Daseinsvorsorge

In the spatial planning field this involves the strengthening of the higher level central spaces as healthcare centres and interconnection points for public transport services, the reinforcement of basic centres to secure primary care provision to the population in neighbouring districts and to stabilise the comprehensive coverage of the population with public service facilities and equal opportunities for access. The basic principles on which the ROP is built are sustainability, equality and gender equality. The spatial planning instruments identified are central places (concentration of development potential and reinforcement of exchanges of services between different levels of central places and their spheres of influence), function identification, threshold values, functional networks, priority areas, regional green corridors, settlement breaks. In addition there are also statements on mobility and the environment (especially the protection of open spaces and climate protection).

The working paper pertains to the thematic field “demography and migration” and highlights the challenges for territorial development in the Greater Region. Particular emphasis is placed on cross-border residential mobility at borders with the Grand Duchy, on population ageing and on the guarantee of general interest services in rural regions.

Mid-sized towns in rural areas support the spatially balanced and sustainable development as enforced by territorial policy, as well as preservation of area-comprehensive public service in all partial areas. However, the article also shows that mid-sized towns have a wide range of development potentials that require targeted support by instruments of state development, regional and structural policy. In the scope of the debate about future-capable regional development and assurance of infrastructure supply in rural spaces, a number of fields for action becomes evident for rurally-peripheral areas in order to design the challenges of socio-economical structural change processes.

All in all, it therefore can be said that the article makes an important contribution in the scope of the discussion
of design of development and socio-economic structural change in rurally-peripheral regions, and that it has ad direct practical benefit for politics and planning practice.

The state development program is a cross-departmental and intersectoral spatial framework that underpins the development of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The State Development Program (LEP IV) is titled “Recognizing Challenges – Acting Sustainably – Shaping the Future.” The program, which came into force in 2008, deals with issues such as public services and the development of spaces. In particular, it deals with the challenges of demographic change and globalization.

The guiding principles create the following fields of action:

• 1. Strengthen competitiveness:
  • 1.1 Develop metropolitan regions;
  • 1.2 Strengthen cooperation and networking of spaces;
  • 1.3 Support spaces with special structural needs;
  • 1.4 Secure infrastructure connectivity and mobility
• 2. Secure public services:
  • 2.1 Apply central-location systems consistently;
  • 2.2 Expand cooperation;
  • 2.3 Secure supply to sparsely populated rural areas;
  • 2.4 Secure accessibility
• 3. Strengthen and sustainably develop land use:
  • 3.1 Minimize spatial conflicts of use;
  • 3.2. Create large-scale linked open spaces;
  • 3.3 Design cultural landscapes;
  • 3.4 Reduce new land use;
  • 3.5 Sustainably manage the use of mineral resources and other underground uses;
  • 3.6 Sustainably use coastal and marine areas
• 4. Shape climate change and energy system transformation:
  • 4.1 Adapt spatial structures to climate change;
  • 4.2 Manage the expansion of renewable energies and grids