The glossary

Permission for the construction, alteration, demolition, or conversion of a physical structure is required from the competent authority. It must be granted on application by the project sponsor if there is no legal impediment to the project. Building permission is therefore strictly governed by planning laws and regulations and other relevant legislation, for instance that relating to pollution and water. In individual cases, the building authorities may use its discretion to allow exceptions, exemptions or derogations. In most cases the competent authorities are county or municipal building inspectorates referred to variously as "Bauordnungsamt" or "Bauaufsichtsamt." The details of application and permission procedures are set forth in state building regulations.

The Federal Building Code is the most important plank of urban development law. It contains four chapters:

• Chapter One: General Urban Planning Law;
• Chapter Two: Special Urban Planning Law;
• Chapter Three: Other Provisions;
• Chapter Four: Transitional and Concluding Provisions.

General urban planning law covers such areas as urban land-use planning, building permission, land reallocation, expropriation and compensation, infrastructure provision and servicing, and nature conservation. Special urban planning legislation is concerned principally with urban rehabilitation, urban development and redevelopment, the preservation of physical structures and the specific character of areas, and urbandevelopment enforcement orders. Other provisions deal with valuation, competencies, administrative procedures and planning safeguards.

On the basis of the Federal Building Code, local authorities undertake development planning in the form of urban land-use planning on their own responsibility (local planning autonomy). The function of urban land-use planning is to prepare and organise the use of plots within the municipal territory for building and other purposes in accordance with the Federal Building Code.

Land-use plans drawn up by local authorities are to safeguard sustainable urban development and a socially equitable utilisation of land for the general good of the community, and to secure a more humane environment, and to protect and develop natural resources. Land-use planning “dedicates” land for specific uses (e.g., housing, commerce, public amenities). It may also lay down restrictions (e.g., maximum lot coverage, maximum number of storeys, etc.), obligations (e.g., housing for specific categories of person), and requirements with respect to the implementation of the use in question (e.g., noise control, greenery).

Urban land-use planning is a two-stage process involving two types of plan:

• the preparatory land-use plan (Flächennutzungsplan, FNP)
• the binding land-use plan (Bebauungsplan).

The preparatory land-use plan provides the framework for preparing binding land-use plans The two types of plan differ essentially as regards spatial scope, detail, legal form, and legal effects. Otherwise there are governed by largely similar rules, especially with respect to planning principles and procedures for plan preparation. The Federal Building Code and the Federal Spatial Planning Act require local planning authorities to ensure that land-use plans conform with the goals of spatial planning. The Federal Building Code thus takes account of the functional dovetailing of state or regional planning and urban land-use planning. At the same time, the importance of state and regional planning in setting the framework for urban land-use planning is stressed.

Unlike planning law (urban development law), building regulations (or building control law) are the purview of state legislation. Building regulations thus apply only within the state concerned. This allows state governments to take account of conditions specific to the given territory. As a rule, state building regulations are based on standard building regulations elaborated by the Conference of the Ministers and Senators of the States Responsible for Building, Housing and Settlement (ARGEBAU).

State building regulations contain substantive provisions relating to construction on site, as well as procedural provisions on building permission procedures and the organisation of building authorities. One key aspect of the substantive arrangements is conformity with generally accepted technical standards and technical building regulations in order to avert any risk to public safety and order.

Planning law, also referred to as urban development law regulates the use of land. In particular, it governs whether and how a site can be developed. The power to enact planning law rests with the federation, the most important plank of planning law being the Federal Building Code. Other important sources of planning law are the Federal Land Utilisation Ordinance and the Plan Notation Ordinance.

The binding land-use plan lays down legally binding rules for the development and organisation of sections of the municipal territory. It is developed on the basis of the preparatory land-use plan, but, unlike the latter, it creates direct rights and duties with regard to the utilisation of the sites within its purview. It can determine the category of use and degree of building coverage, type of development (open or closed), and lot coverage. It can also earmark sites for mitigation measures to offset intrusions, as well as sites for ancillary structures such as parking space and garages, vehicular and pedestrian infrastructure, and green spaces. Pursuant to the Land Utilisation Ordinance, the binding land-use plan can categorize land-use areas (for example as purely residential areas, general residential areas, mixed use areas, commercial areas, industrial areas). The degree of building coverage can be determined by setting the plot ratio, floor-space index, cubing ratio, height of structures, and number of full storeys. Permissible lot coverage can be set by means of building lines, set-back lines, or coverage depths.

