Research On The German Spatial Planning Legal Syste

Since 2015,national-level regional plans such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Synergistic Development Plan Outline,the Yangtze River Economic Belt Development Plan Outline,the Yangtze River Delta Regional Integrated Development Plan Outline and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development Plan Outline have been formulated and implemented.Going beyond the planning scope of a single administrative region,the preparation of plans requires breaking down administrative barriers and deep collaboration among administrative entities in the region.Germany has established a well-structured planning legal system,while achieving good results in planning coordination.In an examination of Germany,where regional governance is more mature,spatial planning in the German context means regional planning at a non-single-area level across administrative regions.The coordination of spatial planning is mainly achieved through statutory procedures and organisations.Its main purpose is to reconcile the contradictions between different plans of neighbouring regions,to balance the public interest and to ensure balanced regional development.During the Prussian state,de facto planning acts such as dealing with traffic in inter-municipal areas emerged.The state subsequently authorised planning associations to undertake planning tasks by enacting laws.After the war,the Confederation enacted the Spatial Order Act,which gave the Confederation framework legislative powers and the cantons supplementary legislative powers.2006 federalism was reformed and spatial planning was brought under the scope of competing legislative powers.The core of planning coordination is the requirement that upper and lower level plans should take into account each other and that different plans should be coordinated horizontally,i.e.the principle of convection,whose kernel of coordination ultimately points to: a balanced distribution of spatial interests.The spatial interests include the interests derived from the principle of statutory objectives and the interests of the public affected by the plan.The objectives and principles are legally binding restrictions on the use of space,and subsequent preparation and coordination must be carried out in such a way as to meet them.The public participation process guarantees citizen participation in planning decisions and plays an important role in balancing interests and ensuring that the benefits of spatial development are equally accepted by the people of the region.The organisation of the various types of planning is coordinated by special planning bodies.Firstly,the Rhine-Neckar region,which is located in the tri-state border area,is planned as an integrated metropolitan area according to the Federal Ministerial Conference on Spatial Planning,and the three federal states cooperate inter-state in the form of a public law agreement.The agreement confirms the legal nature of the RhineNeckar regional association,making it the common legal planning body for the region,by which the planning within the metropolitan area is prepared in an integrated manner and which produces legally binding effects.The Ruhr Regional Association is analysed secondly.The Ruhr Regional Association derives its legitimacy from the fact that it is directly authorised by the North Rhine-Westphalia Planning Act and its members are mainly individual municipalities,making it the legal planning body for the Ruhr urban belt.A third example is the widespread existence of special purpose associations throughout the federal territory,which are specifically designed to deal with specific tasks in inter-regional planning.Although these associations do not have the function of preparing plans,they are legal inter-regional bodies,and at a practical level the objectives of the plan are achieved by the cooperation of members of institutions from different regions.The study of Germany responds to the reality in our country and provides some reference in the construction of a regional planning system.This includes the confirmation of the legal nature of planning,the clarification of basic legal issues such as the distribution of planning powers between central and local authorities and the coordination of planning by local governments,and the suggestion that the legal system of regional planning should provide a clear legal basis for planning from the behavioural and organisational perspectives,guarantee coordination between plans by means of statutory procedures,and undertake the task of joint regional planning by means of an organisation with clear powers and responsibilities.