ECOLUP-GUIDANCEEnvironmental Management for Communal Urban Land Use Planning

Editor:Bodensee-StiftungParadiesstraße 13D-78462 Konstanz

Tel.: 0049-(0)7531-9098-0

Email: info@ecolup.info oderinfo@bodensee-stiftung.org

www.ecolup.info oder www.bodensee-stiftung.org

ECOLUP Project Direction:Marion Hammerl, Bodensee-Stiftung

Expert Consultants:Nürtingen University, Institute for Applied Research (IAF)Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang EvertsEmail: wolfgang.everts@

t-online.dewww.fh-nuertingen.de/iaf

A publication of the Lake Constance Foundation, Constance

www.bodensee-stiftung.org, www.ecolup.info

With the support of theEuropean Union LIFE Programme

The contents of this guidance have been correctly represented to the bestof our knowledge. The editor is not responsible for any mistakes that maybe present.

Presentations held at project workshops were used for this guidance. Theauthors are credited to the best of our knowledge. Otherwise, the gist oftheir contents has been used without reference to the authors in the text.

Editorial Team:Lake Constance Foundation,Constance: Marion Hammerl, Daniela Paas, Uta Strothotte, Thomas Körner

Nürtingen University, Institute forApplied Research (IAF):Wolfgang Everts, BrittaSteinerstauch, Katja Siegmann

Austrian Institute of Ecology(ÖÖI), Bregenz: Karin Klas, Katrin Löning

Schereer, Schnell, Walser andPartner (SSWP), Constance: Klaus-Dieter Schnell

and the speakers at the ECOLUP workshops

Photo sources:City of Dornbirn, City of Konstanz,City of Überlingen, Municipality ofWolfurt, Lake Constance Foun-dation, Nürtingen University

Cover + Design:DERKOHLER & PARTNER Design interdisciplinaire,Constance, www.derkohler.com

Printer:Druckerei Krammer, Radolfzell-Böhringen, März 2004

CD-Rom produced by:MAUS Interaktiv GmbH, Constance

100% chlorine-free bleaches recycling paper

ECOLUP-Prefacewww.ecolup.info 1

The region around Lake Constancerepresents a significant agglomer-ation area within Central Europewith a very dynamic tempo of de-velopment. Here we can observeparticularly clearly the environ-mental concerns brought about bysettlement development: the pre-servation of valuable natural areasand landscapes cultivated by man,the need to provide a high qualityof life for living and working, andthe responsibility of protecting thedrinking water reservoir for 4.5million people. At the same time,Lake Constance is a magnet for thetwo million tourists and 27 day-trippers who visit the region eachyear. This means that the commu-nities of the region must take par-ticular care to preserve the region’snatural resources, especially thefinite resource land.

Together with the cities of Con-stance and Überlingen and the twoAustrian communities of Dornbirnand Wolfurt, the Lake ConstanceFoundation has developed theECOLUP project, an innovativeapproach to sustainable regionaldevelopment. The ECOLUP projectis intended to facilitate the appli-cation of the European environ-mental management system EMASto the processes in communal ur-ban land use planning. Its funda-mental overall goals are to pro-mote the exchange of informationbetween the communities, to im-prove the extent to which environ-mental concerns are taken intoconsideration in planning proces-ses, and to strengthen the involve-ment of the public, representativesof interest groups, and the findingsprovided by Local Agenda groupsin this greater process.

I consider this project to be ano-ther building block in the deve-lopment of instruments forsustainable settlement develop-ment and for the sparing use ofnatural resources. At the sametime, ECOLUP represents a contri-bution to the implementation andachievement of the goals set inBaden-Württemberg’s environmental plan.

It seems particularly important tome that these approaches andmethods were not developed forthe Lake Constance region alone,but can be applied in otherregions, as well, for the planningprocesses related to land use areconflict-ridden in every communi-ty. I recommend the ECOLUPGuidance for use in and integra-tion into any community’s urbanland use planning.

Ulrich Müller, MdLMinister für Umwelt und Verkehr

des Landes Baden-Württemberg

Preface

1

Preface 1

Table of Contents 2

ECOLUP

1 Environmental Management for Communal Urban Land Use Planning 52 ECOLUP Partner Communities 73 What is an Environmental Management System? 12

Environmental Management and Communal Urban Land Use Planning

4.1 Comparison of the Instruments‘ Characteristics 144.2 Who and What Undergoes Validation? 15

By Way of Preparation

5.1 Some Important Questions for Starters 165.2 The First Step 175.3 Structure of this ECOLUP Guidance 19

The Environmental Assessment

6.1 Analysis of the Current Situation 206.2 Performance Audit: The Direct and Indirect Environmental Aspects in

Communal Urban Land Use Planning and their Evaluation 216.3 Performance Audit: Establishing and Evaluating Data and Information

on the Environmental Situation 236.4 Performance Audit: SWOT Results 256.5 Compliance Audit: Assessing Legal Security in Relation to the Environment 28

Environmental Policy – Environmental Goals – Environmental Programme

7.1 Continual Improvement in Environmental Performance 307.2 Environmental Policy for Communal Urban Land Use Planning 33

Environmental Programme

7.3 Environmental Aspect Excessive Urban Expansion 357.4 Environmental Aspect Sealing/ Use of Green Areas 42

2 ECOLUP-Leitfaden – Inhalt www.ecolup.info

Table of Contents

ECOLUP

ECOLUP-Leitfaden – Inhaltwww.ecolup.info 3

Inhalt

ECOLUP

7.5 Environmental Aspect Transportation and Mobility 487.6 Environmental Aspect Landscape Development and Flowing Water 557.7 Environmental Aspect Energy and Climate 627.8 Environmental Aspect Participation / Public Involvement 68

System-Audit

8.1 What Standards Must an Environmental Management System Meet? 758.2 Supervision of Environmental Management and

Environmental Management epresentative 768.3 Environmental Management Structure: Who – What – How 778.4 Communication and Documentation 828.5 Positions and Specialised Departments Relevant to the Environment 848.6 Position-Related and Procedural Regulations 878.7 Training Courses for Employees 88

Monitoring

9 The Environmental Statement 8910 Organisational Environmental Assessment: Internal Audit 9411 Environmental Management Manual 9812 Monitoring and Corrective Measures 9913 ECOLUP Core Reference Figures Set 10114 External Assessment Conducted by an Environmental Verifier 103

ECOLUP Model Project

15 What Distinguishes ECOLUP from Other Instruments and Regulations? 10516 ECOLUP: Three Years of Project Experience 10917 Contacts and Information 110

18 Literature 113

19 ECOLUP Project Structure 119

Environmental Management for Communal Urban Land Use Planning www.ecolup.info 5

Land Use as an Environmental Problem

With its 147 inhabitants per squarekilometre, the European Union isamong the most heavily settledregions in the world. The amountof built-up surface area increasesby 2% every ten years (EuropeanCommission: Caring for our future,2000). Among the resulting bur-dens for nature and the environ-ment are: the release of toxic sub-stances into the ground, air andwater, increasing concentration oftraffic, increasing impact of hu-man inhabitancy on the landscapeand natural areas.

The meagre inroads that environ-mental protection goals for com-munity planning have been able tomake into how communal urbanland use plans are actually drawnup has been the topic of criticaldiscussion for quite a long time.Environmental protection goals setdown in general form in bindingland usage and regional planningdirectives in general are not con-cretely implemented in the zoningplans cities establish for land use.

The application of the EMAS IIdirective to the instruments ofcommunal urban land use plan-ning is a logically consistent steptowards promoting environmentaleducation and improvements inthe environment. The proceduremakes the inarguable relevance ofcommunal urban land use plan-ning to environmental issuesunderstandable and measurable.

The programme’s long-term goal issustainable land use and urbanplanning through the developmentand the introduction of an envi-ronmental management system forthe planning processes which con-stitute communal urban land use

management. In these processesare anchored the goals of environ-mental protection, preservation ofbiological diversity and a use ofnatural resources which promotestheir conservation.

The Environmental Situation inthe Lake Constance Region

The Lake Constance region repre-sents one of the agglomerationareas in Central Europe withinwhich the environmental problemscaused by settlement developmentcan be clearly seen. It offers val-uable natural areas and land culti-vated by man, high quality of lifefor living and working, but alsothe responsibility for the protec-tion of the drinking water reservoirfor 4.5 million people. This meansthat the communities of the regionmust take particular care to preser-ve the region’s natural resources,especially the finite resource land.

With 289 inhabitants per squarekilometre, the Lake Constance di-strict lies above the EU average.Areas near the lake are particularlydesirable - there up to 500 inhabi-tants per km≈ live. It is attractiveto live and work on the lake andthis is not going to change incoming years. For the communitiesnear the lake, a population increa-se of 4 to 12% by the year 2005has been predicted, despite thehigh price of construction land.

In addition to the local population,each summer approximately 2 mil-lion tourists and about 27 millionday-trippers come to the lake.They, too, require a place to spendthe night, infrastructure and recre-ational facilities. An ever-increa-sing squeeze is being put on thenature resources of in the lakevicinity. Today, only 28% of theshoreline in Baden Württemberg

retain their reed stand and thesesections lie, aside from a fewexceptions, within the existingnature and land conservationareas.

ECOLUP: An InnovativeApproach to SustainableEnvironmental Planning

ECOLUP (Ecological Land UsePlanning) is intended to provide aframework within which the Euro-pean Environmental ManagementSystem EMAS II can be applied tothe processes in communal urbanland use planning. The EMASdirective determines which criteriamust be observed when establish-ing an environmental managementsystem for production systems,organisation locations or servicesand in doing so supports continualimprovement in environmentalperformance at a level higher thanthat required by law.

Together with the cities of Con-stance, Überlingen and Dornbirnand the municipality (Marktge-meinde) of Wolfurt, the Lake Con-stance Foundation has put toge-ther a model project centred onecologically oriented land use pla-nning. Working within the frame-work of ECOLUP (Ecological LandUse Planning), its purpose is to apply the European environmentalmanagement system EMAS II tothe processes that make up com-munal urban land use planning.The Institute of Applied Researchat Nürtingen University was respon-sible for the supervision of thescientific aspects of this project.

ECOLUP provides communitieswith the means to validate theirurban land use planning in accor-dance with the EMAS directive.The municipal administration,because it is responsible for

1. Environmental Management for Communal Urban Land Use Planning

1ECOLUP

6 Environmental Management for Communal Urban Land Use Planning www.ecolup.info

1. Environmental Management for Communal Urban Land Use Planning

1 ECOLUP

communal urban land use plan-ning, is the institution which un-dergoes validation. Involved actorswithin the community are the re-sponsible authorities (buildingcontrol office or city planningoffice), the city council and themayor. The objects of validationare the communal urban land useplanning programme along withthe zoning plan and the overalldevelopment plan. Plans establish-ed by other institutional authori-ties as well as informal instancesmay also play an additional role.Objects of evaluation are the plan-ning process, its realisation and allaspects of relevance to the envi-ronment. The location evaluated isthe land within the municipality’sboundaries. The programme offersa goal-oriented identification ofpotential improvements in envi-ronmental performance and, afterthe plan has been realised, the as-sessment of which improvementswere actually made.

ECOLUP Procedure

At the beginning of the project, aSWOT analysis (test of environ-mental efficiency) was carried outin order to take stock of strengthsand weaknesses in the communi-ties. On the basis of the results ofthe SWOT analysis, the communi-ties set local priorities andestablished how topics could beconsolidated to form a reasonablebasis for their environmental pro-grammes. In each community, anenvironmental team was put toget-her consisting of interest groupsand all relevant bodies with powerof decision. Within the frameworkof communal workshops, this wor-king group drew up concrete envi-ronmental goals and measures(environmental programme) for allrelevant environmental aspects

that can be directly or indirectlyinfluenced by urban land useplanning:

■ excessive urban expansion■ sealing-off of soil /

use of green areas■ transportation / mobility■ energy / climate■ landscape development ■ flowing waters

Additional workshops were con-ducted on implementing an EMSwithin planning processes and onparticipation and public involve-ment. Specialists and regionalauthorities were brought into theworkshops who provided back-ground information and demon-strated what initiatives could be

ECOLUP-Project Partner

Project Co-ordinator:

Bodensee-Stiftung, Konstanz

Scientific Consultant:

Institut für Angewandte Forschung der Hochschule Nürtingen

Partner Communities:

Stadt Konstanz

Stadt Überlingen

Stadt Dornbirn

Marktgemeinde Wolfurt

undertaken. Each community’senvironmental policy, environmen-tal goals and environmental pro-gram were presented to the respon-sible political bodies, the towncouncils, for discussion and appro-val. The entire process was docu-mented in accordance with theEMAS stipulations and at the endof the project, a test validation(internal organisational environ-mental assessment) was conducted.

INFO

➯ This document is alsoavailable as Pdf-File downloadin English and German fromthe www.ecolup.info website.

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2ECOLUP Partner Communities

Constance, with its 80,000 inhabi-tants the largest city and regionalcentre in the Lake Constance vici-nity, is located at the point wherethe Upper and Lower Lakes meetand borders directly on Switzer-land. Its location, the natural and man-made landscape, as well as the finestate of preservation of the histori-cal city itself in conjunction withthe higher and other educationalinstitutions and service facilities itoffers, makes it a very attractiveplace to live and work, as well asfor tourism. The number of placesof work has grown by ca. 600from 1961 to 3,300 at present.During the same period of time,the number of jobs has grown continually to today’s level of34,000. The city’s job market is focused on the service industry which is represented with 75% ofthe total market. The approximately100 industrial firms with ca. 8,000employees, 820 workshops with6,600 employees, retail trade (670firms) with over 4,300 employeesand the tourism sector with 2,000employees (not including gastro-nomy) are among the pillars of thelocal economy.

The demands on communal gov-ernments for the management ofthe Lake Constance ecosystem arenot only determined by communalenvironmental protection, but alsoby urban development as a whole.Two thirds of the 31 km of shore-line in Constance are in intact andnearly natural condition. The factthat the lake is freely accessible tothe public is one of its qualitativecharacteristics – for example, thereare 5 lakeshore bathing areas andthe Lakeshore Path newly con-structed in 1996 along the “Konstanzer Trichter“ where theRhine flows into the lake. Over

50% of the municipal surface areaare under the protection of law asnature and landscape conservationareas or NATURA 2000 areas. TheWollmatinger Ried (WollmatingenMarsh), one of the oldest natureconservation areas in Baden-Würt-temberg, covering 767 ha and bear-er of the European Diploma, lieswithin Constance’s borders. Themunicipal statutes for tree preser-vation and designation of protect-ed permanent green areas ensurethat the free spaces within the cityproper are of high quality and cre-ate recreational areas in close prox-imity to settlement areas.

