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Environmental protection in Germany and the specific role of spatial planning - An introduction
Evolving of (spatial) planning at
higher planning levels started from the municipal level in a bottom-up process.
Industrialisation with its mushrooming urbanisation clearly showed the need for
co-ordinated and integrated spatial planning beyond and above the local level.
Consequently, in 1919 the first Regional Planning Association was established in
the Ruhr District, then the largest industrial region in Europe. Important to
note that the organisational form chosen was that of an association - members
are mainly the municipalities and talukas - and not a centralised governmental
authority. This Regional Planning Association (SVR) has been very successful in
guiding settlements development in Germany's largest industrial area since its
inception. Till today growth of the main cities in the Ruhr District has been
effectively controlled and they are separated by larger, regional green belts
(width between 5 - 10 km) acting as buffers and providing the needed open space
for recreation. This organisational form of planning associations - basically a
bottom-up approach - has been repeated throughout the country (it was for the
first time inaugurated for water management; see box). Regional planning at
district level was introduced some 30 years back. Regional plans are prepared
for several themes and are guiding the further detailing of plans at the
municipal level. In addition regional plans have the function to further detail
the State level plans. Since regional planning is executed by planning
associations which are composed mainly of the municipalities and talukas of the
planning region (normally the district) they have direct influence on the
results of this planning level.
The need for State level planning
emerged relatively late, mainly at the end of the Sixties and also in connection
with the emerging environmental discussion. At the early seventies a spatial
structural policy had been promulgated at the national level and State planning
legislation had been promulgated based on a national framework law. Relevant
spatial plans are however developed at State, regional (District) and local
level only.
The national level is not directly involved in the process
of spatial planning, indirectly insofar as the national level has promulgated
framework legislation and provides general development principles. But their
transformation into plans is carried out at lower levels. The national level has
only broadly identified those regions in the country where plan-guided
development is urgently needed.
One characteristic feature of regional
and State planning is the predominance that environmental objectives have gained
over the decades. Here Germany took a lead to use the mutual dependencies
between spatial planning end environmental protection. Some 40 years back it was
understood that spatial planning is a powerful instrument to protect the
environment and, simultaneously environmental spatial objectives could be useful
to strengthen the effectiveness of spatial plans.
Environmental
objectives play a dominant role even in the federal spatial planning framework
law. Often half of all spatial development objectives are expresses as explicit
environmental objectives or related to them. The general objectives of
incorporating environmental considerations into spatial plans include:
- use of the land according to its natural (environmental) suitability in a
way that the use is not adversely affecting its natural conditions and/or its
natural functions on a sustainable basis;
- restoration, rehabilitation or sanitation of lands and land based natural
resources already degraded by human activities;
- preservation of ecologically sensitive and important lands respectively
ecosystems with the effect that their functions for nature as well as society
are sustainably preserved.
- preservation and/or management of land based natural resources such as water
(e.g. groundwater)
This is carried out within the German spatial
planning system which consists of mainly three levels:
- State level planning (in State level Plans or Programmes)
- Regional (District) Planning (in Regional Plans)
- Municipal Planning (in Master Plans and Lay-Out Plans)
All plans
at all levels have in common:
- They provide development potential and direct its development in an
environmentally compatible manner
- Implementation is not a direct part of the plans; their main function is
development guidance
- All plans are thoroughly co-ordinated vertically (within the spatial
planning hierarchy) as well as horizontally (with all concerned sector plans and
programmes) following the counter-current principle (simultaneous co-ordination
bottom-up and top-down)
- The upper planning level guides development at lower planning level while
the lower planning levels provide input into the plans development at higher
planning levels
- All plans summarise the socially accepted future demand for land and
resources identified in a democratically organised process involving all social
groups and the general public
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