The glossary

Planning terms are often rooted in the administrative and planning culture of a particular country and cannot be straightforwardly translated.

The English-language glossary presented here is intended to offer a translation and elucidation of central terms in the German planning system to a non-German speaking readership in the interests of facilitating discourse.

Our intention is to ensure as much consistency as possible in the key terms used throughout this platform and the publications of the ARL that can be found here.

The definitions used are based on those found in the national glossary for Germany, which was elaborated in the framework of the BSR INTERREG III B project COMMIN.

Click here to perform a search based on the English term.

Hier können sie vom deutschen Begriff ausgehend suchen.

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W

WohnbauflächeHousing land

The Land Utilisation Ordinance classifies types of building use.
It distinguises two categories:
First, land-use areas for general types of use:

housing land
mixed building land
industrial and commercial land
special building land

This rough classification is to be used only in the preparatory land-use plan.

Second, land-use areas for specific types of building use:

small holding areas
purely residential areas
general residential areas
special residential areas
village areas
mixed areas
core areas
commercial areas
industrial areas
special areas.

These specific land-use areas can be designated in both the preparatory and the binding land-use plan and are finergrained and more detailed categories.

The Land Utilisation Ordinance defines all the above development areas and provides details on what building projects and facilities are permitted.