Binding land-use plans also serve as the basis for other urban development activities provided for in the Federal Building Code, such as land reallocation, expropriation, and improvement. Plan preparation procedure is regulated in detail by the Federal Building Code. The binding land-use plan is adopted as a bye-law by the local council; it is therefore generally binding, also on private individuals. The binding land-use plan consists of a plan with legend, textual designations and information for the record, as well as an explanatory memorandum, including an environmental report. A special form of binding urban land-use planning is the project-based binding land-use plan. Such plans permit the municipality to grant permission for projects where, on the basis of a project and infrastructure plan agreed with the municipality, the project developer undertakes to complete the plan within a certain delay and fully or partly assumes planning and land improvement costs.

The Federal Building code regulates procedure for public authority participation in urban land-use planning in a similar manner to public participation, since planning can affect both matters falling within the remit of public authorities, agencies, public associations, and neighbouring municipalities and the public interest. Procedures provide for a complete account of interests affected by planning and prepare the process of weighing (or balancing) public and private interests. The law requires two-phase (early and formal) participation by public authorities and other public agencies, i.e., institutions to which public sector tasks have been assigned by law or pursuant to a law. In the first phase, public authorities and other agencies whose areas of responsibility are or could be affected by planning are to be informed at the earliest possible date about the general aims and purposes of the planning, about alternatives for the reorganisation or development of an area, and about the potential impacts of planning, and are to be requested to state their views. In the second phase, public authorities are to comment on the draft plan and on the explanatory memorandum. These comments are to be limited to the remit of the public authority in question and are to be delivered within a month.

The Federal Building code regulates procedure for public authority participation in urban land-use planning in a similar manner to public participation, since planning can affect both matters falling within the remit of public authorities, agencies, public associations, and neighbouring municipalities and the public interest. Procedures provide for a complete account of interests affected by planning and prepare the process of weighing (or balancing) public and private interests.

The law requires two-phase (early and formal) participation by public authorities and other public agencies, i.e. institutions to which public sector tasks have been assigned by law or pursuant to a law. In the first phase, public authorities and other agencies whose areas of responsibility are or could be affected by planning are to be informed at the earliest possible date about the general aims and purposes of the planning, about alternatives for the reorganisation or development of an area, and about the potential impacts of planning, and are to be requested to state their views. In the second phase, public authorities are to comment on the draft plan and on the explanatory memorandum. These comments are to be limited to the remit of the public authority in question and are to be delivered within a month.

Soil conservation includes all activities for conserving and protecting soils and soil functions under the general heading of nature conservation and environmental protection. The soil, which has to be regarded as the basis for all life and as an integral component of the natural environment, is threatened by a multitude of factors, e.g. the extraction of raw materials, land take, surface sealing, compaction, erosion and contamination by harmful substances. Special care needs to be taken to give the soil the protection it requires. The Federal Soil Protection Act aims to provide long-term protection for soil functions, and to restore these functions where they have been impaired. The Act includes provides for

• the prevention of harmful changes to the soil,
• the remediation of soil and contaminated sites, and of consequently contaminated water, and
• precautionary measures to avert adverse impacts on soil.

Under the Act, soil polluters and landowners can be required to take preventive measures and remediate contaminated sites. The pertinent provisions determine the parties responsible for remediation, define the powers of the public authorities, and regulate remediation planning.

The German term “Brachfläche,”, is not clearly defined and covers a broad field of meaning. Its origins are in agriculture, where “Brache” means “fallow (land)” land left uncultivated for a year to restore its fertility in the three-field crop rotation system. In urban studies and urban planning practice, “Brache” has been applied to abandoned or formerly developed land particularly since the 1970s, when economic and technical structural change led to the widespread abandonment of sites. In contrast to fallow land in agriculture, the derelict or vacant sites in this context are not deliberately taken out of the use cycle, but usually find no subsequent use.

