively. Findings underscore the complexity of regional planning and the importance of understanding its impacts on the local and regional level. As this study focuses on residential land take, further research is required to analyse the effectiveness of regional planning in managing land uses like trade, industry and infrastructure, concentrating urban development in central places, promoting transit-oriented development and supporting higher residential densities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infilling is considered one of the most important planning principles worldwide to reduce urban growth and urban sprawl. This also applies to Germany. However, due to a lack of nationwide small-scale data, there are hardly any empirical findings on how infilling has taken place in German cities. Using a newly developed GIS-based algorithm and small-scale data on residential construction activity (100x100m grid cells) and built-up areas, we analyse how residential development has evolved in 30 German case studies over a study period from 1991 to 2011. Within concentric 1km rings, our analysis differentiates residential construction activity by infilling, building types, land cover and housing density. Using cluster analysis, we further group the case studies into more homogeneous groups. The findings show that infilling has been pursued and implemented by most of the case studies since the 1990s. However, it becomes clear that there are large differences in the extent of infilling and that it does not necessarily lead to an increase in housing density. The findings show - in addition to national regulations and guidelines as well as population development - that it is primarily the structural framework conditions, the specific commitment of the municipalities as well as local and regional challenges that determine the type of residential construction activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In line with the European Commission's target, land take in Germany has to be reduced to net zero by 2050. This not only presupposes greater inner urban development and more efficient development outside existing settlements, but also puts a greater planning and political focus on renaturation. The aim of this paper is to investigate the implementation of no net land take policy using the example of the highly dense and urbanised federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Based on an online survey, the current and potential use of (planning) instruments to implement this policy in all 396 municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia was investigated. The findings suggest that the municipalities are not yet in a position to consistently implement no net land take. Particularly in the field of renaturation, this is often due to a lack of experience and uncertainties in the use of the existing (planning) instruments, but also to lacking awareness of the problem and a lack of political and social acceptance for higher housing densities. Since the necessary instruments are defined in current legislation and the concepts for implementation are generally known, it is important to support municipalities in using the available instruments and concepts even without direct pressure to act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional planning plays a central role in Germany's multi‐level system for managing regional and local land use, giving concrete shape to state planning specifications and providing municipalities with binding guidelines for urban land use planning. While planning proponents affirm the positive effects of regional planning such as reduced land consumption and less urban sprawl, representatives of neoclassical urban economic theory see regulation as the reason for lower economic growth. With the help of fixed effects panel models, we examine the impact of regional planning regulations on the housing market, migration and prices in Germany's growing labor market regions. We conclude that regional planning regulations reduce construction activity. However, this effect is relatively small and does not raise building land prices and rents. Nevertheless, results indicate that the lower level of construction activity—due to strict regional planning regulations—contributes to weaker overall population growth. Based on our results, we cannot confirm important predictions of neoclassical urban theory regarding the effects of regional planning regulations on labor migration patterns and downstream processes for Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the high concentration of people and infrastructures in European cities, the possible impacts of climate change are particularly high (cities' social, economic and technical vulnerabilities). Adaptation measures to reduce the sensitivity of a city to climate risks are therefore of particular importance. Nevertheless, it is also common to develop compact and dense urban areas to reduce urban sprawl. Urban infill development and sustainable spatial climate policies are thus in apparent conflict with each other. This article examines how German cities deal with the tensions between these two policy fields. Using six case studies, a new heuristic analysis method is applied. This study identifies three key governance aspects that are essential for promoting the joint implementation: instruments, organisation and interaction. Based on our case studies, we conclude that successful implementation can only be achieved through integrative governance including all three domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-resolution population data are a necessary basis for identifying affected regions (e.g., natural disasters, accessibility of social infrastructures) and deriving recommendations for policy and planning, but municipalities are, as in Germany, regularly the smallest available reference unit for data. The article presents a dasymetric-based approach for modeling high-resolution population data based on urban density, dispersion, and land cover/use. In addition to common test statistics like MAE or MAPE, the Gini-coefficient and the local Moran's I are applied and their added value for accuracy assessment is tested. With data on urban density, a relative deviation between the modeled and actual population of 14.1% is achieved. Data on land cover/use reduces the deviation to 12.4%. With 23.6%, the dispersion measure cannot improve distribution accuracy. Overall, the algorithms perform better for urban than for rural areas. Gini-coefficients show that same spatial concentration patterns are achieved as in the actual population distribution. According to local Moran's I, there are statistically significant underestimations, especially in the highly-dense inner-urban areas. Overestimates are found in the transition to less urbanized areas and the core areas of peripheral cities. Overall, the additional test statistics can provide important insights into the data, which go beyond common methods for evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]