German Planning Research Articles

Regulative raumordnungsbezogene Optionen für eine Beschleunigung (nicht nur) der Energiewende: Ebenen, Verfahrensschritte und Bindungswirkungen

The urgency of the energy transition is in conflict with delaying effects and options that are not optimally used in the complex, multi-stage German planning system. This also applies to the law and procedures of spatial planning, as well as the interaction of spatial planning with construction planning and sectoral law. Here, fundamental reform options have not yet been exhausted, despite many current legislative projects. Some procedural steps and options for legislative deviations can be eliminated altogether, the interaction of planning and decision-making levels can be made more effective, and subject-related certain hierarchical levels in the planning system could be omitted on a topic-specific basis. Based on a brief analysis of the initial situation for spatial planning, this paper first provides corresponding general considerations on such far-reaching acceleration options and their consequences. This is followed by the presentation of numerous specific spatial planning-related optimisation options.

The Kleinhaus and the Politics of Localism in German Architecture and Planning, c. 1910

As an antidote to the substandard tenement apartment, the ideal of the “small house” (<em>Kleinhaus</em>) was ubiquitous in housing debates in Germany before World War One. Denoting a modestly sized two-story family house aligned with the street, it had its origins in the Middle Ages, during which it was constructed to serve the humble domestic needs of urban craftsmen who lived and worked in thriving trade cities including Lübeck, Bremen, Hamburg, Augsburg, Nuremberg, and Ulm. For modern promoters of low-density alternatives to the tenement, the <em>Kleinhaus</em> was an ideal model for mass appropriation. Unlike foreign and untranslatable dwelling models like the “villa” and the “cottage,” the <em>Kleinhaus</em> conveyed something that was both urban and quintessentially Germanic. It was thus enlisted by housing reformers to strengthen local cultural identity whilst raising the standards of the nation’s housing stock. This article examines the significance of the <em>Kleinhaus</em> in fostering dialogue between the fields of architecture and planning, and considers its embeddedness in a wider project of cultural nationalism in pre-war Germany.

NO FURTHER — THE BATTLE FOR NARO-FOMINSK, 20-31 OCTOBER AND 1-3 DECEMBER 1941. PART TWO

This article is a part of a much bigger project. Two of the authors (Jack Radey and Charles Sharp) are writing a book on the fighting west of Moscow from about 9 October to 31 October 1941. Our purpose is to examine why the German offensive against Moscow was stopped by the end of October. There are no studies in English that convincingly explain this. Our approach is operational and tactical analysis, based on extensive use of Soviet and German archival documents, as well as memoirs, and secondary historical books and articles in all languages. We have found that nearly all the documents are contradictory or omit important information, sometimes deliberately, sometimes because accurate data was lacking. Our method has been to compare them critically to determine what actually happened. This is challenging work, but we are confident that our analysis explains and clarifies the data from the raw documents. Our conclusions so far point to the outcome of these battles being the result of several factors, the most important being: incompetent German planning and logistics, an absence of clear and obtainable German objectives, and effective Soviet resistance. This research was done to clarify our understanding of the fighting around Naro-Fominsk and because the Naro-Fominsk fighting reflects these factors in microcosm. Here, the second part of the research is presented.

German Planning Discourses on the Post-Pandemic City

The pandemic has altered the way we live and it is difficult to foresee which alterations will sustainably change the way our towns and cities function. Some alterations are rooted in the changes of 2020; others have been boosted by the pandemic. This article gives an overview of a planners’ debate in German publications in newspapers and practice-oriented journals during 2020. If published in scientific journals, some may have been considered preprints and/or opinion articles. The aim of this article is to contextualise these German-language contributions to a societal discussion – together with my observations as somebody who is, at the same time, a user and a professional observer of the city – into an emerging scientific discourse. It focuses on urban retail, the question of urban solidarity and gives a scenario-like outlook on the German small town and the German big city, which stand for the polycentrism of Germany and Central Europe and for major types of German and European urban forms (smalland medium-sized towns: 20 000–100 000 inhabitants; big cities: 100000–500000 inhabitants). It concludes with procedural options for planners that derive from everyday practice and scientific discourses on German Urban Renewal.

