Abstract of the Regional Spatial Development Program Mid Meck- lenburg/ The Regional Spatial Development Program (RSDP) is the basis of a structured development within the planning region Rostock. The region includes the hanseatic city of Rostock and the newly formed (04.09.2011) administrative district of Rostock (former administrative districts of and Güstrow). The region covers an area of 3.600sq.km where 420.000 inhabi- tants live in 122 municipalities (2010). Thus it is rather sparsely populated compared to other German regions. It is the aim of the RSDP to point out and develop the endogenous potentials and chances of the region in order to further strengthen a positive economic, social and eco- logical development.

Why a new program was needed The realignment of the RSDP is a reaction on • the EU-eastward extension with its associ- changed framework conditions: ated opportunities and potentials of a closer cooperation with Scandinavia, Po- • The demographic change, which goes land, the Baltic States and Russia, along not only with a population decline but also with tendencies of suburbanisa- • the amendment in laws on EU, federal and tion, federal-state level.

Legally binding character regional or subregional planning in the in- The RSDP is based on the federal regional dividual Länder. planning act, the state planning act of Meck- lenburg-Western Pomerania and the state • ‘General principles’ (Grundsätze) and ‘ar- decree concerning the regional development eas with special significance’ (Vorbehalts- program of -Western Pomerania. gebiete) are general statements and give The program consists of a text document ac- some discretionary power. companied by a map and an environmental Regional planning objectives shall be observed report. It puts the objectives and general prin- by public authorities in regionally significant ciples given in the state development program plans and measures. This shall also apply to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania into more concrete terms. Hence it closes the gap be- • authorizations, plan approvals and other tween spatial planning on a federal states official decisions on the permissibility of (Länder) level and land use planning on a mu- regionally significant measures taken by nicipal level. public authorities, The spatial regulations vary according to their • plan approvals and authorizations with the legally binding character: legal effect of an official approval of a plan concerning the permissibility of regionally • ‘Objectives’ (Ziele) and ‘priority areas’ significant measures taken by legal per- (Vorranggebiete) are legally binding regu- sons or entities under private law. lations, which have been finally decided upon by state authorities responsible for

Regulations in main thematic fields The RSDP consists of three parts: A text, a • Settlement development map of the spatial structure and an environ- • Development of open space mental audit report. It deals with the following thematic fields: • Development of infrastructure • Guidelines of a sustainable regional devel- Selected regulations and contents will be pre- opment sented in the following. • Spatial development