Of the 5408 ha of municipal sur-face area, 33% are used for agri-culture, 32% are forest and 30%are settlement and transportationareas. In Constance, the settlementsurface area and population havedoubled since 1950, in part due tothe establishment of the universityand technical institute (Fachhoch-schule), as well as the city’s

attractiveness for retirees and as aholiday and recreational region.The population influx continuesand this tendency is not expectedto change in the future, makingthe available surface area a factorlimiting Constance‘s urban growthpotential. Development within thecity proper and surface area recy-cling are goals Constance rigorous-ly pursues. Between 1979 and1996, settlement area developmentcould be covered to 57% (80.3 ha)in the city’s centre. Due to the de-parture of the French military pre-sence and the decrease in produc-tion industries, the 1980‘s saw thedevelopment of the conversionand revitalisation of certain bran-ches of commerce as a central areafor active urban planning policy inorder to quell the development ofthe remaining landscape. Thistrend was supported through fil-ling vacant lots and making eco-nomical use of surface area inconstruction for housing and commerce.

City of Constance (D)

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In light of the city’s public trans-portation service and its centreconcept, Constance can be termeda compact city with short distan-ces between destinations, in accor-dance with the ecology of settle-ment areas model. The distancesits inhabitants must cover betweenhousing, workplace and recrea-tion areas in order to fulfil theirmost basic needs are short.Centrality and compactness are

characteristics which have de-veloped over the course of decadesand can today undergo rigorousfurther development within theframework of a centre concept.They are an important constituentelement of Constance’s new UrbanDevelopment Concept 2000. As apart of the Local Agenda 21, work-shops on future development wereheld in all city neighbourhoods,the results of which will be actedupon through concrete projectsand communal urban developmentplanning.

The zoning plan introduced in2000 was drawn up in conjunctionwith the landscape plan so thatsettlement area development couldfrom the outset be conducted onthe basis of an ecological assess-ment of the natural and man-made landscape. A milestone insettlement area policy has been thedecision to zone no further sites inproximity to the lake for construc-tion in order to conserve the valu-

able natural and historical lands-cape of Lake Constance. This stepwas taken in view of the interna-tional development model for theLake Constance region.

Through the introduction of envi-ronmental management in urbanland use planning as a part of theLake Constance Foundation‘s ECO-LUP model project, the city ofConstance has committed itself toachieving sustainable land use ma-nagement and the reduction of ex-cessive urban expansion. The ECO-LUP project is linked to a totalconcept for sustainable urbandevelopment oriented to the UNConference for Environment andDevelopment’s Agenda 21 and thepolicy fields laid out in theAalborg Charta.

Martin Wichmann,DeputyDirector,

Department of City Planning andthe Environment and Director,

Environmental Department

City of Constance (D)

City of Überlingen (D)

The large district city of Überlin-gen is located in the Federal Re-public of Germany, in the south ofthe federal state Baden-Württem-berg in the Lake Constance-UpperSwabia region on the north-west-ern shore of Lake Constance.Approximately 21,5000 inhabitantslive spread throughout the cityproper and in seven incorporatedcommunities. Over the last 10years, the population has grownby 2%. Within the municipal boun-daries lie 5,867 ha; 43% of thisland have been designated natureconservancy areas or protectedlandscape.The city has ca. 8,800 jobs to offer,

59% of which are in the servicesector and 41% in production. Animportant pillar of the commercialeconomy is tourism with 550,000overnight stays per annum. While59% of the city’s employees com-mute from elsewhere, 26% of itsinhabitants work outside its bor-ders; only 15% of the jobs in thecity are held by residents. At pre-sent, unemployment is at 4.8%. As a preferred location for retailbusinesses, Überlingen fulfils asupply function for potential52,000 consumers.

The attractive scope of the sur-rounding landscape, the city’s

location on the shore of LakeConstance and its proximity to theAlps are of great importance for itsinhabitants and for the tourismindustry. In order to maintain thisnatural and landscape capital, it isnecessary to exercise great re-straint in zoning new constructionareas. In accordance with the cityland use plan that went into effectin 1998, 48 ha of housing andmixed-use surface area and 21 haof commercial construction sitescan be made available or are inplanning for the needs of the com-ing 10 to 15 years. Since that time,the city planning office has decla-red its intention to develop these

Martin Wichmann and Mechthild Kreis

public. Today, we in the Europeancountries, as well as many otherregions of the world, are confront-ed with multifaceted and difficultproblems caused by growingunemployment, decreasing com-petitive strength in many econo-mic branches, and excessive con-sumption of our natural resour-ces. It is becoming increasinglyevident that our strategies fordevelopment can only accommo-date these complex issues if wetake into account the interrela-tedness of these social, economic

tion in the ECOLUP project, wehope to build a basis for the intro-duction of an environmentalmanagement system that will opti-mise urban development and landuse planning in Überlingen. Alongwith providing educational oppor-tunities for the city administration’semployees, sharing our experiencewith others at a national andinternational level is an equallyimportant argument for participa-ting in this pilot project.“

Dornbirn, with 44,000 inhabitantsand 121 km≈ surface area, is thelargest city in the province ofVorarlberg and lies in the econo-mically dynamic conurbationarea of the Rhine valley. Dornbirnseeks to ensure a high quality oflife for the future through its ur-ban development planning. The1992 World Congress in Rio deJaneiro brought the importanceof Local Agenda 21 and sustaina-ble city and regional developmentto the attention of concerned specialists, if not to the general

City of Dornbirn (A)

sites over a much longer period oftime than that originally targeted.In order to cover the need for hou-sing land, above all potential avai-lable within existing settlementareas can be used. The city hasopted for a retrospective concen-tration of the present settlementarea that meets urban developmentstandards by drawing up plans forunderdeveloped locations in thecity’s centre and by revising exi-sting development plans. Beforethe plans for regulatory changesare drawn up, studies of settlementdensity are conducted in order toachieve the goal of retrospectiveconcentration as well as that ofpreserving the particular characterof the areas to be effected. In orderto establish the potential for retro-spective settlement concentration,a register of vacant lots within thecity core has been established. Thecity has determined what potentialfor revised usage and retrospectiveconcentration is available in theseven incorporated communitiesby establishing instances responsi-ble for local development in eachone. As a matter of principal,regulatory plans for existing green

areas have been drawn up at thesame time as the constructionplans in order to ensure urbandevelopment of high quality bymeans of permanent concepts forinterconnected green areas thatextend beyond boundaries of indi-vidual properties.

Thomas Nöken, the director of theCity Planning Office, did not hesi-tate when the Lake ConstanceFoundation asked if Überlingenwould participate in the new pro-gramme: “Through our participa-

City of Überlingen (D)

Thomas Nöken, Director City

ECOLUP-Environmental team Dornbirn

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and ecological challenges. Wewill only be able to take the stepinto a future with a high qualityof life if we carefully balance theinterests of economy, society andthe environment.

For Dornbirn, this means mana-ging the key elements of ourhabitat “the city of Dornbirn“ insuch a way that this very habitatremains liveable in the long term.Among these key or existentialelements that we make use ofevery day and that make ourdaily life what it is are: housing,mobility and transportation, lei-sure and recreation, society andcultural life, the production ofgoods, private and public services,education and many more. Wehave a positive life-feeling or, toput it differently, a quality of lifewe experience as positive, if ourliving surroundings are pleasant,if we have access to adequatemeans of mobility, and find wit-hin our region both urban and

City of Dornbirn (A)

natural surroundings, recreationand access to social and culturalservices and institutions. We alsorequire regional economic struc-tures that offer us secure work-places and income. As a result, the main challengefacing us in our attempt to createa positive future for ourselvesand coming generations lies inthe necessity to form those verylocal and regional elements thatwe have at our fingertips in sucha way that they can be securelymaintained into the distant futureif we take reasonable stepstowards this goal. This guided,future-oriented development pro-cess rests on three fundamentalpillars: economy, society, andresources in the natural environ-ment. Promising and sustainableurban development can only beachieved if economic, societal,and ecological criteria are simul-taneously taken into considera-tion. The capacity to remain eco-nomically competitive is just as

important as social stability andan intact natural environment. The Dornbirn EnvironmentalProgramme passed by the city in1999 is part of an integrativeurban development planning thatconsiders economic, social, andecological goals to be of equalimportance. The main goal fordevelopment in the city of Dorn-birn is: “Dornbirn is an industrialcity with a high quality of life“. We aim for urban development ofhigh quality without suddenchanges in the economic andsocial structure or in what theinfrastructure offers our citizens.

In order to achieve this maingoal, aims and measures havebeen drawn up in the comprehen-sive urban development plans ofthe responsible city authorities. Interms of communal urban landuse planning, Dornbirn has justrevised its zoning plan on thebasis of this overreaching conceptwith the fundamental aim ofmaintaining the current outerborders of settled surface area. Inother words, spatial expansionwill in the future occur withinthese borders in the form of con-centration of housing and com-mercial construction.

Dipl.-Ing. Stefan Burtscher CityPlanning Office

Photo Project Team Dornbirn

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open spaces by recreational usehas created a particular need forintelligent solutions.

In the ECOLUP project, the com-munity set criteria with which tomeasure a successfully conservativeuse of its land resources and decided to carefully examine itsurban development practices. Above all, the opportunity to profit as junior partner from thewealth of experience held by thesenior partner has proven a definitebenefit, as well as the new perspec-tive on our problems and the newapproaches to solving them gainedthrough the expert supervision.These factors have fed into bothour new urban development concept as well as the way we approach everyday problems.

Erwin Mohr, Mayor

The municipality of Wolfurt lies ona western slope of the VorarlbergRhine valley between the provincialcapital Bregenz and the largest cityin the Vorarlberg province,Dornbirn. Due to its central loca-tion in the “Dreiländereck“ (“placewhere three countries meet“),Wolfurt has in the course of recentdecades developed from a ruralagricultural village to a prosperingsite for commercial firms. Despitethe increased influx of populationin connection with this changeand the general demographic de-velopment, the area has been ableto retain a great number of itsfamilies, which in particular hashad a positive effect on privatecare provided for the elderly.

At the beginning of the seventies,when the zoning plan was passed,the area was undergoing a popula-tion explosion, which led to a dis-proportionate designation of con-struction sites. Studies conductedas a part of the communal landuse development concept have

calculated that construction sitesfor approx. 30,000 inhabitantsexist. Within this context, the planned development of settlementsurface area using the instrumentsavailable to land use planning ishardly possible. One of the fewmanagement possibilities is theapplication of specific require-ments for construction. For exam-ple, in this way retrospective con-centration within existing settle-ment areas can be made moreattractive than new construction,thus reducing the amount of newland used. All that can be donewithin the context of urban deve-lopment planning to maintain exi-sting settlement borders, developthe “Hohe Brücke“ business district,control the number of individualconstruction projects by regulatingthe number of projects that can beconducted at time and in particularthrough non-invasive changes incurrent projects so as to ensurethat urban development planninggoals are met. Most recently, thepressure put on those remaining

Wolfurt Municipality (A)

Project Team Wolfurt

12 What is an Environmental Management System? www.ecolup.info

Two “official“ paths: EMAS II and ISO 14001

What is an Environmental Management System?

The EC Eco-Audit, also calledEMAS, is a voluntary managementsystem for businesses and organi-sations that wish to improve theiroperational environmental protec-tion measures on a continual basisbeyond the practices called for bylaw.

EMAS stands for the English namefor the European environmentalauditing system “Eco-Managementand Audit Scheme“. The revisedEMAS II includes all the aspects ofthe international ISO 14001, but insome respects has higher require-ments, for example employee par-ticipation and the publication ofan environmental report.

All organisations participating inEMAS regularly draw up an envi-ronmental statement for the pub-lic. In it, the organisational envi-ronmental policy and its environ-mental programme with concreteenvironmental goals are establish-ed in connection with a completedepiction and evaluation of asmuch quantitative data as possiblereflecting the programme’s directand indirect impact on the

environment. All the relevantenvironmental aspects that thecompany or organisation is ableto influence must be taken intoconsideration. Among these areto be numbered indirect aspectsas well, such as investments,administrative and planningdecisions, the range of productsproduced or the environmentalbalance of contractors and sup-pliers. Each environmental statementmust be evaluated by an inde-pendent, government-certifiedenvironmental verifier (auditing).If it meets the requirements ofthe EC eco-audit ordinance, theenvironmental auditor declaresthe environmental statement tobe valid (validation). In Germany,the organisation is then registe-red with the Chamber of Industryand Trade (Industrie- undHandelskammer – IHK) in itsEMAS register. This registrationmay occur only under the condi-tion that the applicant has notpreviously violated the relevantenvironmental legistlation. Theaudit process must be repeatedat least every three years.

The ISO 14001 – the internatio-nal civil law environmentalmanagement system

The ISO 14001 defines an environ-mental management system as“part of the overall managementsystem that includes the organisa-tional structure, planning activi-ties, distribution of responsibility,methods, processes and resourcesused in the development, imple-mentation, realisation, evaluationand maintenance of an environ-mental policy“.

The ISO 14001 is administered andfurther developed by the institu-tions responsible for indutrialstandards in each country, inGermany the German Institute forNorms (Deutsches Institut fürNormung – DIN) in Berlin. Therevised EMAS II includes all requi-rements set by the ISO 14001 andin certain areas goes beyond it.

”Added Values“ in the EMAS II

■ Inclusion of direct and indi-rect environmental regulations

Goal/Measure ofPerformance

Range of Recognition

Branches permitted toparticipate

Evaluatory system Evaluatory practice

ISO 14001

Since October 1996trade, service industriesand commercial enterprises

World wideContinual improvementof environmentalmanagement system

Private industry evaluatory system

Certification

EMAS II

Continual improvementof benefits to environ-ment and environmentalmanagement system

EU and associated countries

Since April, 2001 all organisations seeking toincrease benefits to theenvironment

Governmental evaluatorysystem

Validation/registration

Comparison ISO 14001 – EMAS

3

■ In keeping with all legal requirements ■ Operational environmental protection must be

continually improved ■ Communicative outreach through environmental

statement■ Intensified employee participation = living

system

FURTHER INFORMATION:

➔ www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/emas/➔ www.iso.ch/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage

INFORMATION

This chapter contains excerpts from a presentationheld by Dr. Völker Tröbs, Intechnica You will findthe presentation text at: www.ecolup.info ➔

Wissenspool ➔ ECOLUP-Methodik ➔ Kommunale

EMAS Structure

Conduct environmental eva-luation acc. to Index VII

EMAS

Establish environmental policy acc. to Index X I.A.2EMAS

Conduct organisational envi-ronmental assesement withAnexx IIEMAS

Set up environmentalmanagement system acc. to

Index I EMAS

Draw up environmen-tal statement in accor-dance Annex III EMAS Validation

Organisation is registered

Use participant logo

Draw up updatedEnvironmental statement

Verification

Conduct organisationalenvironmental assesement

Comparison ISO 14001 – EMAS

System certification Implementing the system

System boundaries Inclusion of product evalution

Public Relations

ISO 14001

Certificate Establishment of theentire auditable system

Definable organisational unit

Integral part of system

Obligatory publicationof environmental policy

EMAS II

Participant-statement and entry in local register

Via evaluation of the environmental statement

Organisation, smallest unit is local branch

Integral part of system Obligatory publication ofthe environmental statementAdvertising with logo

Adapt environmentalmangement system

Evalution by envi-ronmental expert

What is an Environmental Management System? www.ecolup.info 13

3What is an Environmental Management System?

