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Cities and municipalities are affected by every trend in one way or another. In addition to current tasks, municipalities must therefore also consider the future. However, they are often lacking the funds to react appropriately to forecast trends. Do they actually need to do this and can they do this all the time? How do they deal with contradictory information on trends? And from when on is a trend a trend? The current issue of the specialist journal "Informationen zur Raumentwicklung" (IzR) considers these questions.
The list of societal developments which journalists, politicians or private persons nowadays label carelessly as trends or even as megatrends is almost endless. It frequently remains open what they exactly mean with "trend". It is clear: some trends are short-lived; others, in turn, are long term and possibly so relevant that they change society in a sustainable way. Globalisation, urbanisation, climate change, digitalisation, demographic change – these are only a few of the numerous catchwords which the media, politicians and the public mention in the discussion on trends.
The search for appropriate strategies for or against the trend also occupies politicians and administration in urban and regional development. Before appropriate strategies can be found, a trend must be recognised first of all, its causes must be determined and the outcome of (in)action must be estimated. The issue contributes to this by probing into the "trend towards the trend": how do the persons responsible on the different policy levels recognise which trends are important for them and whether and how they can react?
The articles are in German or English.
Editors:
Antonia Milbert (
antonia.milbert@bbr.bund.de
),
Daniel Regnery, Friederike Vogel