There are many and varied reasons, such as the type and state of the sites. Vacant land can be categorized in terms of descriptive attributes (former use, size, contamination risk, etc.), economic attributes (cost and yield aspects), temporal aspects (short-term or permanent abandonment), and action-oriented aspects (need for intervention to change locational qualities enabling revitalisation or subsequent use).

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the term Bund (“Federation“) is used to refer to central government as opposed to the component states (“Länder”). This division of government into federal and state levels is the result of the federal constitution of Germany. Although the states how their own governments, administrations, and courts, sovereignty at international law is vested solely in the federation. The distribution of competencies and sovereign rights between the federation and the states is laid down by the Basic Law. The most important constitutional organs at the federal level are the Bundesrat (Federal Council), the Bundestag (Parliament), the Federal Chancellor, the Federal Government, and the Federal Constitutional Court. The administrative institutions of the federation are the federal ministries (government departments) The ministry responsible for spatial planning is the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development.

The highest federal authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany are the federal ministries, each led by a federal minister nominated by the federal chancellor and appointed by the federal president. The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) is responsible for spatial planning. It is also the most important federal government investor, since all federal responsibilities for transport and physical infrastructure are concentrated under its roof.

A particularly important subordinate higher federal authority within the purview of the BMVBS is the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR). The BBR assists the federal government with expert advice on spatial and urban planning, as well as on housing and building. Within the BMVBS, the (standing) Conference of Ministers for Spatial Planning (MKRO) and the Advisory Council on Spatial Planning are two important advisory institutions (=Federal Insitute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development)

The Federal Republic of Germany is composed of sixteen states (Länder, singular Land). The states are also commonly referred to as “Bundesländer” (“states of the federation”), although this term has no legal status. They are Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia, and the three city-states Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg. The city-states are both cities and states, and are not subdivided into municipalities. Other subdivisions of states, often with administrative autonomy are districts (Regierungsbezirke), counties, associations of municipalities, and municipalities. In keeping with the federal principle of government, the sixteen states have their own constitutions and territories, independent state authority encompassing legislature, executive, and judiciary.

The states perform the governmental functions assigned to them by the Basic Law and the state constitutions. The focus is less on independent legislation than on administration and on participation in federal legislation, which state governments exercise through the Federal Council (Bundesrat). In the system of territorial units for statistical purposes (NUTS) developed by Eurostat for us in Europe, the 16 states of Germany are NUTS 1 entities.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the term Bund (“Federation“) is used to refer to central government as opposed to the component states (“Länder”). This division of government into federal and state levels is the result of the federal constitution of Germany. Although the states how their own governments, administrations, and courts, sovereignty at international law is vested solely in the federation.

The distribution of competencies and sovereign rights between the federation and the states is laid down by the Basic Law. The most important constitutional organs at the federal level are the Bundesrat (Federal Council), the Bundestag (Parliament), the Federal Chancellor, the Federal Government, and the Federal Constitutional Court.

The administrative institutions of the federation are the federal ministries (government departments) The ministry responsible for spatial planning is the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development.

Since the federalism reform of 2006, the Basic Law assigns competence in spatial planning to the federal government in the context of concurrent legislation (formerly framework legislation). Federal law settles the fundamental issues of spatial planning; the states can derogate from the provisions adopted. Under the Federal Spatial Planning Act as currently amended, the federation is not limited to formal, organisational arrangements but can also lay down substantive spatial planning principles constituting the general, superordinate model for spatial development, planning, and protection of the national territory. An amended version of the Federal Spatial Planning Act is planned following changes in the distribution of competencies between the federal and state governments under the federalism reform. Over and above the Federal Spatial Planning Act, the federation has legislative and administrative powers in a number of other fields of relevance for spatial planning at the national level (e.g., spatially relevant sectoral planning).