14 Communal Urban Land Use Planning and Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

4 Communal Urban Land Use Planning andEnvironmental Management

The EMAS EC Eco-Audit Directiveform the basis for ECOLUP, aninstrument for the implementationof an environmental managementsystem within the context of landuse planning. The instrumentalcharacter of ECOLUP lies above allin its delegation of tasks andresponsibilities for achieving highenvironmental performance and inits establishment of a progress-checking mechanism. Because itsapplication is not limited to a particular planning level, it can beapplied at any of the levels ofplanning from overall regionalplanning to the spatial planning ofthe regional administrative autho-rities down to communal buildingregulations.

Communal urban land use plan-ning is an administrative mono-poly held by the regional admi-nistrative authorities (the muni-cipalities – “Kommunen“ – inGermany) and is an instrumentapplied at three levels:■ Communal urban land use

planning as an instrument ofsettlement development:As a whole it is considered aninstrument towards providing

the means for human existence(planning obligation) thatundertakes the systematic deve-lopment of human land useand of construction.

■ Communal urban land useplanning is an instrument of planning and building laws and regulations and of weighing up the interests of different groups.

As a part of communal spatialplanning for settlement andtransportation, it is employed asa legal instrument to ensure thelegal security of settlement deve-lopment and to balance conflic-ting public and private interests.■ Communal urban land use

planning as a codificationinstrument:

Within individual planning proces-ses, codification can serve as aninstrument for realising planninggoals.Both these instruments can beapplied to environmental plan-ning; they function in relation tothe same planning unit/locationthrough the same agents.However, they do not share com-mon aims. Whereas it is theresponsibility of communal urban

land use planning to minimisedamage to the environment, ECO-LUP seeks to improve the envi-ronmental balance. In contrast tourban land use planning, thisimprovement can be achieved bydefining and making binding atemporally and regionally limitedgoal, the desired environmentalperformance.

By way of simplification, communal urban land use plan-ning can be conceived of as an attendant management instrument,as a signpost on the community'sdevelopmental path, whereasECOLUP lays down the strategyfor continual, step-by-stepimprovement. The intersectionof the two lies in the phase inwhich tasks are delegated at theoutset of individual planningprocesses, in phases of co-ordi-nation and the weighing ofvarious interests, when the man-ner of participation of all part-ners and concerned parties isbeing organised, and in theassessment phases after theplans have been drawn up andwhen the results of the measurestaken have been collected.

4.1 Comparison of the Instruments‘ Characteristics

Increased use

of green areas

SETTLEMENT

DEVELOPEMENT

Excessive urban developement

Pavement Energy

AirClimate

SoilWater

EMA

SEC

OLU

P

Environmental Management and Communal Urban Land Use Planningwww.ecolup.info 15

4.2 Who and What Undergoes Validation

4 Environmental Management and Communal Urban Land Use Planning

Environmental management forcompany locations, products, ser-vices ….. Of course! But whatabout spatial planning? Is anenvironmental managementsystem à la EMAS at all appli-cable in this case?

Finding this out was ECOLUP’smost important task. With thehelp of expert advice fromNürtingen University and thepartner communities‘ practicalexperience, the project team examined whether and howEMAS‘ individual componentscould be applied to the processeswithin communal urban land useplanning.

By virtue of the revision of theEMAS directive, as of April 2001EMAS II states that all organisa-tions wishing to improve theirenvironmental performance mayundergo validation. Along withcompany locations and produc-tion processes, services, too, canundergo this process. However,the organisation concerned mustbe concretely defined, i.e. whoand what is to undergo validationaccording to EMAS must be clearly described.

The ECOLUP project definedurban land use planning as a ser-vice provided by the municipalityfor its citizens:

Who undergoes validation?

➯ The municipal administrationas the institution directlyresponsible for the process ofurban land use planning.Executive instances within themunicipal administration arethe specialised departments

and offices (building controloffice or department of cityplanning), the town counciland the mayor.

What undergoes validation?

➯ The planning process and (tothe extent possible) its imple-mentation. Urban land useplanning is made up of thezoning regulations and thedevelopment plan. Furtherprogrammes and plans, such

as the urban developmentplan, the framework for urbandevelopment or specialisedplans can be included in theprogramme.

During the model project, allelements of ECOLUP were continually evaluated as to theirconformity to EMAS in order toensure that ECOLUP proceduresmeet the standards of govern-ment-certified environmentalmanagement.

INFO

EMAS for communal urban land use planning conforms to all prerequisites for registration in accordance with Chapter 2 of theOrganisation Guidance as established by the Commission(2001/861/EG). This text stipulates that an organisation may alsoregister units smaller than an organisational location under exceptional circumstances, given:

■ the subfield of the organisational location produces clearly defined products, performs services or undertakes activities of itsown and the environmental aspects and effects of the subfield canbe clearly identified and differentiated from those of other, non-registered parts of the organisation location

■ the subfield possesses its own executive management and administration by means of which to organise and check its EMSand the effects on the environment and to under take correctivemeasures if necessary

■ the subfield has been allocated clearly defined responsibilities so that it can achieve sufficient standards for approval and maintain the approved environmental standards thereafter

Communal urban land use planning is a perfect example of fundamental indirect environmental aspects such as excessive urban expansion, sealing-off of soil, the use of green areas, energy, transportation, landscape development and flowing waters (see Chapter 6.2). ECOLUP focuses on continual improvement within these environmental areas.

Nonetheless, the town planning office or urban development office isalso to be regarded as an "organisational location" that must makecareful use of the resources that its employees use in going about theirdaily tasks such as energy, water, paper, etc. Environmental pollutioncaused by business trips is another environmental aspect related tolocation that must be taken into consideration.

16 Starting Out www.ecolup.info

5 Starting Out

Environmental managementsystems in general and EMAS inparticular are not as complicatedas they appear at first glance.

All that is needed is a good sourceof advice, a well-structuredmanual and the imagination toapply the very general and tech-nical formulations in the EC Eco-Audit regulations and the accom-panying manuals to everydaypractice.

Nonetheless, the introduction ofan environmental managementsystem à la EMAS does requireadditional and financial resour-ces. ECOLUP is no exception tothis general rule!

Before you opt for an environ-mental management system (orEMS) for your local government’soffices, services or urban land useplanning, you should be able togive positive answers to thefollowing questions:

Why do you want to introducean EMS?

Are the continually increasingbenefits to the environment reallyyour primary motive? If you wish above all to improvethe image of the local govern-ment, EMAS is not the bestmeans of doing so!

Are you the only one who isconvinced that an EMS is beneficial and necessary, or doyour co-workers, superiors, thecommunity council and otherconcerned parties see the idea in a positive light, as well?

Environmental management as aone-man (or –woman) show isguaranteed fail in the long run!

Is the participating office ordepartment able to provide thenecessary personnel?

An EMS cannot be introducedand maintained without puttingin additional work-hours. Eventhe most highly motivated directorof a city planning or buildingcontrol office and his or her work-ers will refuse to co-operate if anEMS is loaded on their alreadyoverburdened shoulders as “yetanother project“.

Can you provide continuity inthe realisation of the EMS?

Within urban land use planningin particular, continually impro-ving environmental conditionscan only be achieved in mostareas in the long run. If an envi-ronmental management system isexclusively dependent upon thegood will of those currently inpower, then these are not condi-tions under which continuity canbe provided.

Are neighbouring communitiesalso interested in integratingenvironmental management intotheir urban land use planning?

That would be an excellent pre-condition, for you can learn fromand help one another when work-ing together or in a group ofseveral communities, e.g. by con-ducting the internal audit for oneanother. In addition, by sharingworkshops you can reduce thecosts for the expert advice andexternal consultants they require.

Experience gained through numer-ous model projects in whichEMAS was introduced intovarious areas of responsibility inlocal government has shown that

successful implementation hasnothing to do with the size of thecommunity concerned. ECOLUP,too, has been able to confirmthese findings. Four partner com-munities of varying size partici-pated in the project’s modelphase: Constance with 80,000inhabitants, Überlingen withapprox. 21,500 inhabitants,Dornbirn with 44,000 inhabitantsand the municipality of Wolfurtwith 8,000 inhabitants. TheEMAS directive leaves enough tothe discretion of the individualparticipants that the latter canadapt the environmental manage-ment programme to their varyingorganisational structures andlegal preconditions. A study of the legal preconditionsexisting in four different ECcountries has shown that the following prerequisites must befulfilled if an EMS is to beimplemented in urban land use planning:■ a similar basis in legal regula-

tions concerning planning, aswell as an approach to plan-ning similar to that taken inEMAS

■ the ability of urban land useplanning to take direct orindirect influence on thedevelopment of specific areasof the environment (given inGermany and Austria viarequired government approvalof all construction plans)

■ the influence of the citygovernment on urban landuse planning (secured inGermany and Austria via thelocal government's planningsovereignty)

■ the ability of local govern-ment to involve interestgroups and citizens in plan-ning processes

■ the ability to check environ-

5.1 Some Important Questions for Starters

5.1 Some Important Questions for Starters

Starting Outwww.ecolup.info 17

mental conditions and theeffects of measures underta-ken by means of core data (dostandards for comparisonexist?)

It will be easier to introduce anEMS in communities which■ are already makings efforts to

achieve environmental protec-tion levels beyond thoserequired by law and to securegreater benefits for the envi-ronment and a higher qualityof life for their inhabitants

■ take the goals of the LocalAgenda 21 seriously and seekto secure the participation oftheir citizens in all importantmatters

■ have come to the realisationthat a regular evaluation ofthe fruits of their efforts on

the part of neutral observersrepresents by no meansbothersome interference, butinstead furthers the goals ofthe community

Particularly during the first phaseof the ECOLUP project some ofthe participants argued, "But weare already doing everything wecan for the environment". Whyadvance into the "national lea-gue" (= EMAS) if you are doingwell in the "local league"?Nonetheless, when it came todrawing up their environmentalprogrammes, the communitieswere able to arrive at an admira-ble number of realistic measuresthat helped them to achieve theenvironmental goals they had setfor themselves. Improvements arealways possible, particulary when

a special effort is made to approachissues systematically and bymeans of progress checks. Not only do environmental conditions improve, a furthercommon positive effect of theintroduction of an environmentalmanagement system is the optimisation of the local govern-ment's organisational structure.Of particular significance is theimproved internal communicationbetween and integration of thepeople working within the parti-cipating specialised offices anddepartments. When an employerimplements a responsible envi-ronmental policy it always resultsin a "plus" for the work environ-ment and encourages individual employees' sense of responsibility.

5 Starting Out

5.2 The First Step

When after careful considerationa community comes to the con-clusion that environmentalmanagement ought to be a partof its urban land use planning,then as a first measure anemployee responsible for co-ordi-nating the full EMS implementa-tion process must be appointed.

The co-ordinator should have agood overview of the municipaladministration’s organisationalstructure and be familiar with theresponsibilities and means ofinfluence associated with urbanland use planning. As a part ofthe ECOLUP model project, thedirectors of the city planningdepartments of the four partnercommunities were entrusted withthis task. They were supported bythe ECOLUP project team, i.e. by

external consultants.The use of external consultants ishighly recommended. Theyshould undertake the followingtasks:■ support in preparation for the

environmental evaluation andthe strengths-and-weaknesses-analysis (SWOT)

■ moderation of the SWOTworkshops

■ moderation of the communalgovernment workshops on themost significant environmen-tal issues

■ support in preparation for thetrial validation (internal audit)

■ support during the validationprocess

It is also highly recommended toput together an environmentalteam. The environmental team should

support the co-ordinator during the ■ environmental evaluation

(performance, compliance andsystem audits)

■ establishing of environmentalgoals and measures (environ-mental programme)

■ integration of the environ-mental management system inthe municipality's administra-tive structure

■ regular evaluation of the envi-ronmental programme

■ internal audit, if necessary

The environmental team (alsocalled control group) should con-sist of representatives of all therelevant authorities and interestgroups so that both the expertknowledge the project requires aswell as all interested parties areinvolved:

18 Starting Out www.ecolup.info

5.2 The First Step

5 Starting Out

■ all specialised departmentsand offices in the municipaladministration that participatein evaluating proposals aspart of construction manage-ment planning

■ expert authorities at a regionallevel and instances responsiblefor public interests

■ representatives from smallbusiness, industry, agriculture,tourism

■ representatives from privateconservation organisations

■ representatives from privateorganisations and communityprojects (alternative transpor-tation club, mobility centre,etc.)

■ representatives of the Agenda

21 process from the communities

During the ECOLUP project, itproved difficult to concretelyinvolve representatives of thetown councils in the environmentalteam (voluntary positions, conflictsof interest, goals of fractions).Nevertheless, the town councilwas invited to all of the environ-mental team's workshops and wasrepresented with either one ormore members, depending on thegiven topic. In addition, it makessense to report regularly to thetown council on the project'sprogress. After all, the counciland the mayor as executivepowers are responsible for envi-

ronmental management andadopting the environmental poli-cy and programme, as well as theenvironmental statement.

On the basis of our experiencewith ECOLUP, we recommendmaintaining the environmentalteam as a consulting committeeeven after the EMS has beenintroduced.

Further Information:

CF. Chapter 8.2 Supervision ofEnvironmental Management andEnvironmental ManagementRepresentative.

Overview of the Costs of Implementation for an Environmental Management System using the ECOLUP Model Project

Phase / Task Number of Working Days Further External Costs

Environmental Analysis: SWOTAnalysis, collecting and evaluatingcore data (performance audit)Ensuring legal security (compliance audit)Analysis of the current organisa-tional structure and integration ofEMS elements (system audit)

External consultant 20Co-ordinator 10Environmental team (10 people) 10

SWOT analysis

Establishing environmental goalsand measures (environmental programme)Eight local government workshopson significant environmental issues

External consultants 32Co-ordinator 40Environmental team(10 people) 80

Expert speakers for the workshops

Internal audit, EMS documentationand manual

External consultants 10Co-ordinator 15Environmental team (10 people) 10

none

Programme of urban land use planin accordance with EMAS

External consultants 5Co-ordinator 5

Government-certified environmental expert

ECOLUP –Structure of this ECOLUP Guidancewww.ecolup.info 19

This guidance explains step bystep how to draw up all the ele-ments of an environmental management system according toEMAS II, as well as the procedureto follow when introducing it.Logically, the central theme ofthis guidance is the EMAS directive.

