A flexible system for localised sustainable development

Responding to population growth requires efficient planning procedures in order to address the challenges of housing demand and consumption of natural resources. Following the decentralised government approach of Germany and learning from past experiences, the city of Frankfurt am Main has adopted a strategic decentralised planning approach that allows the municipality to manage urban development in accordance with the current needs of the city in a specific moment in time. This approach is based on a land use regulation set up by the regional authority, combined with demand-driven localised sustainable development planning on the municipal level. This paper describes the main issues for sustainable urban development in Frankfurt am Main as well as the main characteristics of the spatial planning system, including the planning instruments for localised sustainable planning, non-formalised planning processes and an example of local district planning.