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Balancing in general and balancing alternatives and variants can be seen as a core component of the work of planners. Against the backdrop of current social challenges, the complexity of these balancing processes is increasing. From a planning science perspective, however, the question of the balancing process has only begun to be analysed. To date, there are only a few empirical studies that have explicitly focussed on balancing processes in Germany. This is where this paper starts by focusing on urban planning, investigating what planners understand by balancing alternatives and variants and how the balancing process is presented in everyday planning. To this end, 19 qualitative interviews were conducted with public and private sector planners. A qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The results confirm the central role of balancing processes in everyday planning and emphasise the need for further research to understand these processes’ complexity and significance.

Buchrezension.

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.

Based on a developed life and adaption-cycle model of regional cooperations, the development of three German rural regions is examined (Altmark, Kiel, Kronach). The interaction of external and internal influencing factors explains the quite different development patterns of the three regions. As amain finding can be formulated that in the development of regional cooperation neither a general tendency towards stable structures nor towards stable spatial structures can be asserted. Rather regional cooperation structures can be eroded even after a longer period of stability, as well despite continuous support of the state. Variable spatial shapes of regional cooperations can be handled in a productive way particularly if the institutional, political and administrative structures of the base unit county are stable.

Metropolitan regions result from spatial rescaling processes and region formations and are considered as “soft spaces of governance”, referring to international debates on the “new regionalism”. This paper addresses the criticism that the focus on competitive metropolitan regions distracts from the need for action on classic spatial planning issues. For this, the paper examines and discusses the institutional integration of regional planning in the German metropolitan regions and the activities of regional growth management as well as the regulatory intensity of regional plans based on a group comparison of metropolitan regions. As a result, the thesis of an institutionally fragmented regulatory growth management by regional planning can only be confirmed for a few metropolitan regions, where no relevant institutions and instruments are implemented in the core area. Regarding the “soft” instruments of growth management, the situation is very different. Here, the action potential is not yet fully utilized, even in metropolitan regions with strong institutional cores

In diesem Beitrag geht es um die Frage, ob das Trägerschaftsmodell der Regionalplanung einen Einfluss einerseits auf die Regulierungsintensität der Regionalpläne, andererseits auf die regionale Siedlungsentwicklung hat. Dazu werden sieben Hypothesen formuliert. Auf der Grundlage einer bundesweit flächendeckenden Auswertung der Regionalpläne und Daten zur Siedlungsflächenentwicklung werden diese Hypothesen überprüft. Die vermuteten eindeutigen Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Zentralisierungsgrad der Trägerschaft und der Regulierungsintensität lassen sich nicht bestätigen. Für die weitere Forschung kann jedoch als Schlusshypothese festgehalten werden, dass die Wirkung der Regulierungsintensität auf die Flächeninanspruchnahme zwischen unterschiedlichen Trägerschaftsmodellen variiert. Für die Wirksamkeit des formellen raumordnerischen Instrumentariums sind insbesondere Umsetzungskompetenzen des Trägers entscheidend.

In diesem Beitrag geht es um die Frage, ob das Trägerschaftsmodell der Regionalplanung einen Einfluss einerseits auf die Regulierungsintensität der Regionalpläne, andererseits auf die regionale Siedlungsentwicklung hat. Dazu werden sieben Hypothesen formuliert. Auf der Grundlage einer bundesweit flächendeckenden Auswertung der Regionalpläne und Daten zur Siedlungsflächenentwicklung werden diese Hypothesen überprüft. Die vermuteten eindeutigen Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Zentralisierungsgrad der Trägerschaft und der Regulierungsintensität lassen sich nicht bestätigen. Für die weitere Forschung kann jedoch als Schlusshypothese festgehalten werden, dass die Wirkung der Regulierungsintensität auf die Flächeninanspruchnahme zwischen unterschiedlichen Trägerschaftsmodellen variiert. Für die Wirksamkeit des formellen raumordnerischen Instrumentariums sind insbesondere Umsetzungskompetenzen des Trägers entscheidend.

Rezension

According to most (inter)national studies, life satisfaction in small towns is higher than in other types of towns with more inhabitants. With a population survey in eight German cities, we examine the importance of the infrastructure as an aspect of quality of life and the accessibility of infrastructure for local life satisfaction and whether or not the factor of social cohesion has a stronger impact on life satisfaction. The results show a differentiated picture: First, the infrastructure offer, as an aspect of objectively measurable quality of life does not have the greatest impact on life satisfaction. The population of the small towns in central locations apparently takes advantage of the infrastructure offers of their neighbouring towns and other places. Somehow, they are very satisfied with life on site, despite a low level of satisfaction with the infrastructure. The study thus tends to confirm the borrowing size concept, according to which small towns in the surrounding area benefit from the functions of the core city. On the other hand, the two factors of social cohesion and satisfaction with the performance of the local administration are closely related to the individual life satisfaction on site. For further research, the question arises, as which factors can explain local common sense best and how this can be improved through political measures.