So as not to reinvent the wheel,elements of other guidances havebeen used in putting together thispublication and altered for appli-cability to communal urban landuse planning. The "EnvironmentalManagement in Municipalities"guideline from the Bavarian StateMinistry for State Development

and Environmental Issues was par-ticularly helpful, as was the "ThePath to EMAS" brochure put outby the Baden-Württemberg StateInstitute for EnvironmentalProtection.We have used passages from bothof these sources within the pagesof this ECOLUP Guidance.

5.3 Structure of this ECOLUP Guidance

5 ECOLUP

Umweltprüfung/Performance-Audit:"Environmental Assessment/Performance AuditDirect and indirect environmental aspects ofcommunal urban land use planning and theirevaluation. Collection and analysis of data onthe environmental situation SWOT analysis"

"Environmental Policy for Communal Urban Land Use Planning

with general goals "

Environmental ProgrammeEnvironmental goals

and concrete measures in respect to all significant

environmental aspects

Environmental organisationalassessment

Regular procedure checkInternal audit

Monitoring/corrective measures

Environmental StatementInform the public on environmental goals

and programme

External Assessment/(Initial) ValidationVia independent

environmental verifierEntry in EMAS register

Environmental Management SystemCompliance Audit: Assessment of legal

security in environmental areas

System AuditEnvironmental management representative

EMS organisation (who, what, how)EMS documentation/communication

Offices and departments relevant to the environment

Procedural and position-related regulationsTraining for employees

Environmental management manual

Continual Improvementin Environmental

Performance

According to Article 2e of EMASII, the environmental assessment isa “first thorough examination ofan organisation’s environmentalissues, its effects on the environ-ment, and its environmental per-formance in direct relation to itsoperations “. The environmentalassessment takes 5 key areas into consideration: ■ the legal, administrative, and

other regulations that the organisation has committeditself to observing

■ the registration all environ-mental aspects that have sub-stantial effects on the environ-ment according to the standardsin Annex VI; evaluation andquantification of their qualita-tive effects, if necessary, inwhich case a register of allaspects deemed substantial is to be put together

■ description of criteria used toevaluate the substantiality ofthe environmental effects

■ assessment of all techniquesand procedures applied in environmental management

■ evaluation of reactions to earlier incidents

This is what the EU directive tellsus. What does this mean for prac-tical purposes and for communalurban land use planning? EMAS’s goal is to continually im-prove environmental performance.ECOLUP’s goal is to continuallyimprove environmental performan-ce within the context of communalurban land use planning. EMASprovides an advantage for anorganisation – in this case, muni-cipal administration – that wishesto improve its environmental per-formance continually. Each muni-cipality can set its own goals inview of its weaknesses and itsopportunities for development. Inother words, EMAS picks each up

organisation (municipal admini-stration) at its own level of achie-vement in the field of environ-mental protection.For this reason, the first importantstep is to establish what conditionthe environment in the municipal-ity is in at present and what organ-isational structure its administra-tion features. The environmental assessment inaccordance with EMAS consists ofthree elements: ■ establishment of effects on the

environment (performance audit)

■ assessment of legal security(compliance audit)

■ assessment of the organisationalstructure (system audit)

These three elements are permanentaspects of the environmentalassessment, the (internal) organisa-tional environmental assessmentand the validation conducted by

the environmental verifier. Thevery first environmental assess-ment, the assessment of the sta-tus quo, is the most time-consu-ming part of the EMAS process,as you will most likely have tosearch for data and informationin various specialised offices,plans and statistics. Environmental Aspects and Impact It is not only through the produc-tion processes they employ at theirlocations that firms and organisa-tions have an impact on the envi-ronment. Their products or the ser-vices they provide can be harmfulto the environment when used anddisposed of. The firms and organi-sations themselves can have onlylimited influence on these effects,as they have very little or no con-trol either over the production pro-cesses that proceed and followtheir own production or over thebehaviour of consumers. In addi-tion, although some organisationscause relatively little direct envi-ronmental harm, the decisions theymake about their products or ser-vice have wide-reaching signifi-cance. In this case, we might thinkof the investment choices banksmake, or the decisions made byauthorities, including communalurban land use planning instances. To date, EMAS has touched onplanning processes only under therubric of “indirect environmentalaspects“. Among the listed examplesfor indirect environmental aspectsare planning and administrativedecisions (Annex VI, 6.3Indirect Environmental Aspects of the EMAS Directive).

Further Information

Cf. Annex VI,Indirect Environmental Aspects ofthe EMAS Directive.

20 The Environmental Assessment www.ecolup.info

6.1 Analysis of the Current Situation

6 The Environmental Assessment

INFO

In the ECOLUP model project, weconducted an environmental assessment in instalments:To begin with, the performanceaudit was conducted in the form ofa SWOT analysis so that the cityplanning office and the environmentalteam could concentrate on the workat hand, namely drawing up envi-ronmental goals and an environmentalprogramme. The performance auditwas the part of the environmentalassessment that required the mostwork from the ECOLUP participants.The communities refrained fromconducting the compliance audit andthe system audit until the environmen-tal programme had been drawn upin draft form, so that it was clearwhich instances (specialised offices,regional authorities, interest grouprepresentatives, citizens) would par-ticipate in the process. We stronglyrecommend proceeding in this manner.

The Environmental Assessmentwww.ecolup.info 21

6.2 Performance Audit: The Direct and Indirect Environmental Aspects inCommunal Urban Land Use Planning and their Evaluation

6The Environmental Assessment

The EMAS directive differentiatesbetween direct and indirect envi-ronmental aspects. Direct environ-mental aspects are defined as beingunder direct supervision, for exam-ple by the municipality, and aswholly dependent on the influenceof the supervisory instance. Indirect environmental aspects arerelated to those activities of themunicipal administration that itdoes not control completely, butthat it can influence to a certainextent. Indirect environmentalaspects can result from a municipaladministration’s interactions withthird parties.

Urban development planning haseffects on the environment – thisis particularly true for communalurban land use planning, whichthrough its codification measurescreates the preconditions for chan-ges made in the environment. Forthis reason, the municipality mustidentify all environmental aspectsof its urban land use planning,review them, and decide accordingto significance criteria how sub-stantial each is, in other wordsevaluate them. These substantialenvironmental aspects form thebasis for drawing up environmen-tal goals and measures, i.e. theymust be reflected in the content ofthe environmental programme andbe made accessible to the public(e.g. through the environmentalstatement) (EMAS II, Annex VI).Which environmental aspectshave substantial effects on theenvironment and could thereforeform the basis for communalenvironmental goals?It plays a decisive role whether thecommunity takes an unprejudicedand complete look at the environ-mental aspects of the services itprovides – urban land use plan-ning. It must demonstrate that it

has determined which are the sig-nificant environmental factors andthat it has taken them into consi-deration when establishing itsenvironmental managementsystem.

The direct and indirect impact onthe environment of the aspectsdefined as significant must bedivided into two categories: ■ those present in every planning

procedure which are to be defin-ed as direct environmentalaspects, such as above allexcessive urban expansion forthe sake of development sitesand transportation, the sealing-off of soil and increased use ofgreen areas

■ and those present in mostplanning procedures as indirectenvironmental aspects, such asabove all noise pollution,mobility, energy, climate, andair, quality which nonethelesscan be transformed into directenvironmental aspects through particular codification in specific planning concepts

In order to distinguish betweendirect and indirect environmentalaspects, as part of the ECOLUPproject we put together a list ofwhat the building code define as

the legal scope of a community’surban land use plan. We thenattributed these contents to envi-ronmental aspects and distinguis-hed between direct and indirectenvironmental aspects.

Information

CD-ROM Chapter 6.2Environmental aspects and impacts(performance audit). Tab. 1: Possiblecodification and representation withinfluence of the significant envi-ronmental aspects.

INFO

The ECOLUP model project wasable to identify the followingenvironmental aspects by consi-dering the range of activitiescomprising urban development:■ Excessive urban expansion ■ Sealing-over of soil ■ Use of green areas ■ Transportation / mobility ■ Energy / climate■ Landscape development ■ Flowing water ■ Flora and fauna■ Air Quality■ Noise■ Raw materials / waste ■ Participation

Assessment of Significance of Environment Aspects – Significance Criteria

Table1: Process of Self-Assessment in Establishing SignificantEnvironmental Aspects

➯ direct environmental aspects➯ indirect environmental aspects

Significance Criteria

Significance EnvironmentalAspects

Umweltaspekte

Continual self-check process

22 The Environmental Assessment www.ecolup.info

6.2 Performance Audit: The Direct and Indirect Environmental Aspects inCommunal Urban Land Use Planning and their Evaluation

6 The Environmental Assessment

You must be able to explain to theenvironmental verifier how thenumber of points each aspect iscredited with is to be interpreted.In other words, above which num-ber of points is an aspect to beconsidered significant?

All aspects which have been jud-ged significant must be included inthe environmental managementsystem In addition, their develop-ment must be checked regularly inorder to establish whether continu-al improvements are being made.

Further Information

➯ Cf. EMAS Annex III: Guidancefor Identifying EnvironmentalAspects and the Evaluation oftheir Significance.

Exce

ssiv

e Ur

ban

Expa

nsio

n

Seal

ing-

off

of S

oil

Use

of

Gre

enAr

eas

Tran

spor

tatio

n

Ener

gy/ C

limat

e

Land

scap

e De

velo

pmen

t/Fl

owin

gW

ater

Flor

a an

d Fl

ora

Air

Qua

lity

Noi

se

Raw

Mat

eria

ls /

Was

te

Part

icip

atio

n

GeneralIs the aspect a permanent part of communal urban land use planning?

3 2 2 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 3

To what degree can the aspect be influencedby communal urban land use planning? 3 3 2 3 1 2 1 1 2 2 —

Does the aspect fall under the municipality’s planning obligation? 3 2 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 —

Is it a neccessary to weigh interests related to the environment 3 1 3 3 1 3 0 1 1 —

Community Specifics

Is reliable information on the harm this aspect causes to the community’s environment available?

What kind of action should be taken?

Is the aspect a part if the current community discussion on the environment?

Total1 Point: rarely/in exceptional cases validSee EMAS Annex III: Guidance for Establishing Environmental Aspects and the Evaluation of their Significance

2 Points: partially valid/from case to case 3 Points: completely valid

In the ECOLUP model project, a credit system was established in order to evaluate the significance of the environmental aspects. Significance Assessment by Means of Significance Criteria

Significance Criteria

INFO

According to the evaluation chart in Table 2, the ECOLUP model project concluded thatfollowing environmental aspects were significant within the participating communities:

■ Excessive urban expansion■ Sealing-over of soil /

use of green areas ■ Mobility/transportation■ Landscape development■ Flowing water■ Energy / climate

The aspect citizen involvement/participation was also included in the list. Although this cannotbe termed an environmentalaspect, it plays an important role in communal urban land use planning.

Environmental Aspects

The Environmental Assessementwww.ecolup.info 23

In order to establish what impactcommunal urban land use plan-ning has on the environment andwhat the environmental situationin the ECOLUP partner communi-ties was, a SWOT analysis wasconducted for each community.

External Conditions and Input forSWOT Analysis:

■ The region to be studied wasset as a rule as the districtsadministered by the four muni-cipalities; for specific topics,this was permitted to vary sothat smaller or larger areaswere determined as required.

■ The basic information used todraw up the plans and theplanning concepts were collec-ted (according to a checklist,see Annex 1)

■ Statistical data on the commu-nity were collected

■ Three to five planning proces-ses were examined per commu-nity, including a zoning plan, adevelopment plan and a speci-alised plan or project fromeach. The plans were no morethan ten years old.

■ Existing reference figures andindicators were listed andchecked for their applicability.

■ For each community, a plan-ning profile (overview of plan-ning structure incl. informationon competencies, flow of infor-mation, involvement of citi-zens/ representatives of interestgroups, supervisory mecha-nisms) was drawn up

Procedure and Experience withinECOLUP

At ca. 20 workdays for expert con-sultants and 10 workdays for com-munity representatives, the dataresearch for the SWOT analysistook significantly longer thanplanned because extensive datastocks had to be reviewed andchecked for their applicability. The following information was collected:

■ description of the area ■ main goal■ environmental goals■ measures■ participants■ reference data

■ projected time needed forimplementation of urban land use plan

When collecting the data, it provedto be problematic that none of thecity or municipal administrationshad central statistical offices thatcollected and evaluated all datarelevant to communal administra-tion. Although the most importantbase data such as on populationdensity and sealing-over of soilare available, they exist in varyingforms: differing years of collection,in reference to differing areas,varying categories of measure-ment.

Each community was given anECOLUP community profile inwhich the evaluation results fromthe SWOT analysis were recorded.This profile contains a summary ofthe conclusions the project teamdrew on the basis of this analysis,which was used as the basis fordiscussion in the SWOT work-shops.

6.3 Performance Audit: Establishing and Evaluating Data and Information onthe Environmental Situation

6The Environmental Assessement

S W

O T

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

SWOT means:

Four SquaresS = StrengthsW = WeaknessesO = OpportunitiesT = Threats

Upper and Lower Rows ■ Current situation (upper row) is separated

from expected conditions (lower row)

Two Arrows■ Evaluate strengths with reference to dangers ■ Approach weaknesses on the basis of

opportunities

INFO

Results of the SWOT Analysis: Community Profile Überlingen

24 The Environmental Assessement www.ecolup.info

6.3 Performance Audit: Establishing and Evaluating Data and Information onthe Environmental Situation

6 The Environmental Assessement

Strengths Weaknesses

Main goals for land use and local development standin reasonable relation to one another Measures cover environmental areas of substantialimportance for the region concerned Local development concept (Goals and strategies for development)

No environmental model (goals not explicitly formulated) Existing goals not concrete (strategies and measuresnot included)No submodels (e.g. no forestry development plan)

Application of wide variety of instruments for realisa-tion of environmental goals (codification, recommen-dations, information, explanation of arguments forpublic). Good co-operation between administrativeinstances and between administration and externalspecialised offices

Great effort required to maintain co-ordination of efforts due to split environmental competencies

Good basis for subareas (e.g. Level B Plan) No systematic observation and progress-check formeasures. Review of goals achieved unclear (who re-views what), also due to lack of means of sanctioning

All important groups included (administration, coun-cil, citizens, associations, public interest groups, su-pervisory legal instances). Wide variety of opportuni-ties to participate for interested and concerned citi-zens beyond extent of legally required citizen partici-pation High public participation and support

Quality of participation needs improvement (represen-tatives of public interest groups need better informa-tion, especially if directly affected by planning mea-sures) Effect of participation not always evident

High potential of landscape allows tourism to bestrong economic factor.Sustainable forestry practices

Only a small part of the potential for concentration ofsettlement and construction used

Opportunities Threats

Undertake initial measures on city property Building contractors/investors do not feel them-selves to be bound to goals Economic pressures make environmental goals into political issues

Reorganisation of Department of Public Parks andSpaces Environmental representative (co-ordinationfunction EMAS)

Specialised competencies still divided among offices(according to current plan)Concentration within city means making decisioninvolving large sums of money (investments)Without creation of reference data, controlling notpossible. General Traffic Plan 1995 soon outdated

All in all, well-developed culture of participation sim-plifies public and interest group participation

City council fails to provide political support forpublic participation

Limited opportunities for expansion force commu-nity to turn to concentration High potential for concentration of housing andworkplaces

Limited opportunities for expansion vs. role as focus of settlement (impact on incorporated villages)Conflict btw. tourism development and landscapepotential (e.g. shoreline)

Goals and Results of SWOTWorkshops■ Establish and discuss strengths

and weaknesses, opportunitiesand threats for communalurban land use planning /communal spatial planning

■ Identify weaknesses for discus-sion in community workshops:Which are the significant envi-ronmental aspects, which canbe dealt with in clusters?

