"The future viability of our country depends on how well urban and rural areas work together. Only if we use resources wisely, strengthen regional value creation, and limit land consumption can we create liveable spaces for all," says UBA Vice-President Lilian Busse. "Stadt-Land-Plus has shown that jointly developed solutions based on science and practical experience provide the foundation for sustainable development – locally, regionally, and nationwide.
Working together for livable regions
Between 2018 and 2025, 22 joint projects from scientific and practical fields worked on ways to combine the strengths of urban and rural areas. Focus areas: housing and settlement development, regional food systems and value creation, circular economy, and social justice. This year will see the conclusion of the funding measure, and with it the cross-sectional project bearing the same name, which was led by the Federal Environment Agency and carried out in collaboration with the Institut Raum & Energie and StadtLand GmbH.
Key finding: dialogue and cooperation on an equal footing between cities and their surrounding areas, as well as between practical application and science, form the basis for sustainable regions, cities, and communities. Model regions have developed concrete local solutions – from residential land management and regional food supply to fairer development opportunities.
Policy and planning initiatives
The “Reformagenda Stadt-Land” (Urban-Rural Reform Agenda) summarizes key recommendations and innovative examples from the funding initiative and calls in particular for:
- developing residential areas in a more targeted manner,
- ensuring regional food production,
- shaping cultural landscapes in a diverse way,
- closing material cycles and reducing waste, and
- strengthening regional justice.
The scientists also emphasize that the tools for urban-regional coordination developed by Stadt-Land-Plus should be used when designing the allocation of newly established special funds for infrastructure and climate neutrality.
Recommendations for the further development of relevant legal regulations were developed by the cross-sectional project in cooperation with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and all joint projects. A summary of the recommendations was published in the Zeitschrift für Umweltrecht (Journal for Environmental Law).
Focus on land: Protect instead of build on
Another core topic of the research was the management of the scarce resource of land. Studies show that the loss of agricultural land near cities not only reduces opportunities for regional food supply, but also poses a threat to climate protection and biodiversity goals. Proposals range from integrated land use to securing regional agriculture and value creation. The extent to which regional nutrition could contribute to the protection of agricultural land and sustainable development was discussed in an article in the journal Politische Ökologie.
Regional implementation of global sustainability goals
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were also considered in this context. A report applies these to the regional level in Germany and provides specific implementation guidelines for the regional and municipal levels. A spatially sensitive sustainability toolbox, developed in a case study with the Metropolitan Region of Nuremberg and KlimaKom gemeinnützige eG, helps regions to design the interrelations between urban and rural areas in such a way that they contribute to the regional implementation of the SDGs as well as to equivalent living conditions and spatial justice.
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