Mit dem Konzept des Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) wird das Ziel verfolgt, neue Wohn- und Gewerbenutzungen an regional integrierten Standorten zu entwickeln, die den zukünftigen Bewohnerinnen und Bewohnern sowie den Beschäftigten eine gute lokale Infrastrukturausstattung, abwechslungsreiche öffentliche Räume sowie attraktive Mobilitätsalternativen zur Nutzung des eigenen Kraftfahrzeugs anbieten. In diesem Beitrag wird eine zur Operationalisierung von Transit-Oriented Development entwickelte Methodik vorgestellt und zur Bewertung und Klassifizierung von 747 nordrhein-westfälischen Bahnhaltepunkten angewandt. Mithilfe der operationalisierten TOD-Dimensionen können für Nordrhein-Westfalen fünf Cluster gebildet werden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich die Cluster mit überdurchschnittlich hohen TOD-Werten in den Dimensionen Destination Accessibility, Density und Diversity vorwiegend im Rhein-Ruhr-Raum sowie in den solitären Städten des Landes finden lassen. In den peripheren Räumen treten hauptsächlich die Cluster mit geringeren TOD-Werten auf. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass es eine Diskrepanz zwischen der Verfügbarkeit von potenziell entwickelbaren Flächen und dem TOD-Grad gibt. Im Umfeld der Haltepunkte der hochleistungsfähigen Bahnstrecken in Regionen mit hoher Wohnungsnachfrage stehen kaum Flächenpotenziale zur Verfügung. Große Flächenpotenziale gibt es hingegen an den Haltepunkten mit geringen TOD-Werten und einem geringeren Druck auf dem Wohnungsmarkt. Die Cluster ermöglichen es, spezifische Handlungsempfehlungen für die Stadtplanung und politische Entscheidungen zu formulieren, um eine erfolgreiche Implementation von Transit-Oriented Development zu unterstützen.

The aim of the article is, based on focused theoretical considerations, to find empirical results concerning the character of several planning methods to find conclusions for their further development. Examined is the question if several understandings of planning rationality are expressed in several planning methods. Firstly, the debate on the term of rationality in planning is reflected, which can be pointed to the dichotomy between means-and-ends-rationality on one hand and communicative rationality on the other. Based on this, empirical findings of a research project are presented, where several planning methods were valued on three main dimensions: “rational”, “communicative” and “creative”. Connected to this, on the example of the useful value analysis is examined if rational planning methods were developed towards the “communicative turn” in planning. In the conclusion a more systematic communicative design of proven rational planning methods is seen as an important and practical relevant field of planning research.

This article deals with reasons and spatial distribution patterns of the choice of location of undergraduates and students and the connected spatial impacts on the regional development, especially in rural regions in Germany. First, the international state of research is presented for the choice of location of students on different points of time of their educational path. An analysis of regional statistical data linked to the finding that higher education institutions in rural regions are not able to create the same stock of students as urbanised areas, but rural regions have better chances for economic development in the presence of a higher education institution. The number of students in rural areas with higher education institutions increased even more than in sareas or metropolises. However, the brain drain of highly qualified manpower from rural regions will increase after their years of study. This is caused by a better fitting skill profile in more densely populated areas for highly skilled workforce as well as for the supply of these jobs. Whether these tendencies already start during the transition from the bachelor to master degree will be examined with data from the Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, a university in a rural region. With a view to the future development the hypothesis of the bologna drain is introduced. It implies that the transition from bachelor to master, which did not exist in Germany before the year 2000, locations to study vary a lot in their development and especially rural regions loose in the competition for brilliant minds.

Although institutionalized media and jurisdiction could be counted to the actors of spatial planning, only few is known in international and national spatial planning research about their role in spatial planning processes in relation to actors in politics, administration, civil society and economy. If and to which extend do they have an influence on planning processes? In other policy areas (e.g. foreign and finance policy) – especially the influence of the media on political processe – is quite better explored and for the role of jurisdiction there are at least some findings. Based on this knowledge in this exclusive literature-based article first hypothesises for the policy area spatial planning are formulated. Thus, the roles of media und jurisdiction are varying between the specific phases of the policy cycle in a complementing manner: While the media play an important role in the phases of problem formulation and agenda setting and loose importance in the following political process, the jurisdiction has a selective but probabely leading influence in the later phases. Together, both groups of actors in media and jurisdiction can form planning processes significantly, therefore their common analysis in empirical studies makes sense.