In the workshops, the individualstrengths, weaknesses, opportuni-ties and threats were discussedand when necessary expanded orcorrected. Special considerationwas devoted to the followingaspects:

Environmental Goals - most significantly:■ In view of high density of

housing and workplaces - issueof retrospective concentration

INFO

■ Land conservation, e.g. through decreasing urban expansion

■ Establish energy balances ■ Measures to decrease environ-

mental impact of mobility, transportation and noise

■ Conservative use of surfacearea in construction, in combi-nation with energy-savingmeasures

Planning Structure: ■ Competency for environmen-

tal planning and for commu-nal urban land use planning(organisational structure of aswell as horizontal co-ordina-tion between specialisedinstances)

■ Practical implementation ofpublic participation (compari-son to legal standards and inrespect to type of participatoryprocedure)

■ Instruments ensuring the real-

isation of environmental measures agreed upon

Reference Data:■ To date, the participating com-

munities have hardly ever app-lied environmental referencedata or indicators at the levelof the city as a whole.However, balances have beenemployed (surface area use,energy, transportation, water)

■ It was discovered that theplanning processes to be audi-ted did have partial access tothe necessary data at the levelof development planning, orthat this data could easily becalculated. By means of thisbase data, the necessary refer-ence data could be collected

The results of the SWOT works-hops were made available foreach community in a revisedSWOT matrix.

The Environmental Assessementwww.ecolup.info 25

In order to establish the potentialfor a solid and comprehensibledata review, the municipalityshould draw up a chart of the cur-rent reference data on the environ-ment as input for the SWOT analy-sis.

For this summary data chart, werecommend that you use the basedata for all significant environ-mental aspects drawn up by theECOLUP model project. There arenaturally no limits to what otherdata the municipality can selectbeyond these suggestions.

Once you have conducted anunderstandable evaluation of theenvironmental aspects, created achart of current reference data andevaluated the results of your ana-

lysis from the SWOT workshop,you have fulfilled all the require-ments of the performance audit inaccordance with EMAS II.

Collecting Base Data, Indicatorsand Reference Figures

Base data are usually statistics thatmeasure land, population and useand that can be found in nearlyevery community's planning re-cords. They establish the statusquo for the municipality. These da-ta can be obtained from federal,state and municipal statistical offi-ces.Indicators are the categories ofmeasurement or more generallyshow what information to provideon a specific phenomenon.Indicators can for example disclose

how the environment is being harm-ed, or highlight a possible develop-ment - a trend and its effects onthe environment. A typical indica-tor is population density (inhabi-tants per hectare or square kilometreof surface area), which shows theextent to which the availablelandscape is used for settlement.

Base data and indicators can bedrawn up and calculated in ageneral form independent of a sin-gle municipality or a set of plan-ning records in order to show clear-ly which general standards can beapplied. However, they can also beestablished for a single communityor for a single planning context, inwhich case they serve to characterisethis particular case. They neverthe-less require data for comparison so

6.4 Performance Audit: SWOT-Results

6The Environmental Assessement

that conclusions can be drawnfrom them or so the findings canbe applied to other planning con-texts or communities. Reference figures, in contrast, arefindings that are assembled bycomparing the relationship betweendifferent sets of data. Normally,they are not directly accessible inplanning records, rather are con-structed according to specificneeds. ECOLUP uses them to size up aconcrete environmental goal forappropriate measures and to cometo a conclusion as to whether thisgoal will be achieved or not. As a prerequisite, ECOLUP requiresthe selection of above all thosemeasurement categories which onthe basis of the available base dataand applicable indicators lead to

measurable and comparableresults. This limits the scope ofpossible choices to the extent thata range of ecobalances and envi-ronmental indicators that cannotbe brought into any clear causalrelationship to an area of origin orthat are not dependent on planningprocesses can only in a limitedsense or not at all be used in ECOLUP. The indicators and reference datatake on concrete shape at the pointwhen ECOLUP participants formu-late concrete environmental goals.

There is a range of publicationsand experience reports on thetopic of reference figures andindicators (e.g. Umweltbundesamt(Ed.) 2003: Indikatoren zurZielkonkretisierung und

Erfolgskontrolle im Rahmen derLokalen Agenda 21). However,participants discovered very quicklythat, within the ECOLUP project,the available indicators and refe-rence figures were neither validnor specific enough. Thus, withinthe project, a selection of specificmeasurement categories was established.

Our experience suggests it is bestto chose fewer but more reliablereference figures that can be usedunder all circumstances.

If the need arises, a very few newreference figures can be drawn upand added to the data stock.Selected reference data on signi-ficant environmental aspects areavailable in Chapters 7.3 to 7.8.

26 The Environmental Assessement www.ecolup.info

6.4 Performance Audit: SWOT Results

6 The Environmental Assessement

EXPERIENCE

Advantages and Disadvantages of Data Collection According to the SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis is a good method for conducting a qualitativeevaluation of the data on relevant environmental aspects.In addition, it provides in a categorisation of these environmentalaspects according to whether they have direct or indirect impact on the environment (direct environmental aspects can be completelycontrolled by the organisation, indirect environmental aspects only to a limited extent). Priorities are set according to which aspects aredetermined to be significant. Thus the SWOT analysis constitutes asignificant part of the environmental assessment required by EMAS II - it establishes what impact the organisation has on theenvironment (performance audit).

Disadvantages of Data Collection According to SWOT Analysis The data and information are evaluated in the course of a workshop, making the results to a certain extent subjective, as thestarting points are not available for all the direct and indirect envi-ronmental aspects and since very few standards of comparison canbe brought into the discussion of how to evaluate the local data. In addition, the final results also clearly depend on the characteristics of the people who participated in the workshop.

The Environmental Assessementwww.ecolup.info 27

66The Environmental Assessement

6.4 Performance Audit: SWOT Results

IndicatorAspect Situation in Municipality

Comparative Value Commentary toEvaluation

Stocktaking as Part of the Performance Audit. Example ÜberlingenEnvironmental

Population andsettlement structure

Population density ininhab. / km≈

Überlingen: 326 (2000)

Ba-Wü: 294 (2000)Lake Constance District: 300for improvement

Inhabitants-job-density in inhab. + employed/ km≈

Überlingen: 506 (2000)

Ba-Wü: 401 (2000)Lake Constance District: 401

Transportation and energy

Private autos per 1,000inhab.

Überlingen: 543 (2000)

Ba-Wü: 557 (2000) LakeConstance District: 571 (2000)

Development 1991-2001 in traffic densityin %

Überlingen: 7 % Ba-Wü: 19,3Lake Constance District: 18,5

Zoning Settlement and trans-portation surface areain %

Überlingen: 16.1 (2000)

Ba-Wü: 13,2 (2000)LakeConstance District: 13,4 (2000)

Built-up and open sitesurface area in %

Überlingen: 61.1 (2001) Ba-Wü: 53,2 (2001)LakeConstance District: 58,0 (2001)

Transportation surfacearea in proportion tosettlement area in %

Überlingen: 30.6 (2001)

Ba-Wü: 40,2 (2001)LakeConstance District: 34,6 (2001)

Development of settle-ment and transporta-tion surface area from1988 - 2000 in %

Überlingen: 6 Ba-Wü: 11,5Lake Constance District: 13,6

Settlement density ininhab./ km≈

Überlingen: 354 (2000)

Ba-Wü: 294 (2000)LakeConstance District: 300 (2000)

Surface area used foragriculture in %

Überlingen: 53 (2000)

Ba-Wü: 46,8 (2000)LakeConstance District: 56,9 (2000)

Forest surface area perinhab. in m≈

Überlingen: 826 (2000)

Ba-Wü: 1291 (2000)LakeConstance District: 934 (2000)

In comparison to ..... thefigure for ..... municipality= little need for action andpotential for improvement

ECOLUP, Nürtingen University, 2003Source: Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg, Landesinformationssystem (LIS)

EMAS requires an index thatincludes all legislation relevant tothe environment that the commu-nity is obliged to observe andthat is updated at regular inter-vals. In the so-called complianceaudit, the community's confor-mity to legal standards, i.e. theobservation of this legislation, isassessed.

Within the context of urban landuse planning, municipalities holdplanning sovereignty and cantherefore create legislation in theform of zoning and developmentplans passed as statutes. Which fields communal urbanland use planning can encompassis legally determined by the con-tents of the building code(BauGB). The building code alsocontains passages that regulate

how environmental issues are tobe accommodated.

The town planning departmentand town council are responsiblefor ensuring that all the regula-tions relevant to the environmentare incorporated into currentplanning processes.

As a part of public interest groupparticipation, the specialiseddepartments and offices andpanels of experts review the plandraft's conformity to legal stan-dards.

A licensing office (e.g. thegovernmental presidium / officeof the county administrator inGermany) regulates the observa-tion of the procedural stepsrequired by law.

Due to the fact that it is the cen-tral task accorded to communalurban land use planning toachieve legal security, we assumethat the current version of allrelevant legislation is available, isaccommodated in the planningconcept, and that each and everyissue touched on by the environ-mental legislation is included inthis concept. When introducingan environmental managementsystem, the question arises towhat extent environmental legis-lation and, when necessary, otherkinds of legislation of relevanceto the environment should receiveparticular attention. The answerwill differ depending on whichlevels and processes of the com-munal urban land use planningconcept are affected. In legislati-vely regulated planning contextsin which interest are weighed,environmental issues must betaken into consideration in theplanning concept. As a part ofEMAS for communal urban landuse planning, the complianceaudit serves to determine how therequirements set in current legis-lation are implemented.

For every procedure involved indrawing up a communal urbanland use planning concept, aseparate file should be created inwhich all records are stored inchronological order. The townplanning department must grantall who wish to see these recordsaccess to them at all times.

Through the announcementspublished by the legislativeinstances, the federal and statecity and municipal associations'publications, and subscriptions tospecialised literature circulatingamong government authoritiesand digitally automated data

28 The Environmental Assessement www.ecolup.info

6.5 Compliance Audit: Assessing Legal Security in Relation to the Environment

6 The Environmental Assessement

EXAMPLE

Example Wolfurt:

"From his or her own desk, each employee in the Wolfurt municipal administration occupied with urban land use planningcan refer to all basic legal documents relevant to this field (laws, regulations, resolutions passed by the organs of municipalgovernment) by the access we provide to the federal and the province of Vorarlberg's legal data banks (RIS and VORIS, respectively).

In addition, employees have access to all protocols relevant totheir work through the "Consolidate" workflow system.Furthermore, we have a loose-leaf collection of current provinciallaw, various legal commentaries, and a collection of municipalprotocols. One aspect of communal land use planning is the co-operation with various public interest groups. The most significant among these are the regional planning office and thedistrict agricultural authorities at the seat of the Vorarlberg provincial government, as well as the chambers of industry, of labour, and of agriculture."

(Dr. Sylvester Schneider, Municipality of Wolfurt, October 2003)

The Environmental Assessementwww.ecolup.info 29

banks, the municipality gathersinformation on current legislationaffecting its urban land use plan-ning and ensures that its employ-ees have access to this informa-tion.

In concrete terms, by undertakingthe following measures, munici-palities ensure that the public hasaccess to current legislation:

■ publicly accessible archivalstorage of currently validlegislation

■ collection of loose-leaf publi-cations and legal codes, legalcommentaries and protocolsmade accessible for membersof municipal administration e.g. Wolfurt: in the office ofthe Amtsleiter

■ access to official legal databanks from every workplacee.g. Wolfurt: RIS, VORIS

■ access to records and protocols generated by current planning processese.g. Wolfurt: workflow system"Consolidate"

■ training and further educationfor administration employeeson how to introduce andapply new legislation andamendments to existing legislation

6.5 Compliance Audit: Assessing Legal Securityin Relation to the Environment

6The Environmental Assessement

30 Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals - Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7 Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals -Environmental Programme

The environmental policy is thecentrepiece of the EMAS directive.It defines the organisation's overallgoals in respect to the environ-ment to which all programs andactivities must in turn be attuned.The environmental policy muststand in sufficient relation to theorganisation's impact on the environment - in this case to theenvironmental impact of a munici-pality's urban land use planning.

All the EMAS Guidances requirethat the environmental policy beformulated when the environ-mental management system isfirst introduced within the orga-nisation. For ECOLUP, the proce-dural order has been changedslightly, so that, in the initialphase, the environmental goalsand measures pertaining to eachsignificant environmental aspectare discussed and decided upon.As a part of this process, theenvironmental team analysesalready existing models for urbandevelopment and for environ-mental goals as a part of zoningplans (see also results of SWOTanalysis).

The visions and goals for theenvironment already defined bythe community are then collectedand prepared as input for theenvironmental policy. The envi-

ronmental team draws up arecommendation for areas of theenvironmental programme forwhich no overall goals have beenformulated.

The environmental policy com-pleted in this manner includes theoverall environmental goals takenfrom models and planning con-cepts that have already beenapproved, as well as the additionsnecessary to include further rele-vant environmental aspects. It isadvisable that elements that havealready been approved by thetown council be integrated - noneed to reinvent the wheel!Doing so raises political accep-tance needed for the council topass the environmental policy.

An environmental policy inaccordance with EMAS mustinclude the following two ele-ments: ■ a self-obligation to continual-

ly improve the environmentalsituation and to avoid doingharm to the environment

■ a self-obligation to observe allrelevant environmental legis-lation

The environmental policy mustbe approved by the municipality's"chief executives", the towncouncil and the mayor, and is tobe brought to public attention aspart of the environmental state-ment.

Drawing Up EnvironmentalGoals and an EnvironmentalProgramme Although drawing up environ-mental goals and an environmentalprogramme is one of the mosttime-consuming aspects of anEMS, it is also the most excitingpart, for this is where you can

put your ideas into practice.In the ECOLUP model project,"community workshops" on allsignificant environmental aspectswere organised. This method hasproven to be effective!Along with drawing up the envi-ronmental programme, the com-munity workshops serve as trai-ning courses for employees andinterest group representatives andoffer an appropriate forum forbenefiting from each other'sexperience.

