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Abstract
This paper compares the planning process in Germany and the United States. We note fundamental institutional and structural differences between the two countries and discuss recent trends and patterns. Contrary to the US, planning in Germany is mediated through a vertically integrated and consensus-oriented institutional framework. In response to the socio-economic consequences of unification and European integration, German planning has experimented with new regional associations. In the US, concerns over sprawl have led to increased state-level planning and intervention. We conclude that these trends are in response to different circumstances and are subject to different institutional constraints.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Henning Nuissl, Sabine Baumgart, Heiderose Kilper, Alfred Schneider, Marcel Herzberg, Axel Stein, Uwe Kunert as well the editors and an anonymous reviewer for reading the manuscript and providing insightful comments. Any remaining faults are our own.
Notes
1. Spatial planning was not explicitly included in the Basic Law of 1949, as central government planning was considered politically unacceptable after the Third Reich. During the 1960s, however, justifications for planning and government intervention in general were argumentatively linked to the Basic Law (Fuerst, Citation2003).
2. Source: US Census Bureau, 2002 Census of Governments, State and local government finances, available at http://www.census.gov/govs/www/estimate02.html, accessed November 2006.
3. Source: Ibid.
4. Source: Destatis (German Federal Office for Statistics), 2006, Vierteljaehrliche Kassenergebnisse der Kummunalen Haushalte. 1–4, Vierteljahr 2005. Wiesbaden: Destatis.
5. Source: Ibid.
6. Source: US Census Bureau, 2002 Census of Governments, State and Local government finances.
7. In the US, there were 13.5 general-purpose governments (municipalities, towns and counties) per 100,000 in 2002. In Germany, there were 17.84 (municipalities, counties and kreisefrei stadte – municipalities not belonging to a county) per 100,000 in 2000 (Destatis, German Federal Office for Statistics, 200?). However, the number of special-purpose governments has increased dramatically in the US. Between 1952 and 2002, the number of special-purpose governments increased 186 per cent, from 12,340 to 35,356 (2002 Census of Governments, US Census Bureau). They have outnumbered the number of municipalities and counties, and have witnessed accelerated growth during the 1990s (Blatter, Citation2006).
8. For example, between 1990 and 2005, total population decreased 25 per cent in Gorlitz, 22 per cent in Zwickau, 11 per cent in Plauen, and 38 per cent in Hoyerswerda. Source: Statistische Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen, available at http://statistik.sachsen.de/Index/zlgemstat/unterseite21.htm, accessed November 2006.