1 The regional involvement in European, interre- Guidelines of a sustainable regional develop- gional and regional networks should be fo- ment cused. Its good infrastructural location should The RSD defines 14 guidelines for a sustain- be strengthened within the framework of the able development within the region. The main Scandria/ South-North-Axis project. It is aimed are: to develop Rostock as a bridgehead along the axis. • To develop the city of Rostock and its rural suburban zone together as one growth re- Settlement development gion. According to the principle of a decentralised • To use the endogenous economic poten- concentration further development of settle- tial. ment areas should be limited to the central towns. Therefore the amount of new housing • To use the location within the metropolitan areas outside central towns is restricted to 3% triangle between Berlin, Copenhagen/ until 2020. Six settlement axes with Rostock in Malmö and Hamburg as an advantage. To their centre have been defined along the exist- further strengthen the national and interna- ing traffic axes. The development of areas that tional cooperation with the metropolitan are close to the main traffic lines (railroads, areas, Denmark, Poland and the Baltic streets) is prioritised within these axes. This States. concentration aims on the one hand to hinder a • To advance Rostock’s location by merge of different settlement areas. On the strengthening the link to the airport and by other hand it decreases the additional traffic developing the seaport. that goes along with new settlement areas. • To form a regional profile as a touristic and In the field of urban and rural development a ecological region. focus is set on town centres. Vacant large housing estates should be deconstructed. Va- Spatial development cant buildings in sparsely populated areas The regional centre of the planning region is should also be deconstructed or reused in a Rostock. Bad Doberan, Güstrow and way, that it does not detract the appearance of are subregional centres. Furthermore 14 local the town or the landscape. centres have been defined (Bützow, Dum- Priority areas for commercial and industrial merstorf, , Graal-Müritz, Krakow am zones have been designated by the regional See, Kröpelin, Kühlungsborn, , Neubu- development program for the whole Land kow, Rerik, , Satow, und Tes- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. These sites sin). Within the urban structure these central are primarily appointed for company locations towns take up a special function with special with a supra regional impact. These are (within rights and obligations. the region of Mid Mecklenburg/ Rostock): The regional centre Rostock and its suburban Rostock- (200ha), Rostock- zone (mainly 21 municipalities) are the eco- Mönchhagen (105ha) und Rostock-Laage nomical centre of Mecklenburg-Western Pom- (500ha). erania. For this area, called ‘sub-urban area’, a Additionally the RSDP designates areas with more detailed development scheme has been special significance for commerce and indus- designed as a basis for further cooperation. try. These serve mainly the further develop- Tourism is an important economical factor for ment of Rostock’s seaport and the location of many municipalities and the whole region. logistic related companies. These are: Thus 75% of the whole region has been de- • Rostock-Seehafen Ost (200ha), fined either as ‘area for tourism development’ or ‘priority areas for tourism’. Especially the • Rostock-Seehafen West (120ha), priority areas for tourism at the coast are en- • (60ha), dangered of becoming overloaded. Therefore inland tourism should be promoted. • (140ha), Agriculture is the dominant land use. Since it • Poppendorf Nord (340ha) und both shapes the cultural landscape and is an • Güstrow Ost (260ha). economical factor it is has an influence on spatial development. Its importance is under- It has been resolved to examine the transfor- lined with the definition of areas with special mation of areas with special significance into significance for farming. priority areas.

2 Development of open space farms have been designated within the RSDP. A criterion for their designation is not only the The following designations have been made in exposure to wind, but also the interests of the order to achieve the goal of safeguarding the population, economy, tourism, infrastructure natural environment. 29% of the region is des- and the preservation of nature and country- ignated as priority areas or areas with special side. Thus, defined distances between a wind significance for the protection of nature and the energy plant and other usage of space have countryside and additional 5% of the region is been taken into consideration. Wind energy assigned as areas with special significance for plants are generally restricted to suitable areas recreation and compensation of impacts on for wind energy. In not permitting wind energy nature and countryside. plants outside this spatial category suitable The quality and area of agricultural zones areas act as strictly binding objectives. Overall should be preserved as the economical basis 2.250ha, this equals approx. 0,6% of the whole of farmers. Thereby an improvement of the region, have the legal status of a suitable area. water balance and a reduction of the discharge of nutrients into the water are aimed. Drinking water supply should be taken from interre- Implementation strategies gional water. For this purpose the river War- The RSDP is among the regional marketing now and its tributaries should be, among oth- and the regional business development one ers, preserved in a good condition. pillar of a sustainable regional development. Its The designation of priority areas for near- implementation is part of the regional man- surface raw material, such as sand, gravel and agement. peat, serve the organised extraction of raw materials. Areas with special significance for raw materials ensure a preservation of known and suspected raw material deposits. 20 prior- ity areas with a total of 900ha (0,23% of the regional area) and 32 areas with special sig- nificance with a total of 1.500ha (0,40% of the regional area) have been assigned within the scope of the RSDP. Development of infrastructure Public services should be concentrated on central towns. This includes the functions edu- cation and culture, which should mainly be situated in central towns, especially in subre- gional and regional centres. The further development of the road and rail- road network goes along with an active promo- tion of the central towns and the local econ- omy. Especially significant axes for roads have been assigned. The connection to the sur- rounding metropolitan regions should be en- hanced with an improved railroad transport system and a better link between both trans- portation modes. In order to ensure Rostock’s competitiveness the access to its seaport should be deepened from 14,50m to 16,50m. An increasing impor- tance of the port, both for transportation of passengers and goods as well as a location for producing companies is expected. Situated at the coast of the , the region has a high potential for the usage of wind energy. ‘Suitable areas’ (Eignungsgebi- ete) with particularly well conditions for wind

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