The ECOLUP environmental team,as the co-ordinator of the work-shops, invites the town counciland, depending on the topic,other interest group representativesor specialised departments andoffices to participate. Should twoof more communities decide tointroduce an EMS into urbanland use planning at the sametime, these workshops ought tobe organised and held together inorder to increase the benefits ofthe exchange of knowledge. Inaddition, the communities cansplit the costs for speakers andmoderator.

As a result of the evaluation ofall direct and indirect environ-mental aspects relevant to com-munal urban land use planning(see Chapter 6.2), the followingenvironmental aspects have pro-ven to be the most significant: ■ Excessive urban expansion■ Sealing-off of soil / use of

green areas ■ Transportation / mobility ■ Landscape development■ Flowing water ■ Energy / climate

A community workshop at whicha draft is drawn up for both theenvironmental goals and the

7.1 Continual Improvement in Environmental Performance

TIP

Make your goals ambitious butrealistic and do not bite off morethan you can chew! Along withimpressive improvements, smallerpartial successes are also neces-sary, above all in order to main-tain the participants' motivation.

environmental programme shouldbe organised for every one ofthese significant environmentalaspects. Naturally, depending onthe environmental situation inthe community and how it evalu-ates its own specific environmen-tal aspects, further environmentalaspects can be examined. Furthermore, we recommend twoadditional workshops on thesegeneral topics: ■ Participation /

public involvement ■ Introducing an environmental

management system(EMAS: system audit).

It has proven effective to structu-re all these workshops in thesame way:■ A moderated panel discussion

to report on and exchange

experience with the contentand policy goals drawn up inprevious workshops

■ An introduction to the maintopic of the workshop givenby the moderator: Results ofthe SWOT analysis of theenvironmental aspect on thetable with additional informa-tion gathered through research

■ Expert presentation on thetopic at hand from an exter-nal speaker

■ Moderated discussion on thetopic: previous experience,possible goals and measures,etc.

■ Drawing up of concrete envi-ronmental goals and measu-res, agreement upon referencefigures for monitoring process(= environmental programme)

If more than one community is

participating in a workshop, theenvironmental programme shouldbe drawn up in working groups,each of which is comprised of theenvironmental team of one com-munity.

Those sceptical about EMAS haveoften told us that the system isexclusively concerned with theenvironment and neglects theother two pillars of sustainability society and economy.

When you become involved withthe practical realisation of thissystem, you will quickly find thatthe opposite is the case, for it isthe purpose of the environmentalprogramme to set realistic goalsand measures. For every goal set,the social advantages and disad-vantages must be discussed, as

7.1 Continual Improvement in Environmental Performance

TIP

The core set of ECOLUP reference data has been assembled from a wide varietyof possible reference figures.The numbers it contains arepertinent to the environmentalsituation and demonstrate areasonable cost-benefit balancewhen collected over the longterm. On the other hand, com-munities can naturally also collect further categories ofdata. We recommend the coreset of ECOLUP reference data as a minimum standard!

See Chapter 13.

EXPERIENCE

Getting the town council involvedrequires tact and sensitivity!The best case would be if thetown council had its own repre-sentative in the ECOLUP envi-ronmental team.

However, the moderator cannotallow the workshop discussionsto be abused for the exclusiveexchange of blows betweenpolitical factions.

If no one from the town councilcan spare the time to ensure aregular presence at the works-hops, this body should in anycase receive the protocols andbe updated at regular intervalsby the representative for envi-ronmental management on cur-rent progress.

EXPERIENCE

To date, most local governmentswork very little or not at all withreference figures. Although themost important base data, e.g. onpopulation/settlement density andsealed-over surface area, are av-ailable, they have been set downaccording to varying criteria andare therefore often unfit for com-parison. It is seldom that a city ormunicipal administration has itsown office of statistics that col-lects and analyses all data rele-vant to communal urban landuse planning.

For this reason, your first envi-ronmental programme for com-munal urban land use planningwill contain a number of measu-res that do not directly serve toimprove the environmental situation, but rather are necessary prerequisites to the introductionof a monitoring system.

Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals - Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info 31

7Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals -Environmental Programme

32 Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals - Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7 Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals -Environmental Programme 7.1 Continual Improvement in Environmental Performance

EXAMPLE: Script for a Community Workshop on Energy and Climate

Community Workshop 6 on Policy Field: Energy and Climate all four project comminities together

Time Lenght Activity Who does What Auxiliary Media

10:00 1. Greetings and Introduction

520

5

Participants are greeted by a representative of the city of DornbirnRetrospective on community workshop 4 “Transportation and Mobility”Each community presents its results from the previous workshop and its current progress on the measures and environmental programme agreed upon(5 minutes incl. related questions per community)How does this workshop fit into the EMAS programmeIncumbent mayorModerator

4 community represetatives

Moderator

Microphone, beamer, overhead projector, transparenciesEnvironmental programmeTransparency: EMAS II /Communal urban land use planning workshop

10:30 2. Workshop Goal5 “Draw up an environmental programme for the policy field

energy and climate”Moderator Transparency:

“Workshop goal”

10:35 3. Introduction to Field Energy and Climate

3020

Ralf Bermich, Amt für Umweltschutz (Office of Environ.Protection) Heidelberg Discussion

Speaker Beamer, computer

20

30

Four short statements from the communities on environmental policy and goals in policy field energy and climateGroup discussion

■ Energy-conserving methods of construction ■ Structure placement■Centralised and decentralised energy supply ■ Reference data for policy field energy and climate Questions

4 community representatives

Moderator

11:25 20 Break

11:45 4. Discussion of Policy

12:30 Lunch Break

2:00 605. Four Working Groups (Environmental Teams)recommended environmental goals and measures for the policyfield energy and climate .Discussion and Drawing-Up ofEnvironmental Programme

ConsultantSpeaker

Moderation cardsthumbtacks felt pensflip chart

Speaker helps environmental teams reach their decisions

3:00 6. Conclusion40

1010

Working groups present their results (environmental programmes for four communities). 10 minutes per communityDiscussionConclusion, upcoming steps

Speaker from eachworking group

ModeratorModerator

Whiteboards orPowerPointtime plan

4:00 End of the Workshop

Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals - Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info 33

7Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals -Environmental Programme

must the question of financingand the environmental cost-bene-fit balance for each measure.After all, the process is intendedto generate goals and measuresfor the environmental programmewhich can be realised after allthree perspectives have beentaken into realistic consideration.

However, sensible goals and mea-sures should not be struck fromthe programme without replace-ment only because your munici-pality lacks funds at the moment.EMAS also provides for a longer-term realisation of an environ-mental concept, i.e. longer thanthe validation period of threeyears. One cannot realistically expectthat at the close of a communityworkshop, the complete draft foran environmental programme willbe complete. However, the envi-ronmental team should havecome to an agreement on theconcrete goals and measures to

be undertaken, as well as on thereference figures for the monitor-ing procedure. It is then up to theco-ordinator, in co-operationwith the environmental team, tocomplete the environmental pro-gramme according to EMAS' spe-cifications: ■ employees responsible for rea-

lising particular measures ■ time-frame / quarter for reali-

sation for measures ■ necessary financial and per-

sonnel resources After all the community work-shops have been conducted, theenvironmental programmes forthe individual aspects are collec-ted to form a total environmentalprogramme and are once againreviewed:■ Are the environmental goals in

tune with the degree of relevan-ce of the environmental issues,i.e. are they a fitting tool for themeasurable reduction or preven-tion of harm being done to theenvironment?

■ Are the goals measurable tothe greatest extent possible?

■ Can the reference data neces-sary for the monitoring proce-dure be collected over thelong term?

■ Can the qualitative goals beassessed using qualitative indi-cators (questionnaires, etc.)?

■ Have competencies and respon-sibilities been established andapproved?

■ Have the resources necessaryfor realisation been set aside?

The environmental programmeis not binding until it has beenpassed by the decision-makinginstances in the community, i.e.the town council. For this rea-son, we recommend that thetown council be involved as closely as possible in the processof drawing up the environmentalprogramme and that it is regu-larly informed on current pro-gress at its meetings.

7.1 Continual Improvement in Environmental Performance

Lately, many communities havedeveloped their own environmen-tal models, statements of environ-mental policy or environmentalreports. In most cases, these docu-ments depict visions and goals forthe long term instead of describinga concrete communal environmentalpolicy directly related to politicalpractice.

Art. 1 of EMAS II states thatthe function of an environmentalpolicy is to set down “an organi-sation’s overall goals and policyprinciples in respect to the envi-ronment“. It must be appropriate

to the organisation’s nature,extent and the impact it has onthe environment, should makeevident the purpose and goal ofthe environmental managementprogramme, and must include aself-obligation to observe allenvironmental legislation and tocontinually improve environmen-tal performance. Just like theenvironmental goals and pro-gramme, the environmental policy should undergo regularreview as a part of the organisa-tional environmental assessment(internal audit) and be altered ifnecessary.

In accordance with EMAS, theenvironmental policy relatesdirectly to the field to be validated,in this case communal urban landuse planning. In order to meet theEMAS standards, the environmentalpolicy must contain the followingelements: ■ a description of the purpose

and goals of the environmentalmanagement system

■ a self-obligation to continualimprovement and avoidance ofharm to the environment

■ a self-obligation to observe allrelevant environmental legislation

7.2 Environmental Policy for Communal Urban Land Use Planning

34 Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals - Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7 Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals -Environmental Programme

The environmental policy must bepassed by the municipal executiveinstances, i.e. the town council andthe mayor and the organisation’semployees must be made aware ofits existence. It is a part of theenvironmental statement and assuch must be accessible for thepublic.The City of Überlingen’s Envi-ronmental Policy for CommunalUrban Land Use Planning. The city of Überlingen has set as itsuppermost political goal sustainableurban development.The contents, processes, andmethods of urban developmentplanning have undergone decisivechanges in the last ten years. Thecity of Überlingen meets these newchallenges with an organic plan-ning culture that takes as a cen-tral concern the city as a wholeinto consideration and engages indialogue with all active parties,especially citizens interested in andeffected by its planning measures.In order to achieve this goal, newforms of administrative practice,moderation, and management, aswell as new form of co-operationin planning and realisation havebecome necessary. Within the con-text of our participation in theECOLUP LIFE project, we haveimplemented an environmentalmanagement system for our com-munal urban land use planningwith the goal of continuallyimproving all relevant environ-mental aspects of this planningprocess. In agreement with the goal setdown in the federal state ofBaden-Württemberg’s developmentplan and the Lake Constancemodel, Überlingen has set the

following focus points for sustai-nable and environmentally accep-table urban development:■ More transparency in urban

expansion, reduction of exces-sive expansion by means ofretrospective concentration andconcentration within the citycentre, economical use of sur-face area in development plansand construction, and carefuluse of those sites already zonedfor development

■ Removing pavement on privateproperty, decrease in degree ofsealed ground on property par-cels, encouragement for increa-sed use of green areas in landuse planning, maintenance ofexisting public green areas within the city

■ Decreasing harmful effects oftransportation (city of shortdistances), further decrease oftraffic in the city‘ centre, redi-stribution of individual travelto public means of transporta-tion (particularly in the oldcity), proportional usage ofmeans of transportation lessharmful to the environment(modal split), optimisation ofbicycle and pedestrian pathnetworks

■ Optimisation of energy use innew planning areas, reduce CO2

emissions, implement a modelproject

■ Protect existing forest areasand their functional variety,expand these to create morecompact wooded areas ifnecessary, forests should deve-lop in as nearly natural a wayas possible with the goal ofimproving their function aslocal recreational areas and

their ecological performance,maintain existing settlementborders, maintain and developman-made landscape, re-desi-gnation of settlement areas onthe lakeshore into green areas

■ Introduce renaturalisation offlowing water, shoreline stripsinto urban land use planningconcept

It is a matter of course that weobserve all legislation of relevanceto the environment. We have desi-gnated an environmental manage-ment representative who co-ordi-nates the environmental manage-ment system and is supported byan environmental team in whichall specialised offices and depart-ments and relevant interest groupsare represented. Together with the

7.2 Environmental Policy for Communal Urban Land Use Planning

Within the ECOLUP model project,the draft version of the environ-mental policy was drawn up bythe environmental team at thesame time that the environmentalprogramme was being developed.The overall goals identified foreach environmental aspect (seeChapter 7.3 to 7.8) were collectedto support the completion of theenvironmental policy. In a second step, the town council’s environmental commit-tee and/or its building committeediscussed the drafts for the envi-ronmental policy and programmeand included modifications oradditions if necessary. The reviseddrafts were then presented to thecity council for discussion andapproval.

INFO

EXAMPLE

Script for a Community Workshop on Energy and Climate

Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals - Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info 35

7Environmental Policy - Environmental Goals -Environmental Programme

environmental team, the city plan-ning department has drawn upconcrete goals and measures toimprove the environmental perfor-mance of our communal urbanland use planning. The environ-mental programme we have deve-loped for this process undergoesregular review and adjustment.

Überlingen, 01.12.2003Mayor Town Council

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 35

The environmental aspect exces-sive urban expansion withincommunities is a topic of centralimportance for sustainable settle-ment area development.Designating which land is to beused for settlement and construc-tion is one of the most importanttasks in communal urban landuse planning. Although the term “excessiveexpansion“ indicates more clearlythan does “usage“ the actualeffects of these processes, it doesnot yet capture the their fullimpact. One should really speakof “land circulation“, for parcelsof land are in fact redirected fromone type of usage to another. Thechanging conditions of land use,the form and degree of eachusage and the temporal rate atwhich these change are thus thedefining characteristics of exces-sive urban expansion. Within anenvironmental managementsystem used in planning strate-gies for regional development, itis the most important aspect. Forone thing, it is directly related tohow natural resources in the formof the actual land being used areallocated. For another, it isrepresented within other issues ofenvironmental concern such astraffic and transportation policyor how much land is sealed over.Furthermore, it is through a com-munity’s urban land use planningthat this environmental issue canbe directly influenced.

Environmental Relevance ofExcessive Urban Expansion

It is an undeniable fact thaturban land use planning directlyeffects the natural environmentalbalance, alters the way in whichland is used, and thus has a greatimpact on many aspects of the

7.3 Environmental Aspect Excessive Urban Expansion

7Environmental Programme

environment. The German federal governmentenquiry commission on “TheProtection of the Population andthe Environment“ is similarlyaware if the significance of thistopic and for that reason hasdesignated the reduction of newland used in construction to 30ha daily by 2020 as an environ-mental goal of its 1998 finalreport. According to the German FederalOffice of Statistics‘ current pro-jected figures, the population ofAustria, Germany and all neigh-bouring European countries willsink significantly in the shortterm as of ca. 2015. However, thisdoes not mean that the demandfor land will decrease.

