The Compendium of Urban and Regional Development

The Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association (formerly known as The Academy for Spatial Research and Planning) (ARL) has been publishing the Handwörterbuch der Stadt- und Raumentwicklung for over five decades.

It is directed at interested academics and practitioners. A selection of English language articles can be downloaded here for free.

Looking for an article that is not yet available in English? Email us and let us know which article you would like to have translated!

The German versions of all articles are available here.

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Administration, public

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  1. Terminology
  2. Administrative competences
  3. Organisation and structure of public administration
  4. Scope of the civil service
  5. Administrative reforms
  6. Administrative sciences
  7. Planning administration
References
Additional literature

 

Based on a description of the diversity of public administrative activities, this article explains the administrative competences in the federal state and outlines the administrative structure and administrative organisation. A brief survey of the scope of the civil service in Germany is followed by a description of the attempts at administrative reforms and the various sector-specific perspectives on the subject of public administration.
The article concludes with an outline of the planning administration.

Jörg Bogumil

Agglomeration, agglomeration area

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  1. Introduction
  2. Common definitions of agglomeration
  3. The concept of agglomeration in transition
  4. From a positional to a relational view of agglomeration

References
Additional literature

The term agglomeration describes a densification of firms, the population, infrastructure and thus of interactions between them. Agglomeration offers spatial proximity to other stakeholders and frequently leads to a positive cumulative causation. Due to the growing importance of a knowledge-based economy, the interplay of spatial and relational proximity is becoming increasingly relevant. Ultimately, the significance and function of agglomerations can be better understood in relation to each other.

Michael Bentlage, Alain Thierstein

Agriculture

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  1. Significance, current challenges and classification
  2. Agriculture and value creation 
  3. Production factors
  4. Social pressure
  5. Policymaking
  6. Agriculture as the key component of the bioeconomy
References
Additional literature

Agriculture uses more space than any other sector. It has to meet a large number of expectations on the part of society, and is caught between the need to produce food and renewable raw materials and the shaping of the cultural landscape. It is therefore the subject of extensive media attention and strong political influence.

Rico Ihle, Justus Wesseler