Urban planning office

Urban planning is an exciting, highly complex and sometimes conflict-ridden field. It is about finding the best possible balance between the different interests and concerns that are placed on the urban space and its structural, infrastructural, landscape and other conditions and translating them into an orderly urban development. The structural, economic and social development of the city must be taken into account as well as environmental and climate protection.

This is done using numerous formal and informal instruments, methods and procedures available to urban planning. Formal planning includes, for example, urban land-use planning with the land-use plan and development plans. These are highly formalized by law, for example through the Building Code. Informal planning, on the other hand, includes, for example, design plans for streets and squares, urban development framework plans or partial and overall urban concepts. In Gera, for example, there is the integrated urban development concept (ISEK) or the retail and center concept. Even if these instruments have no direct legal effect, they do have an influence on formal planning, which can refer to them.

The aim of the Gera Urban Planning Office is to ensure that future planning is integrated in the best sense and adapted to the requirements of sustainable, environmentally friendly development. Climate change is a fact and requires solutions at all levels. Sustainable mobility, sustainable yet attractive forms of housing, strengthening rural areas and ensuring participation across all generations are important aspects of this.

In addition to updating the local transport plan and the traffic development plan, current priority tasks include revising and updating the land use plan, which forms the basis for Gera's urban development in the coming years. In preparation for this, the retail and center concept for the city of Gera from 2017 must be evaluated and the residential development concept must be completed. The city's redevelopment areas must also be considered and, if necessary, continued.