Public welfare
An introduction

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(in German)

Public welfare – orientation standard of urban development

Urban development policy and planning should search for an answer to the question "How do we want to live with each other?" that is capable of consensus. The "we", which is the issue here, must also cope with breaks, conflicts and diverging interests and be able to mediate.

(in German)

More Urban Life for All
How Copenhagen is setting the framework for integrated urban development

In a discussion with Birgit Kann (BBSR), Tina Saaby talks about the process of finding out what Copenhageners need, about the challenges of public discourse and crosssectoral cooperation and about the importance of having a vision.

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(in English)

Social housing construction in the unplanned inner area
With a land policy agenda to social land law

The article considers the question whether and how land owners in unplanned inner areas can be induced to create cheap housing and to participate in infrastructure costs.

(in German)

Land tax reform: more sustainability in the development of settlements?

After the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court in April 2018 the clock for land tax reform is ticking. At present, three reform models have been short-listed, which have different impacts on the development of settlements. Which model is desirable from the perspective of sustainability?

(in German)

Entrepreneurial development of urban quarters
Reasons for and against the engagement of the housing industry

The urban quarter is a central subject of discussion in planning practice as well as in scientific research: it is frequently used as the planning and intervention level in order to guide urban developments. In times of the growing neo-liberalisation of urban development, non-government actors will have a more central role in local development planning and guidance in the future. This is particularly true for house-owners. This also has consequences for public welfare, which private actors will be able to influence more strongly in the future.

(in German)

Public welfare-oriented municipal action

How do municipalities act in the interest of their citizens? The article describes how the term public welfare is laid down legally and what it has to do with the provision of services of general interest. Digitalisation plays an important role.

(in German)

Shaping public-welfare oriented digitalisation through City Commons

Who owns the data? Can data that are relevant for urban development be qualified as urban common goods and be used to secure the provision of services of general interest?

(in German)

Gemeinwohl neu verhandeln

In a discussion with the editors of IzR, Klaus Overmeyer describes how urban development processes have changed in the past years. He explains what makes citizens participate, how particular interests can be subordinated to public welfare and which role the municipalities, the Federal Government and the federal states will have in the future.

(in German)

Initial capital
for own initiative and individual responsibility in urban districts

With starting capital and an inclusive development of projects, the Montag Foundation Urban Spaces provides impulses for participation, own initiatives and individual responsibility in urban quarters. Focuses are the sustainable generation of social profits for community work and the creation of stable local trusteeships.

(in German)

Urban discourse for an urban development that is oriented towards the future

When everybody decides and seriously faces urban reality, common issues can emerge quickly, and new opportunities for a sustainable life together can be determined. The mixed quarter is a point of departure in this connection.

(in German)

SDG indicators for municipalities – a contribution to illustrate public welfare locally

More and more municipalities in Germany are in the process of integrating the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in their everyday work, supporting them with concrete – local – objectives and thus making them measurable and capable of evaluation. In work lasting more than a year, a group consisting of seven organisations has developed a corresponding catalogue with indicators.

(in German)