NO FURTHER — THE BATTLE FOR NARO-FOMINSK, 20-31 OCTOBER AND 1-3 DECEMBER 1941

This article is a part of a much bigger project. Two of the authors (Jack Radey and Charles Sharp) are writing a book on the fighting west of Moscow from about 9 October to 31 October 1941. Our purpose is to examine why the German offensive against Moscow was stopped by the end of October. There are no studies in English that convincingly explain this. Our approach is operational and tactical analysis, based on extensive use of Soviet and German archival documents, as well as memoirs, and secondary historical books and articles in all languages. We have found that nearly all the documents are contradictory or omit important information, sometimes deliberately, sometimes because accurate data was lacking. Our method has been to compare them critically to determine what actually happened. This is challenging work, but we are confident that our analysis explains and clarifies the data from the raw documents. Our conclusions so far point to the outcome of these battles being the result of several factors, the most important being: incompetent German planning and logistics, an absence of clear and obtainable German objectives, and effective Soviet resistance. This research was done to clarify our understanding of the fighting around Naro-Fominsk and because the Naro-Fominsk fighting reflects these factors in microcosm.

Internal migration of the ‘creative class’ in Germany

ABSTRACTThis paper tests three popular hypotheses related to migration patterns of Richard Florida’s ‘creative class’. Applying micro-data, we calculate net migration rates for creative class members for all German planning regions and use a combination of principal component analysis and multiple regressions to explain them by determinants suggested by Florida. We use a unique measure to determine Florida’s gay index, use net migration rates and distinguish between creative class subgroups. The results partially support Florida, but hard location factors are much more important than tolerance, openness or amenities. Accordingly, we develop recommendations for numerous policy initiatives supporting creative industries in Germany.

Rational Versus Communicative: Towards an Understanding of Spatial Planning Methods in German Planning Practice

ABSTRACTThis paper considers the use of planning methods in German planning practice against the background of the ‘communicative turn’. The debate about concepts of rationality in Germany as well as in other countries can be said to have resulted in the paradigm of communicative actor-oriented planning achieving at least the same standing as the analytical rationality of the classical expert-based planning model. The inconsistent use of the term method in research corresponds to empirical findings indicating that the term is used ambiguously in practice. Nonetheless, planning methods fulfil a number of functions in practice. The notion of a relatively clear division between ‘analytical-rational’ methods on the one hand and ‘communicative’ methods on the other hand was relativized by experimental investigations. The setting in which the methods are applied seems of more importance; even apparently ‘analytical-rational’ planning methods can be implemented in a more or less communicative fashion.

Transfers and exchanges: the role of Léon Jaussely from a transnational perspective

ABSTRACTLéon Jaussely (1875–1932) was considered by his contemporaries as a forerunner and one of the most outstanding French planners of his time. He had a remarkable professional career in France and took part in several important international planning competitions. Jaussely’s work, in many respects, is central to better comprehend both the evolution of urban planning and planner’s exchanges at the beginning of the twentieth century. However, his significant role can only be fully understood from a transnational perspective. This paper aims, first, to analyse Jaussely’s distinctive approach to cities and urban planning. Secondly, it intends to place his ideas within the transnational debate and examine his connections with British, American, and German planning. His role as a passeur culturel in the diffusion and adaptation of planning international principles in France is then discussed, showing how this study can contribute greatly to the research on cross-national exchanges and the transnational circulation of planning models at the beginning of the twentieth century. Finally, insights on Jaussely and the French town planning movement can provide a deeper understanding about historical alternatives to modernist architecture, and therefore highlight continuities between nineteenth and twentieth century practices.

