Is the Regional Land Use Plan a Solution for the Challenges in Metropolitan Regions? Considerations about the Installation in the Greater Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Area

Abstract

The initial installation of a Regional Land Use Plan in the region Frankfurt/Rhine-Main has shown that this type of plan is well suited to make a more effective performance of tasks of planning action requirements in metropolitan urban areas. This was first demonstrated in a study accompanying the planning process by a working group of the Academy for Spatial Research and Planning. Crucial issues are the introduction, the content structure and the key elements of the plan, the plan preparation process and the acceptance by the affected municipalities. In addition, initial findings to future demands on the regional land use plan could be derived from the ongoing planning process. Moreover, initial understandings for application of this planning instrument in the German planning practice are formulated in general. Nevertheless the ultimate test for the Regional Land Use Plan in the practical application still to put its suitability as an effective and efficient planning tool has to be done after its entry into force in 2011.

Keywords

• Land use planning
• Regional planning
• Urban regions
• Planning system