Landscape plan
Objectives
The Landscape Plan has been prepared by the municipality as a formal plan in accordance with the Federal Nature Conservation Act ("Bundesnaturschutzgesetz") for a period of 10 - 15 years. The Landscape Plan for Leipzig was adopted by the City Council on 16 October 2013.
Part of the Landscape Plan is to specify the objectives of nature conservation and landscape management locally and to present measures for the realisation of these objectives. The Landscape Plan aims to protect the biological diversity, viability and functionality of ecosystems as well as the diversity, uniqueness, beauty and recreational value of nature and landscapes. To this end, the landscape framework plan is analysed and areas of protection are surveyed and assessed. For the City of Leipzig, the Landscape Plan guides urban development in an ecological and sustainable way. The results of the Landscape Plan are incorporated into all spatial planning activities, in particular, urban planning.
Contents of the Landscape Plan
The Landscape Plan contains a detailed description and evaluation as well as a target concept with protection and development measures for protected resources such as soil, water, climate/air, biodiversity, landscape scenery, cultural landscape and recreation. This includes the presentation of existing protected areas whether in text or mapping in accordance with German and European nature conservation law (e.g. landscape protection areas and flora-fauna habitat areas). Areas with high conservation value and areas with high development potential are identified on this basis.
The existing and planned land uses are presented together, whereby a distinction is made between the various green and open space categories.
Building on this, an overreaching Ring Radial System model has been developed for the city as a whole and applied to all typical urban and landscape areas in Leipzig (e.g: rivers and floodplains, built-up urban areas and agricultural open country areas).
The Landscape Plan evaluates the environmental significance of new uses represented by the Land Use Plan. Thus it supports an environmentally compatible choice of location and route.
In addition, the Compensation Area Concept identifies potential areas for measures to compensate and offset significant impairments caused by human intervention.
All essential objectives and measures for the protection, maintenance and development of soil, nature and landscapes are brought together in the Integrated Development Concept (IEKO) as the central result of the Landscape Plan. This also includes a map of the protected areas.
Integrating Guidelines from Landscape Plan into Spatial Plans
Due to the comprehensive and integrated approach, the Landscape Plan guidelines must be taken into account in all spatial planning.
The contents of the Landscape Plan are binding on various levels:
The Landscape Plan identifies and describes areas of measures for the protection, maintenance and development of soil, nature and landscape, which are incorporated into the Land Use Plan and thus become binding for authorities. Furthermore, the Land Use Plan provides information on planned green, agricultural and forest areas.
The goals of environmental protection for the care and development of nature and landscape must be taken into account in functional zoning and in specific projects. Furthermore, in the case of specific projects, the measures may be included as a condition in the building permit.
The contents of the Landscape Plan also serve as an informative basis for the Strategic and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
At the same time, the Landscape Plan is an important basis for the development of informal concepts of urban and open space development in Leipzig (e.g. Master Plan Green).
Continuous Development and Updating
Landscape planning is an ongoing process and should be updated in accordance with requirements, especially with regard to the requirements of new planning and changing environmental conditions. For this reason, data and content are processed digitally (geoinformation systems) and in topical planning modules (e.g. concepts for recreation, compensation areas, to implement the measures).
Considering the growing city and the increasing scarcity of space, more precise planning decisions are needed to ensure a sufficient supply of green and open spaces and to adapt to climate change. Landscape planning is working on the intercommunal Green Ring Action Concept, the Master Plan Green and the climate modelling and urban climate analysis and is providing essential basic data. The results of these investigations, in turn, are being incorporated into the updating of the Landscape Plan.