Hitler’s Africa in the East: Italian Colonialism as a Model for German Planning in Eastern Europe

Since Hannah Arendt’s essay on the ‘Origins of Totalitarianism’ in 1951, there has been a vivid scholarly debate about a nexus between Imperial Germany’s colonial endeavours in Africa and the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe. Some historians have gone so far as to draw a direct line from the colonial massacres of Windhoek to those committed at Auschwitz. Yet my article suggests a different answer to the question of historical continuities: in its plans for Poland and the Soviet Union, the Third Reich did not draw upon its own colonial past but looked to the undertakings of Fascist Italy in Africa for inspiration. Italy’s huge settlement project, with which it sought to produce the racially superior Fascist New Man, served as a model for Nazi Germany particularly in one crucial regard: in the organization and regulation of a new Volksgemeinschaft at the edge of the empire. These findings are of far-reaching significance for our understanding of both Italian Fascism and National Socialism. The still dominant image of Mussolini’s regime as an insignificant appendage to the superior Nazi state is inaccurate. Rather, modern social engineering of Italian Fascism acted as an ‘inspirational’ force on Nazi Germany, catalysing the evolution of Hitler’s dictatorship.

Central Place Theory and Nazi German Planning for Reorganizing the Central Settlement System in Incorporated Eastern Territories

Central Place Theory and Nazi German Planning for Reorganizing the Central Settlement System in Incorporated Eastern Territories

Steuerungspotenziale der Agrar- und Raumordnungspolitik für ökologisch und ökonomisch nachhaltige ländliche Regionen

European and german spatial planning policy and agricultural policy contain the policy objective to promote sustainable land use in rural areas. Both policies promise to promote comprehensive developments in rural areas, aiming at ecological target states, economic development, adaptation to economic globalization processes and strengthening regional stock flows to conserve resources. Analyzing these policies by testing their policy objectives and instruments in regard to sustainable land use delivers that only less instruments can support these objectives. Most instruments focus on economic development and adaptation to economic globalization processes. Ecological target states and strengthening regional stock flows are not supported by sufficient instruments.

The Contribution of New Businesses to Regional Employment—An Empirical Analysis

abstractWe investigated regional differences in the contribution of newly founded businesses to regional employment. The analysis was at the spatial level of West German planning regions for the period 1984–2002. We found pronounced differences for the employment contribution of new businesses across regions. Regression analyses of these differences show that the regional level of new business formation explains only a part of the employment effect. More important than the mere presence of startups is their quality in terms of their survival rate and growth rates. A large share of innovation activity in small businesses in a region, a high educational level of the regional workforce, and the wide availability of labor have a significantly positive impact. Our results suggest that the success of newcomers is not necessarily at the expense of incumbents but that the development of both kinds of businesses may be positively interlinked.

Mit Nachhaltigkeitsindikatoren die Flächennutzungsplanung steuern

Dealing with the paradigm of “sustainable spatial development” (in German planning) is still characterised by some uncertainties. In order to respond to these uncertainties, the following article presents the concept of an indicator — based sustainability assessment. It assists the consideration of zoning plans by putting the paradigm of “sustainable spatial development” in concrete terms and making it checkable. The criteria for the assessment are familiar sustainability indicators. As a result of the sustainability assessment, the planning and control functions of these criteria increase. This article proposes a methodology for indicator — based sustainability assessment and names the success factors for the integration of sustainability goals into planning.

Aesthetic control management in the German planning process

Aesthetic control management in the German planning process

Aesthetic control management in the German planning process

Aesthetic control management in the German planning process

New Firms and Regional Employment Change

This article analyzes the relationship between regional start-up activities and employment change in subsequent years for the West German planning regions. I find that the number of start-ups in a particular region is determined to a high degree by the prevalent sectoral structure. To eliminate this influence sectorially adjusted new-firm formation rates are calculated. These rates reflect a clear core-to-periphery decline. The relationship between the level of regional start-up activities and employment change comes out to be rather weak. In contrast to the common wisdom the coefficients for the impact of the entry rate on regional employment indicates a negative contribution of regional start-up acitivities.

