The Berlin/Brandenburg/Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania working group is one of seven regional working groups of the Academy for Territorial Development (ARL).

The working group covers the three federal states in the north-east of Germany.

In terms of spatial structure, the working group covers highly diverse spaces: from the metropolitan area of Berlin, i.e. the city-state of Berlin and its Brandenburg hinterland, to the sparsely populated rural areas of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, with numerous smaller urban conurbations (such as Rostock, Cottbus, Schwerin, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wismar, Neubrandenburg, Frankfurt an der Oder and Brandenburg/Havel) in between. The spatial development and planning issues in this area therefore have either a highly urban or a highly rural character.

The states of Brandenburg and Berlin carry out state planning jointly through the Joint State Planning Department based in Potsdam. In addition, there are five planning regions in Brandenburg, which extend concentrically around Berlin from the border with the federal capital to the outer state borders. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, four planning regions have been established for regional planning.

Title photo by Adam Vradenburg on Unsplash