Freiraumschutz und Freiraumentwicklung durch Raumordnungsplanung

Over the last twenty to thirty years, the protection afforded to open space at the level of superordinate spatial planning has developed from nature conservation to a form of multi-functional resource management. Both state-level and regional planning today have at their disposal an extremely sophisticated array of instruments for open-space protection at the regional level whose effectiveness and relevance is beyond dispute. However, new challenges for the future are now in sight resulting from the impending scarcity of landscape resources. This will pose a number of questions regarding the future of open-space protection policy. These include in particular the expansive demand for land for the production of biomass and other regenerative energy sources, as well as nature protection based on the concept of linked habitat systems of regional and supra-regional dimensions. Moreover, the high level of demand for land for both settlement and transport-related purposes continues unabated, which in turn heightens the potential for conflicts over use of the remaining expanses of open space. Against such a backdrop, this collection of papers pursues two objectives. This first objective, focusing on Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, three of Germany’s eastern federal states, is to outline and evaluate the experience which has already been gleaned within state-level and regional planning through the use of strategies and instruments employed for the purpose of protecting open space at the regional level. The second objective is to present a number of new and innovative concepts and instruments for protecting and developing open space, which are discussed in terms of their effectiveness for the region. One issue which figures prominently throughout this compendium is the problem of fragmentation of the landscape, and the associated concept of linked habitat systems.