Path Analysis and Regional Development: Factors Affecting R & D in West German Small and Medium Sized Firms

PFIRRMANN O. (1995) Path analysis and regional development: factors affecting R & D in West German small and medium sized firms, Reg. Studies 29, 605–618. Recent empirical analyses have emphasized the importance of a local technological environment for attracting industrial research and development (R & D) or providing spill-over effects from the convergence of industrial and university R & D. Despite the importance of the relationship between technological innovation and regional development, serious questions still remain unanswered. This paper will attempt to assess on a regional level the factors which affect the R & D efforts of small and medium sized firms. A path model with latent variables for West German planning regions will be developed including regional and structural factors which are assumed to affect the R & D efforts of small and medium sized firms. The approach of investigation is based on the partial least squares estimation method. This method was chosen to draw a more complex picture of the innovating firms' regional environment and also because of the possibility of splitting empirical findings into their causal relationships. PFIRRMANN O. (1995) Analyse par la méthode du chemin et aménagement du territoire: les facteurs qui influent sur la R et D dans les P M E allemandes, Reg. Studies 29, 605–618. Des analyses empiriques récentes ont souligné l'importance d'un environnement local technologique afin de séduire la recherche-developpement (R et D) industrielle ou bien pour assurer des retombées dues à la synergie entre la R et D industrielle et universitaire. En dépit de l'importance du rapport enre l'innovation technologique et l'aménagement du territoire, des questions fondamentales restent sans réponse. Cet article cherche à évaluer sur le plan régional les facteurs qui influent sur les efforts de R et D des P M E. Un modèle de la méthode du chemin comportant des variables cachées relatives aux zones d'études et d'aménagement du territoire en Allemagne de l'Ouest sera construit incluant des facteurs régionaux et structurels censés avoir une incidence sur les efforts de R et D des P M E. La façon employée est celle de la méthode des moindres carrés partielle. Cette méthode a été choisie pour dessiner une image plus complexe de l'environnement régional de l'entreprise innovatrice et à cause de la possibilité de diviser les résultats empiriques en fonction de leurs relations causales. PFIRRMANN O. (1995), Pfadanalyse und Regionale Entwicklung: Faktoren, die sich auf Forschung und Entwicklung auswirken, Reg. Studies 29, 605–618. Neuere empirische Analysen betonten die Bedeutung einer lokalen technologischen Umwelt als Anreiz für industrielle Forschung und Entwicklung (R & D) oder zur Entstehung von Neben-Ausbreitungseffehten, die sich aus dem Zusammentreffen von Industrie und Forschungseihrichtungen ergeben. Trotz der Bedeutung der Beziehungen zwischen technologischer Innovation und regionaler Entwicklung bleiben wichtige Fragen weiter unbeantwortet. Dieser Aufsatz versucht, auf regionaler Ebene die Faktoren zu bestimmen, welche sich auf die Aktivitäten kleiner und mittelgroßer Firmen auf dem Gebiet der R & D auswirken. Es wird ein Pfadmodell mit latenten Variablen für westdeutsche Planungsregionen einschließlich regionaler und struktureller Faktoren entwickelt, von denen angenommen wird, daß sie sich auf die R & D-Activitäten kleiner und mittelerer Betriebe auswirken. Der Ansatz zur Untersuchung baut auf der Schätzungsmethode der teilweise kleinsten Quadrate auf. Die Methode wurde der Möglichkeit wegen gewählt, ein komplexeres Bild der regionalen Umwelt der zur Innovation bereiten Firmen zu erstellen, und zugleich empirische Befunde in ihre kausalen Beziehungen aufspalten zu können.

International influences and professional rivalry in early Danish planning

Influences on early Danish planning came from a variety of international sources. The Big City paradigm was mainly taken over from German planning, sometimes varied with elements from Haussmann and American cities. Later inspiration from Camillo Sitte and from the English Garden City movement was combined with traditional Danish small town values into a competing paradigm. The engineers mainly adhered to the Big City paradigm, whilst the architects were the chief proponents of the English inspiration, and these two paradigms have been used as tools of rivalry between the two professions. This discord might in the long run have led to a weakening of the planners’ political influence.

A German Planning Atlas: A Review

A German Planning Atlas: A Review