RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PLANNING
6.1.1 Landscape and Open-Space Control Plan

"Have reverence for the plants; by them everything lives!"
(Saying above the entrance to the Botanical Garden in Berlin)

As GROSSMAN (1989) explained, this should not only be the saying for the Botanical Garden, but should also guide our interaction with the plant kingdom in daily life.

The trend of continually growing displacement of green space as a result of overdevelopment and proliferation of the built environment, especially in areas of dense population (in spite of decreasing overall population!), must be combated by means of nature protection and landscape preservation (MUERB, 1992). Along these lines the Nature Protection Law of Baden-Württemberg demands that both the open and the developed landscape, as a basis for life and as a realm for human recreation, be protected, cared for, structured, and developed so that the efficiency of ecosystems and the usability of natural resources (earth, water, air, climate, animal and plant life) are lastingly secured.

The purpose of landscape and open space plans is to realise the goals of nature conservation and landscape management within the field of urban land use planning. They cover an inventory of the natural conditions and the use requirements of the particular area. The natural conditions which shall be analysed are e.g. climate and air quality including an ecological evaluation of the identified conditions and use conflicts. To this effect, § 1 section 3 of the amended Federal Nature Conservation Act from 29 July 2009 lays down that: "In order to permanently safeguard the performance and functioning of the natural balance, the following actions are to be taken: ... no. 4) the air and the climate are also to be protected via measures of nature conservation and landscape management; this shall apply especially with regard to areas with favourable air quality or climatic effects, such as areas in which fresh or cold air develop, or pathways for air exchange; establishment of sustainable energy supply systems, especially via increasing use of renewable energies, is to have special priority."

The elements contained in the landscape plan are incorporated into the land use plan. Depictions in the landscape plan or open-space control plan are, as far as necessary and suitable, transferred to site plans and made legally binding through corresponding regulations.

For this, the following regulatory options taken from § 9 (1) of the Federal Building Law come into consideration:

No. 10 Properties (and their uses) to be kept free of development,

No. 15 Public and private green spaces such as parks, continuous
allotments, sport and recreation facilities, tents, pools, cemeteries,

No. 18 a) Agricultural property and b) Forests,

No. 20 Property or measures for the protection, care, and development of
earth, nature, and landscape

No. 25 (a) Planting of trees, bushes, and other plants, and b) Preservation of plants, trees, bushes, and water

In the context of interference/balancing regulations for nature protection, the new § 9 (1 a) of the Federal Building Law (BauGB) establishes the regulatory possibility for equalizing measures or quantities of property in the sense of § 1 a (3) of the BauGB. These can be established either directly on the properties where the natural or landscape interference is to be expected or at other locations, whether in the remaining application area of the site plan or in another site plan.

In the context of land use planning, the new § 5 (2 a) of the BauGB allows those areas designated for equalization in the sense of § 1 a (3) of the BauGB to be assigned to those areas where interference in nature or landscape is expected.

The system of integrated landscape planning includes the landscape plan and open-space control plan (on the level of zoning), the elements of the landscape master program (on the level of the Baden-Württemberg state development plan) and the landscape master plan (on the level of regional planning). Different manifestations of climate correspond to this scale as it refers to spatial planning. Elements for "green" planning that is also sensitive to local climate can be included at each of these levels, linking up to the implementation of an individual site plan (cf. Chapter 6.2.3).