Baden-Württemberg’s environ-mental plan for the year 2000states that the reduction of con-struction for settlement andtransportation purposes contribu-ting to excessive urban expansionis presently one of the mostimportant goals for active envi-ronmental protection.

The goal of reducing the demandssettlement and transportationmake on a community’s surfacearea needs to be cut down to asize appropriate for realisation bylocal government. In the follow-ing, it is translated into the plan-ning processes and decisions thatbring about new land use, orrequire and cause it in everydaypractice.

INFO

Increase in Inhabitants as wellas Surface Area Dedicated toSettlement and Transportation inGermany since 1950.

The fact that more than half ofthe construction has occurred inthe last 50 years is critical, as isthe percentile growth of the sur-face area dedicated to settlementand transportation, which wasfour times higher that the per-centile population growth in1999.

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1999

■ Siedlungsflächenanstieg in %■ Bevölkerungsangstieg in %

100

80

60

40

20

0

36 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7.3 Environmental Aspect Excessive Urban Expansion

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The planning goals municipaladministrations establish for landuse are above all to be foundamong the various targets set inexisting urban land use plans, thezoning plans and those for landallocation, as well as in citydevelopment plans also alreadyin existence. Municipal administrations canplay a key role in supportingconservative land use in settle-ment development due to theplanning sovereignty they hold. Itlies within their power to reduceexcessive urban expansion due tosettlement and transportationconstruction within the limits oftheir jurisdiction. Through urbanland use planning and the wayenvironmentally relevant issuesare represented or set down wit-hin them, municipal administra-tions in Germany and Austriadirectly influence settlementdevelopment and land use policy. Land use politics within commu-nities must put greater emphasison avoiding the excessive desi-gnation of additional construc-tion sites, on maintaining cur-rent rates of land usage andtaking advantage of develop-mental opportunities presentwithin the given city structure.

These are the issues addressedby environmental managementfor communal urban land useplanning.

Local Preconditions

Focusing on local administrativeauthorities does not enable us toconsider the environmental impactof all demands made on the landwithin a community's boundaries.For example, in Germany, planningdecisions related to the issues oftransportation between regions,

INFO

In Vorarlberg (Austria), the situation is similar to that in Baden-Württemberg. The federal state of Vorarlberg suffers from land scarcity. When we subtract nonarable land, forest and alpine areas,hazardous zones and conservation land from the total amount ofland available, then a mere tenth remains for human settlement andintensive agriculture. Eighty percent of the population lives on thisland. In Vorarlberg, the loss of untouched land appears to be progressing inexorably. The rate at which construction for settlement makes new demands on land is ca. 15 ha per year.

In Baden-Württemberg, land use for settlement and for transportation has doubled in the last 50 years. Half the surface area of the land used in these areas is completely sealed.

However, the process by which land that was formerly in nearlynatural condition or used for agriculture has been transformed andfound new use as settlement land is not irreversible.

transportation) little need totake action in terms of envi-ronmental issue excessiveurban expansion

■ Rural town: low populationdensity (15-30 inhab./ ha),mid-size to large municipality(10-20% settlement and trans-portation) great need to takeaction in terms of environ-mental issue excessive urbanexpansion due to danger ofuncontrolled constructiondevelopment and settlementof surface area

■ Central/compact town: avera-ge to high population density(50-80 inhab./ ha), very smallmunicipality (30-80% settle-ment and transportation)great need to take action interms of environmental issueexcessive urban expansionbecause limits of growthpotential have already beenreached.

The type of settlement that allows

the axes of desired settlementdevelopment, supply and disposaland other such measures whichdesignate land usage are notmade at the communal level.

In each of the various regions ofEurope, settlement patterns havedeveloped very differently, makingthe issues at hand different for eachsettlement area. The goal of decre-asing the amount of land continu-ously in use is above all importantfor regions which are under con-stant pressure to expand the amountof land available for settlement. As established by the final reportissued by the ECI (Development,Refinement, Management andEvaluation of European CommonIndicators Project, 2003) EC project,settlement areas can be divided intothree types:

■ Compact urban area: highlyconcentrated population (70-100 inhab./ ha), large munici-pality (5-10% settlement and

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 37

7.3 Environmental Aspect Excessive Urban Expansion

7Environmental Programme

for sustainable town planningthrough land development is cha-racterised by: ■ the intensive use of available

landscape for settlement ■ the high density of settlement

land use ■ population development with

high or low demand for resi-dential building sites or com-mercial sites.

The Lake Constance region is pres-ently experiencing high settlementpressure. Some of the towns in thearea are rural with average popu-lation concentrated in mid-sizemunicipalities similar to those oftype 2 above, some are urban

towns with highly concentratedpopulations in small municipalitiesas in type 3. The pressure to useavailable land for settlement, theextent of over-settlement and thegiven boundaries to growth potential determine the extent towhich action must be taken.

Environmental Evaluation

In order to conduct an environ-mental evaluation of excessiveurban expansion, certain currentbase and reference data must beavailable or exist for the veryrecent past. The data should beserial and should not requireextra effort to ascertain.

By collecting the appropriatedata, a community can determineits specific situation, measure theimpact of current planning pro-cesses, and evaluate the overallenvironmental situation. Thisknowledge not only constitutesthe basis for the ECOLUPmanagement system, but can alsobe applied to other proceduressuch as the environmental accep-tability assessment or the strate-gic environmental assessment.

The environmental evaluationshould include a balance of thesurface area used within themunicipality that describes therelationship between land used

Direct Indirect Related

■ Establishing how much landis available for construction

■ Settlement development thatconserves surface area

■ Maintaining settlement bor-ders

■ Optimisation of the relations-hip between land dedicated totransportation and to settle-ment - Optimisation of con-struction site use

■ Retrospective consolidation: Use of empty lots,Additional storeys, additions Combined types of usageCovering need for new hou-sing space within givendimensionsConsolidation of housing and working spacesRaising occupation densityMinimisation oftransportation network

■ Decreasing further dispersion ofsettlement-

■ Avoiding fallow areas withinthe city

■ Conservative use of surface areain development and choice ofconstruction type

■ Intensified usage of attractivelocations

■ Quantitative and qualitativecompensation for loss of surfacearea for construction

■ Mobilisation of potential in existing construction sites

■ Managed city developmentpolicy

■ Restructuring city neighbour-hoods

■ Integrated settlement andtransportation development

■ Concentration of supply, administrative and servicefacilities

■ Choice of location, designationof type of use according to criteria of environmentally fitting usage

■ Co-ordination of temporarybuilding usage (intermittent usage)

Measures Related to Environmental Issue "Excessive Urban Expansion"

38 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7.3 Environmental Aspect Excessive Urban Expansion

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for construction and naturallandscape. Furthermore, it should depict thetrend in land development, whichis represented by the referencefigures population and settlementdensity.It should also document the cur-rent growth rate of land use overa set period of time.

Specifically, it summarises:

■ The relationship between different types of land use inorder to demonstrate how themunicipal surface area is sett-led, how much constructionland exists in reserve andwhat options are open to thelocal government.

■ The density of land use as aproduct of the number of in-habitants in the community,shown in relation to the totalarea of the municipality overthe population density and inrelation to the percentage ofsettled land over the settlementdensity/population density/den-sity of housing areas

■ The growth in zoned con-struction land, represented interms of the growth in settledsurface area in relation to themost important types of landuse - housing areas, commer-cial areas and transportationareas.

How surface area parameter iscalculated is explained in greaterdetail below. (Kasten 3-5)

The information necessary for eva-luating to what extent a commu-nity exhibits excessive urbanexpansion is available in the formof statistical records which arealways accessible and from whichbase data can be constructed.

0,500,400,300,200,100,00

Bade

n-W

ürtt

embe

rg

Regi

on B

oden

see-

Ober

schw

aben

Regi

on

Hoc

hrhe

in-B

oden

see

Kons

tanz

Über

linge

n

Dorn

birn

Wol

furt

0,150,11 0,13

0,43

0,190,11

0,24

By way of simplification, wecompare the (existing and plan-ned) settled surface area to thelandscape surface area in orderto establish to which extent theprocentual proportion of settledsurface area of the total surfacearea changes (figure: proportionsettled area). These core figuresindicate what options remainopen to the community and howmuch landscape is available forsettlement.

The existing base data availablein the usual official records per-mit us to determine the relation-ship between the total settled

Realationship between Differnet Types of Land Use

“Land Use Figure”

area (surface area of private pro-perty or construction sites, usedfor transportation and public openspaces) to the entire surface areain the municipality.

In this way, we arrive at a landuse relationship of settled land inBaden-Württemberg's municipali-ties to natural landscape in eachof on average 0.15. In comparison,the level of land use in the city ofConstance is ca. 0.43. This indica-tes that the city has significantlyfewer land resources available forsettlement development than thefederal state average (see table).

The land use figure is arrived atby determining the relationshipbetween both settlement andtransportation use to naturallandscape. The latter is the surfacearea of natural landscape outsidethe town proper which is ascertained by subtracting the surface area dedicated to settle-ment and transportation from the municipality's total surface area.

© Hochschule Nürtingen, IAFQuelle: Landesstatistik Baden-Württemberg 2001

By calculating the base data, thestatus quo in the community canbe established and used as a basisfor the evaluation of future landuse development.

The base data for these figures canbe taken from the settled areaswithin the town proper and thosededicated to transportation. Thelevel of land designated for trans-portation in general lies between18% and 35%. A target level couldbe set at 20% of the total settledarea within the town proper.

Density of Land Use

Population Density with Inhab. per ha of Settlement and Transportation Land

to population can be drawn fromdata on the residential population,for example population density inrelation to given spatial units (landwithin municipal boundaries,region, federal state) or settlementdensity/habitation density in rela-tion to zoning units (settlementzones within the municipalities). Inthese cases, because the data avai-lable in existing records includesthe surface area used for transpor-tation in the figure for settlementland no specific conclusions canbe drawn from them. In order tomeasure and compare densities, itis advisable to use the data onbuilt-up land and open sites as a

basis for calculation. A separatefigure is to be ascertained forland used for transportationpuposes.

The bar graph shows that thepopulation density of the city ofConstance at 48.97 inhab./ha ismore than double the state average at 22.57 inhab./ha.Furthermore, a comparison of theVorarlberg towns reveals theremarkable fact that Wolfurt hasa notably higher population den-sity than does Dornbirn. This isdue to the very limited proportionof traffic surface area outside ofthe municipality's centre.

© Hochschule Nürtingen, IAFQuelle: Landesstatistik Baden-Württemberg 2001

Along with the core data on landuse constituted by the relationshipsof the different kinds of use to oneanother, core data on density canprovide us with information abouthow carefully a municipality allo-cates its available land for use.Above all, density figures related

0,500,400,300,200,100,00

Bade

n-W

ürtt

embe

rg

Regi

on B

oden

see-

Ober

schw

aben

Regi

on

Hoc

hrhe

in-B

oden

see

Kons

tanz

Über

linge

n

Dorn

birn

Wol

furt

22,5717,20 20,63

48,97

22,40

34,1640,48

Increase in Land Use

Average Yearly Land Use per Person in m2 per Person

The development of land use wit-hin a community can also be mea-sured from the perspective of theyearly rate of change, i.e. from theperspective of the environmentalgoal of reducing the growth ofland use. Using federal and statestatistics we can determine to whatextent land development in thecommunity at hand differed fromaverage figures over a given peri-od of time. If the planned rate ofdevelopment is projected onto ayearly land use balance, then thechange in rate of land use growthcan be ascertained. For example,the Enquiry Commission (1998)

noted a growth in land used forsettlement in the Federal Republicof Germany of 129 ha daily or ca.47,100 per inhabitant and year. Ifby using this figure we calculatethe land use per inhabitant andyear, we arrive at a yearly growthof 5.9 m2 per inhabitant.Specifically, a town of 80,000inhabitants would thus have arespective growth of over 47 haof new land usage per year.

© Hochschule Nürtingen, IAFQuelle: Ronconi (1999), Umweltbundesamt Österreich

In comparison to Europe as awhole, Germany's land use growthwith 5 m2 per year and person isaverage. In comparison, Austriafeatures the highest figure with 10m2 of new construction land peryear and person.

1086420

Belg

ium

Denm

ark

Fran

ce

Net

herla

nds

Swed

en

Grea

t Br

itain

Germ

any

Aust

ria

5,58 4,42,49 0,53 0,3

9,41

5

10

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 39

7.3 Environmental Aspect Excessive Urban Expansion

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40 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7.3 Environmental Aspect Excessive Urban Expansion

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EXAMPLE The following base data should be available

Base Data on Surface Area (with year of reference and planning pro-gramme/source acknowledge)

* Built-up and open areas = Areas with structures (built-up areas) and area withoutstructures (open areas) the use of which are determined by the structures. Open areasinclude front gardens, property surrounding houses, playgrounds, parking areas andother areas (see Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg, 2002).

The basis of all calculations should as far as possible be official statistics. For the tem-poral data, the planning programmes from which the figures are taken should beacknowledged.

Surface area of municipality Unit(mit Angabe des Bezugsjahrs und des Planwerks/der Quelle)

Surface area of municipality haTotal settlement and transportation surface area ha

Built-up and open surface area in ha (calculated separatelyfor commercial areas and settlement/mixed use areas) haTransportation surface area ha

Landscape surface area haAgricultural areas haForest areas haBodies of water ha

Protected areas haPlanned development of new construction sites ha

Base Data on Population Unit(with year of reference and planning programme/source acknowledged)InhabitantsWorking Population / Jobs in communityBalance of commuters (to and away)

Base Data Temporal Dimension (with chosen time span given)Settlement and transportation surface area in haGrowth rates of settlement and transportation surface area in ha per yearInhabitants development

INFO

Summary of all Necessary Data Research ➯ Our community XY encom-passes a surface area of... hawith an average level of settle-ment and transportation landuse of....% and a populationdensity of ..... inhab./ ha.➯ Spatial situation of communi-ty along with integration inneighbouring communities andthe region in respect to environ-mental issues ➯ type of community accordingto land use figures and density ofsettlement and population ➯ data on development of landuse

INFO

This text is based in part onexcepts from papers by Prof.Everts, University for AppliedResearch, Nürtingen University.

