Assessment and Management of Suburbanization Pressure on Landscape in the Munich Region

Abstract

In growing cities and suburban regions, availability of resources and landscape quality is becoming increasingly scarce. We present an analytical exploration of the remaining suitabilities and of the spatial boundaries for further settlement and infrastructure development in the highly dynamic and densely populated region of Munich in southern Germany. We processed existing geodata, land use data and environmental data on the regional scale to determine the remaining potentials and limitations for further settlement development. In doing so, gradients of high to low suitability as well as areas of strict exclusion were distinguished. These generalized and region-wide results were applied and assessed in detail in a subregional development process. There, cross-disciplinary work and inter-municipal coordination were fundamental prerequisites to substantially foster the steering of land use and the avoidance of unstructured growth, resource exploitation and landscape degradation. The political will for landscape preservation strategies and the courage for increasing cooperation in spatial development are the fundamental prerequisites from the municipal to the state level. In the past, several associations for landscape protection were established in the Munich region. Facing the ongoing strong settlement growth, decisive collaboration, enhancement and extension of those activities and initiatives will be required. To support such activities, the above-mentioned spatial analyses and scenarios in inter-municipal processes, projects and regional spatial planning have to be applied and deepened in order to consolidate these processes instead of remaining or falling back into local individualisms. Those are by no means suitable to master the spatial and environmental challenges of today.