In this article a major part of the German-language output in spatial sciences between 2003 and 2014 is examined towards a supposed gap between theory-based research and planning practice. Thus a total of 1929 articles contained in scientific series of the Akademie für Raumforschung und Landesplanung (ARL) and three journals is analysed to different degrees of detailing. In the first step, a classification was conducted in order to organise the empirical results. In a second step, detailed analyses were followed. The assumption of a gap all in all is confirmed: Only a small part of the examined articles argues visible theory-based. And within these articles the empirical examination of theories mostly is succeeding only rudimentary and the practical benefit of the research results is rarely noticeable. This finding as well shows, that the requirement of transdisciplinarity in the planning sciences can only partly be fulfilled. This could be the result from reasons in between the system of research as well as in conceptual deficits in the planning research itself.

The change of paradigm of the policy for rural regions towards cooperative and actor-orientated regional development nowadays is hardly doubted. Nevertheless there are few findings on the effectivity of these subsidiaries. Presented in this article is the result of a nation-wide regional statistical analysis to the correlation of the support-programmes for cooperative regional development on one hand and established regional development indicators und the other hand. The distinctive feature to other analyses is the simultaneous analysis of several programmes supported by several political departements over a longer period. The result is obvious: in fact, effects for the regional development are not commensurable. This remarkable finding should give impulses for the enhancements of the instruments of rural development.

In this article the point of view of users, namely parents and pupils, regarding the spatial aspects of educational planning are taken into account. In view of increased educational competition, pressure to achieve in schools and an ever broader and more sophisticated range of educational opportunities, what role do spatial aspects actually play in pupils’ and their parents’ attitudes to education? Is the spatial proximity of schools actually still important, when one considers the general increase in the scope of children’s activities? In an empirical study of two districts of Schleswig-Holstein the aspect of physical distance is identified as a theme in numerous respects. The objective school journey distances are examined, as well as the latent importance of the physical proximity of the place of residence to the location of the school for the educational success of the child. Also examined are the contacts between pupils and the social involvement of the parents in the school; the concrete importance of the physical proximity of the home to the school when making a decision about the choice of school location; and the home to school journey distances which are considered reasonable for the pupils. Furthermore various aspects of the choice of transport are also examined. Finally of interest is also the research methodology question regarding what explanatory content latent attitude variables have in comparison to variables which relate to concrete decision-making situations.

Differing from the requirements implied in the term “autonomous regional development”, regional governance is almost always dependent on public support. This raises the question of the appropriate “state-run guidance” for these regional governance structures. The article outlines the particularly efficient governance mode of “network-based co-operative negotiations in the shadow of hierarchy” as well as some typical forms of action and problems of state and regional planning in the support of regional governance. Taking the concepts for cities and their surrounding areas in Schleswig-Holstein as examples, it is shown that the careful construction of a “shadow of hierarchy” is a central precondition for successful regional co-operation. It is exactly the combination of public policy- and development policy aspects that makes this type of regional governance attractive and qualifies state and regional planning as its mentor.

There are very few regions in Germany today where the current discussion on future demographic developments is not being conducted against the backdrop of looming shrinkage or — at the very least — stagnation. With a population of over four million, the Hamburg metropolitan region is, however, one of these rare cases. All the signs here augur growth — both in the core city and in the surrounding area. The absence of any evident symptoms of a serious crisis possibly goes some way to explaining why there currently appear to be no significant impulses to embark on further steps towards consolidation of the region. Although clear progress has been recorded over recent years in respect of co-operation within the Hamburg metropolitan region, structural limits exist which cannot be overcome. This article present a critical appraisal of achievements to date and outlines perspectives for the future development of the Hamburg metropolitan region.

In the past decade an astonishing number of new regional co-operations were established all over Germany. Now the question arises how their continuity can be achieved: How can co-operation be anchored in the region in the long term? It is obvious in this connection that the different forms of governance, for instance networks on the one hand and fixed formal organisations on the other, have their specific strengths and weaknesses. This article considers these in detail and formulates possible perspectives for future landscapes of regional governance on this basis.

Nach einer Bezeichnung der peripheren Gebiete Brandenburgs werden in dem Beitrag die Ausgangssituation und die Entwicklungsperspektiven dieser Regionen skizziert. Diese Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten werden vor dem Hintergrund der Standortsituation, der Potentiale und der Abwanderungen skeptisch eingeschätzt. Sodann werden zwei in Brandenburg favorisierte Entwicklungsmodelle – zentrale Orte und Entwicklungszentren – vorgestellt und kritisch beleuchtet. Schließlich wird im Schlußteil des Beitrags für eine stärkere regionale Betrachtungsweise und für eine Neudefinition der Norm „der Schaffung von gleichwertigen Lebensbedingungen in allen Teilräumen“ plädiert.