Interactive landscape plan
Support priority:
Improving society's acceptance of nature conservation: Centres for conservation information and education, participation models
Location:
Town of Königslutter am Elm, Landkreis (district) of Helmstedt, Lower Saxony
Period:
01/2002 - 12/2005 (Main project)
06/2002 - 01/2007 (In-process scientific studies)
Short description:
The objective of the testing and development project is to trial, within the framework of a real planning process, how the use of digital media in local landscape planning can improve the communicability of conservation information, as opposed to analogue processes of communication, education and participation. The project focuses on the development and testing of an interactive multimedia information and communication system which aims to assist with actor-specific support for information, communication, participation and cooperation purposes in the framework of local landscape planning.
This contributes to improving the acceptance and implementation of landscape planning measures by
- reducing communication-related deficits in the planning process,
- strengthening the actors' information base,
- motivating greater activity on the part of actors and
- investigating areas of potential cooperation among actors;
- and thus contributing to greater interactivity between planners, administration and citizens and supporting the necessary flow of information among those involved.
Furthermore the project should link in to new developments in urban development planning and to the current switch by municipalities towards holding data in digital formats.
Only by doing so can landscape planning make an ongoing contribution to tackling current and future challenges - such as designating habitat network systems, or implementing the Habitats Directive, the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive, the Water Framework Directive etc.
The project builds on the results of an R+D project which clarified the conditions and requirements to be considered when developing an 'interactive landscape plan', and developed an initial concept for such an information system.
The use of new media in landscape planning was tested in the compilation of a landscape plan for the town of Königslutter in north Germany. An interactive online platform formed the centrepiece of a testing and development project. The interactive planning tools developed in the project enhance access to information, open up new communication and participation channels for the public, improve transparency in planning and ultimately lead to quality gains in the planning process. The developed software modules are freely available.
The project also served as a model for the use of various landscape planning measures to restore the continuity of watercourses in the town. Accompanying research assessed the technical requirements of the web applications, user expectations and needs, impacts of the web platform on information and communication in the planning process, and its contribution in the discussion of alternative development options and in implementation of the landscape plan.
In general, the project showed intensive public involvement initially to mean more work for planners and administrators. Over time, however, this effect proved to be outweighed by major benefits in terms of the opportunities for information and participation. Especially if an online service provides residents with environmental information they would otherwise ask for individually, and if the tools can also be put to a range of other uses as well, such a service can secure large savings in administrative effort for local authorities and other agencies involved in the planning process.
Another outcome of the project is a set of ten guidance documents for practitioners, each with a different thematic focus. These and the software modules are freely available.
The guidance documents aim to support the many subsequent users in their efforts to make landscape planning more citizen-friendly and effective as a public relations tool, and to encourage more widespread use of interactive planning procedures in all policy areas.
Project executing agencies:
Town of Königslutter (Main project)
Am Markt 2
38154 Königslutter, Germany
Leibniz Universität Hannover
Institut für Umweltplanung
Herrenhäuser Str. 2
30419 Hannover , Germany
University of Hannover (In-process scientific studies)
Institute of Open Space Development
Herrenhäuser Str. 2a
30419 Hannover, Germany
Liaison within BfN:
Jens Schiller, Unit 
FG II 4.1
Project funding agencies:
BfN, town of Königslutter, Land (state) of Lower Saxony, University of Hannover
Level of funding:
1.38 million €
Further information:
...find out more on the 
Internet (only in German)
Oppermann, B., Schipper, S., Hachmann, R., Meiforth, J. and Warren-Kretzschmar, B. (2007): Leitfäden zur interaktiven Landschaftsplanung (Interactive landscape planning guide), boxed set of 10 booklets and CD-ROM, Naturschutz und Biologische Vielfalt, No. 40 ( ordering instructions)
Von Haaren, C., Herbert, M., and Lippelt, O. (2006): Interaktiver Landschaftsplan Königslutter am Elm (Königslutter am Elm interactive landscape plan), Natur und Landschaft Vol. 81 (2006) No. 11, p. 536 – 541.
Friese, K.-I., von Haaren, C., Hachmann, R., Meiforth, J., Neumann, A., Oppermann, B., Redslob, M., Tiedtke, S., Warren-Kretzschmar, B., und Wolter, F.-E. (2005).: Interaktiver Landschaftsplan Königslutter am Elm. - Ergebnisse aus dem E+E-Vorhaben Interaktiver Landschaftsplan Königslutter am Elm - Naturschutz und Biologische Vielfalt, Nr. 24: 289 pp. ( ordering instructions)
Von Haaren, Chr., Knickrehm, B., Kunze, K. & Redslob, M. (2002).: Interaktiver Landschaftsplan. Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten für die Akzeptanz und Umsetzung von Landschaftsplänen (Interactive Landscape Plan. Possible improvements for acceptance and implementation of landscape plans). - Angewandte Landschaftsökologie (Applied landscape ecology) 43: 138 pp. ( Ordering instructions)
Kunze, K. & von Haaren, Chr. (2001): Verbesserung der Akzeptanz und Umsetzung von Landschaftsplänen durch einen interaktiven Landschaftsplan (Improving the acceptance and implementation of landscape plans through an interactive landscape plan). - In: Gruehn, D. Landschaftsplanung und ihre Wechselwirkungen zu anderen Fachplanungen (Landscape planning and its interactions with other sectoral planning processes). Documentation from the specialist conference held on June 15 and 16 to mark the fifth anniversary of the BfN field office in Leipzig.
