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The purpose of this essay is to give some introductory background information to understand the wider context of urban and regional planning in Germany in the early 21st century. For that purpose, the eleven success stories of planning and policies in Germany (e.g. balanced urban development, controlling urban sprawl, sensitive, gentle or careful urban regeneration, our village has to become more beautiful etc.) and the twelve narratives supporting the above success stories were described. Lastly, the four efforts, what German planners are already doing to react to and prepare for the changing development trends in German as well as world society were shortly suggested.

Key words: urban and regional development in Germany, balanced urban development, land ownership, power of local government

Ⅰ. Introduction

Planners are professionals, who like to travel. In times of globalization and open borders they wish to learn about planning successes and achievements in other countries. They know the limits of planning when designing and implementing liveable neighborhoods and guiding planning processes to sustain the endangered environment. Hence they are curious to know, whether planning systems and conditions in other countries offer transferable solutions to the challenges they are facing at home. Experience tell that travelling abroad is a good opportunity to learn more about one’s own country, more than about the country they are visiting. Travelling planners are soon aware that the politico-administrative context is different, that socio-economic conditions can not really be compared, that history matters, and that all this has an impact on the respective planning culture. As a rule, most travelling of planners intended to gain from planning experience in another country is based on superficial

Ⅱ. Success stories of planning and policies in Germany

Germany is globally known for its economic strength, its engineering com- petence and its export industry, mainly based on automobiles and innovative industries.

Germany is known as a country that is burdened by its horrific political history (see for example, Ardagh 1995; Ritchie, 1999; Mc Gregor 2014; Hawes 2017). Since Otto von Bismarck introduced the welfare system in the country in 1883, Germany is also seen as a prominent member of the community of welfare states, where people enjoy much social security. Under the label “Soziale Marktwirtschaft” (social market economy) the country aims to balance market rationales with welfare requirements supported by the state. In this socio-political context, spatial planning in Germany (urban and regional planning at three tiers of planning and decision-making) plays an important role to sustain the environment and to maintain the quality of life in cities and regions for a population of around 82 million and a territory of 137.800 sq miles or 357,000 square km. Any assessment of success is relative and subjective. The following selection of planning successes is brief and epigrammatic. This assessment draws on 40 years of involvement in planning at all tiers of planning and decision-making in Germany and beyond. It can only open the windows for further and much deeper explorations into the respective field.

1. Reconstruction of war demolished cities

In 1945, after the Second World War most cities in Germany were heavily demolished. American and British air forces had bombed cities to hit industries and to demoralize citizen supporting for the fascist government. Cities like Berlin, Dresden, Cologne or Nuremberg were main targets of the bombing, though also many small and medium-sized cities such as Kassel, Würzburg or Augsburg were heavily bombed. Thousands of citizens lost their lives or lost their homes. The cities looked like the city of Hiroshima in Japan after the nuclear attack in August 1945. Immediately after the war reconstruction took

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