South Hesse Regional Development Concept

In order to prepare the restructuring of the regional plan in terms of content, AS+P was tasked with drawing up an informal Regional Development Concept. This includes land-based statements relating to settlement, commercial, and logistics centers, as well as recommendations for advancing the content of the regional plan. In a comprehensive participation process AS+P, together with the regional government in Darmstadt and the regional associations affected, initially conducted discussions with the 184 cities, towns, and municipalities in South Hessen. In talks with administrative districts, cities and the surrounding areas, the potential that collaboration between municipalities offers was discussed, as were, with other project members and players, the framework conditions and requirements relating to future development. The results and the comprehensive GIS-based analyses went into the stereogram, which condenses and illustrates the conceptual planning development strategies. With the regard to land concept based on this, more than 4,000 potential sites were inspected in terms of suitability and restrictions. Following comprehensive evaluation of the sites in the GIS, AS+P identified a pool of sites suitable for settlement, commerce, and logistics, taking the cross-cutting aspects mobility and open space into consideration. Alongside this land-based approach the Regional Development Concept also contains solutions to the growing competition for land, usage conflicts, and spatial disparities, for example through adaptation of the density values, the creation of impulse centers to strengthen peripheral areas, and practical suggestions for speeding up procedures. Discussions were held at regular intervals with the relevant working party about basic questions posed by the regional assembly and the association chamber. The results of the Regional Development Concept serve as the basis of the formal process of restructuring the South Hessen Regional Plan.