You will find the texts to thesetalks under:www.ecolup.info

➯ Wissenspool ➯ ECOLUP-Methodik ➯ kommunale Workshops

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 41

7.3 Environmental Aspect Excessive Urban Expansion

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Core Statistic Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Conditions for Land UseProportion of available settlement land

Settlement and transportation surfacearea to municipality surface area

% Settlement and transportation surfacearea, municipality surface area

Land use figure Settlement and transportation surfacearea to total landscape surface area

% Settlement and transportation surfacearea, total landscape surface area

Excessive settlement core figure Extent of settlement and transportationsurface area in km to settlement andtransportation surface area in m2

- Settlement and transportation surface area within municipality's centre,municipal map

Land use figure for property parcels Floor area of structure to area of property parcel (PPF),Floor area of totalstoreys to area of property parcel (SAF)

% Floor area of structure,area of propertyparcel, Floor area of total storeys

Proportion of reserve surface area Property parcel surface area of all reserve areas to surface area of all property parcels

% Property parcel surface area of all reserveareas,surface area of all property parcels,Register of land zoned for development

Choice of Quantities to be Measured: Environmental Issue "Excessive Urban Expansion"

Density of Land Use

Population density Number of inhabitants to municipality'ssurface area / selected areas withinmunicipality

inhab./ha Number of inhabitants,municipality'ssurface area / selected surface area

Settlement and population density Number of inhabitants + jobs to settle-ment and population density in yearlyfigures (over a given span of time)

inhab./ha Number of inhabitants (yearly),Numberof jobs (yearly),settlement and popula-tion density (yearly)

Housing density Number of inhabitants to surface area of structures and open sites in ha.

inhab./ha Population figure, Structure and opensite surface area for housing areas, centre areas, and mixed usage areas

Job density Number of employed persons to totalsurface areas

empl. pers./ha Number of persons employed in place ofresidence,Municipality's surface area

Occupation density Inhabitants to housing surface area inhab./m2m2/inhab.

Number of inhabitants,Housing surface area

Potential

42 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7.4 Environmental Aspect Sealing / Use of Green Areas

7 Environmental Programme

Sealing-Over of SoilWhen construction seals over soil,problems are created for the envi-ronment through the disturbanceto the local natural and waterbalance, the increase in frequencyof peak levels of flooding runoff,and the resulting additional bur-dens for the sewer system andwater treatment plants. In thisway, processes of exchange bet-ween soil and atmosphere are limit-ed or prevented altogether, themicroclimate is influenced in anegative fashion, and the naturalhabitat of flora and faun isdestroyed.

According to the State Office ofEnvironmental Protection, re-exposure of the soil (“Entsiegel-ung“) entails bringing about ageneral decrease in the proportionof sealed surface area. This can beaccomplished through completelyremoving sealants and changingthe type of covering to therebycreate permeable ground surfaceson which plants can grow (partialre-exposure). Or it can also meanthe transformation of non-neces-sary sealed surface area into greenareas. The following surfaces comeinto consideration for partial re-exposure: ■ All types of parking and stor-

age surface area, as well asaccess roads and paths.

■ Sections of intersections thatare not driven over, centreareas of traffic roundabouts

■ Surfaces that do not have to beaccessible for traffic

■ Schoolyards, market squares,paved courtyards

According to estimates made bythe former Federal ResearchInstitute for Regional and CulturalStudies and Spatial Planning, 10%of sealed surfaces could theoreti-

INFO

How Communal Urban Land Use Planning Can Influence theEnvironmental Aspect Sealing / Use of Green AreasIn §1a BauGB, the German building code indicates that, in additionto the economical use of ground and soil, as only as much soil asabsolutely necessary is to be sealed over. This stipulation evidenceshow important this aspect is to protecting the environment.Communal urban land use planning can take recourse to a numberof codification and representation possibilities presented in the buil-ding code when attempting to influence the impact this particularenvironmental aspect has on the environment:■ Size and numbers of building windows on the property (§9 (1)

No. 2 BauGB)■ Conservative designation of transportation surface area (§9 (1)

No. 11 BauGB)■ Surface area for parking and garages (§9 (1) No. 4 BauGB)■ Designation of surface area for recreational and play areas (§9

(1) No. 5 BauGB)■ Sites which are to be left open and their use (e.g. view mainte-

nance, vernacular local style) (§9 (1) No. 10 BauGB)■ Surface area devoted to retaining and drainage of precipitation

water (e.g. sewage field) (§9 (1) No. 14 BauGB)■ Green areas, such as parking areas, permanent small gardens,

sport-, play-, camping-, and bathing-grounds, cemeteries (e.g.kerbside planting areas, compensatory plantings) (§9 (1) No. 15BauGB)

■ Permitted types of planting (§9 (1) No. 25 BauGB)■ Obligation to plant (§9 (1) No. 25 BauGB)

cally be re-exposed. However, dueto legal, use-related, and financialgrounds, the study concluded thatthe real potential for re-exposurelies at a lower level. Thus, measuresfor the re-exposure of soil canmake a small, but in particularcases indeed important contribu-tion to improving the situation ofthe environment. Re-exposure canalso be undertaken as a measureemployed as compensation forother changes to the environmentor towards an eco-account. In thisway, such measures can be madeattractive for local governmentsfrom the financial perspective.Further positive aspects are therelief the sewage system and watertreatment plants of excess runoff,the improvement to the microcli-mate, as well as to the surround-ings in which people live andwork.Just as important as re-exposure is

to ensure that only very little newground is sealed over.

Use of Green AreasEveryone is aware that green areasplay a substantial role in improvingthe quality of life within settledregions. They are immeasurablyvaluable not only as green belts,but also in the centre of settledareas. Park areas in the heart of atown improve the attractiveness ofhousing and service tracts locatednearby, so that the heightenedvalue of neighbourhoods withexpanded green areas can contri-bute to the concentration of deve-lopment in municipal centres. A settlement area can be dividedinto a wide variety of differentgreen systems, such as parkingfacilities, stretches of plantings,green plots connecting elements ofconstruction and natural housegardens. These improve the micro-

climate and develop into valuablehabitats for a wide variety ofanimals and plants.

Green areas offer opportunities forleisure and recreation, they aremeeting-places for a neighbour-hood and make a major contribu-tion to people’s identification withtheir place of residence. Greenconnecting plots take on a veryimportant function within a com-munity. Adorned with trees, hedge-rows, and other elements of gree-nery, they encourage “soft mobili-ty“ in the form of use by pedestri-ans and bicyclists. A green con-necting plot can be a sidewalk orpath already lined by trees.Similarly, roads connecting a settle-ment with the surrounding naturallandscape can be conceived of inthis manner. Along with theirfunction for human recreation,they represent an important con-

Reference Figure

Reference Data Sealing

Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Sealing reference figure1 in reference to property parcels

Structure floor area +paved courtyard areas (drives,

parking spaces....) to plantable surface area on property

Figure Structure floor area, Paved courtyard areas, Property surface area

Proportion of exposed soil Structure floor area + paved courtyard areas before to structure floor area + paved courtyard areas afterwards -100

% Structure floor area before,Structure floor area afterwards,Paved courtyard areas before,Paved courtyard surface areas after-wards

Proportion of paved transportationarea in development area

Transportation surface area/ totalsurface area of development area

% Transportation surface area in dev. area, total surface area of develop-ment area

Proportion of sealing per area unit 2

1 ARLT/HEBER/HENNERSDORF/LEHMANN/THINK (2001): Auswirkungen städtischer Nutzungsstrukturen auf Bodenversiegelung undBodenpreis; IÖR-Schriften, Vol. 342 EVERTS, (2003)

Structure floor area + transportationsurface area to development area

% Structure floor area, transportation surface area in development area, size of development area

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 43

7.4 Environmental Aspect Sealing / Use of Green Areas

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44 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7.4 Environmental Aspect Sealing / Use of Green Areas

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tribution to the maintenance ofbiotope networks.

Thus, it is important to provideopen spaces with differentiatedand varied form:■ to greatest extent possible

maintenance of existing natu-ral habitats

■ encouragement of greening ofareas zoned for development

■ networks of green areas ■ use of indigenous plant species,

if possible local varieties ■ creation of dry-walls, watery

areas, roof and siding plan-tings, green areas used extensi-vely and planted wooded areasas habitats for plants andanimals

■ include alleys, copses, singlestanding trees, hedgerows andnatural orchards

■ integrate watery areas, brooksand marshy areas

■ integrate children’s‘ play-grounds and similar outdoor

gathering places in a mannerfitting to the landscape

■ apply greening measures tonew annex structures, as well,e.g. through plantings on gara-ge roofs

■ extensive use of surroundinglandscape areas

■ link settlement area to surroun-ding landscape by means ofconnecting plantings andpaths. When doing so, greatcare must be taken with pathsthat enter ecologically sensitiveareas.

The municipal green area planmakes a decisive contribution tothe development of landscape inaccordance with communal urbanland use planning. The green area plan aims above allto structure overall green expansesthat define the appearance of thecity and its surrounding landscapewhile taking particular account ofecological concerns, as well as of

measures intended to protect,maintain and develop a commu-nity’s natural surroundings. This plan undertakes fundamentalcodifications of the permitted useof public and private properties, aswell as how green areas liningroadways, leisure and recreationareas, children’s playgrounds, etc.may be developed so as to preserveexisting vegetation and woodedareas, as well as to create newplanted areas.

Measuring a Community’sPotential for Re-Exposure of Soil:

■ Draw up basic cartographicdocumentation by combiningthe Automated Real Estate Map(“AutomatisierteLiegenschaftskarte”, ALK) withthe Automatic Real Estate Book(“Automatisches Liegenschaft-buch”, ALB) accessible throughthe German GeographicInformation System

Reference Figure

Reference Data Use of Green Areas

Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Available open spaces1 Total public park areas to number of inhabitants

m≈/inhab.

Total surface area of public parkareas, recreation area number ofinhabitants

Use of green areas2 in development area

Gross surface area + paved courtyard areas + transportationsurface area to greenareas (the smaller the better)

Figure Structure floor area, transportation surface areain development area, paved courtyard areas, remaining plantable ground surface area in development area

Use of green areas for property parcels

Gross surface area + paved courtyard areas to green areas on property parcel

% Property surface area,structure floor area, paved courtyard areas, gross surface area

1 ARLT/KOWARIK/MATHEY/REBELE (2003): Urbane Innenentwicklung in Ökologie und Planung; IÖR-Schriften / Vol. 392 EVERTS (1992): Durchgrünungsgrad in den Gemeinden Baden Württemberg

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 45

(“GeographischesInformationssystem“, GIS)

■ Detailed registration of natureof surface area (existing greenareas, etc.)

■ Measurement and calculationof proportion of sealed areason the basis of both analogueand digital aerial images

■ Bundle properties with thesame structure of use or con-struction development andsimilar degree of sealing intomapping units

■ Estimation of degree of sealing ■ Measurement and calculation

of potential for re-exposuretaking into consideration theminimal amount of sealingpossible for each type of usageand the users‘ right to comfor-table access

■ Calculation of potential for re-exposure as a relative propor-tion [%] of the total area of themapping unit

■ Consideration of informationrelevant to achieving re-expo-sure, e.g. ownership anddemands made on propertythrough use

■ Spatial priorities:e.g. in combi-nation with the renovation ofcables, lines and pipes, of stre-ets or other “piggyback measu-res“ (term is taken from a pre-sentation by Wolfram Hanefeld,workshop on sealing / use ofgreen areas on November 5th,2002 in Überlingen)

INFO

This chapter includes excerptsfrom these presentations: Dipl.-Ing. Claudia Kaiser, City ofSalzburg: "Salzburg's Network ofGreen Areas" ("Vortrag GrünesNetz Salzburg"),Dipl.-Ing. Wolfram Hanefeld,Vorarlberg ProvincialGovernment:"Sealing and Use of Green Areasin Vorarlberg" ("VortragVersiegelung / Durchgrünung inVorarlberg")www.ecolup.info ❰ Wissenspool ❰ECOLUP-Methodik ❰kommunale Workshops

7.4 Environmental Aspect Sealing / Use of Green Areas

7 Environmental Programme

46 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7.4 Environmental Aspect Sealing / Use of Green Areas

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EXAMPLE

City of Überlingen: Goals and Measures in Area SealingUse of Green Areas (November 2004)

Goal: Reduce Sealed Surfaces to a Minimum

Measures:➯ Use of water-permeable coverage for public parking lots➯ Stipulation of clearly defined building windows for private pro-

perties. Number and location of garages, carports and parkingspaces are specifically defined, as well as “taboo“ zones

➯ Stipulation that solid surfaces, e.g. terraces and parking spaces,must be constructed with water-permeable coverage

Goal: Increased Use of Green Areas through ExtensiveMaintenance of Existing Vegetation and Location-AppropriateAdditional Plantings

Measures:➯ As a part of all construction projects, existing vegetation recorded

using surveying techniques ➯ Existing vegetation evaluated by landscape architects and measu-

res towards its preservation are set down in the municipal deve-lopment plan

➯ Landscape architect makes suggestions for additional plantings asa part of the parks and green areas planning concept; these arereviewed and defined in terms of planning legislation

➯ As a part of the development plan, private green areas are desi-gnated within which construction is not permitted

➯ Private properties are included in the city-wide concept for green area network

Further Information:

Websites:http://www.learn-line.nrw.de/ange-

bote/agenda21/daten/boden.htm

http://www.umweltbundesamt.at/flaechenverbrauch.html

http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~schroete/Bodenverbrauch/Aktueller_Stand.htm

http://www.bbr.bund.de/raumord-nung/siedlung/boden.htm

http://www.uvm.baden-wuerttem-berg.de/nafaweb/berichte/inf02_2/in02_212.htm

Literature:Landesanstalt für UmweltschutzBaden-Württemberg [Ed.] (2000):Erhebung vonEntsiegelungspotenzial inKommunen. Studie undVerfahrensanleitung am Beispielder Stadt Ettlingen. Karlsruhe.

Landesanstalt für UmweltschutzBaden-Württemberg [Ed.] (2003) :Umweltdaten 2003, Karlsruhe, 272pp.

Fuchs, Oliver; Schleifnecker,Thomas (2001): Handbuch ökologi-sche Siedlungsentwicklung, Berlin,Initiativen zum Umweltschutz, Vol.32, 300 pp.

Akademie für Natur- undUmweltschutz Baden-Württemberg[Ed.] (2003): FlächensparendeSiedlungsentwicklung, Stutgart,Beiträge der Akademie für Natur-und Umweltschutz, Vol. 31, 192pp.

Bayerisches Staatsministerium fürLandesentwicklung undUmweltfragen [Ed.] (2002):KommunalesFlächenressourcenmanagement,Munich, 36 pp.

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 47

7.4 Environmental Aspect Sealing / Use of Green Areas

7 Environmental Programme

Envi

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Today, mobility is both a funda-mental human need as well as aprerequisite for our ability to copewith the demands of everyday life.However, at the same time, motortraffic causes particular harm tohuman health and to the environ-ment. In the year 2000, surfacearea used for transportation purpo-ses amounted to 17,280 km2 or4.8% of Germany’s surface area,increasing by 0.5% (81 km2) by2002. Land use that seals over soil, thusdividing plants‘ and animals‘ natu-ral habitats, is only one exampleof how transportation harms theenvironment. Further impact iscaused by energy consumption,noise pollution, toxic emissionsand gases harmful to the ozonelayer, e.g. CO2. The economic lossescaused by costs incurred throughtraffic accidents, subsequent costs,and time-loss due to traffic jamsare often not in any way calcula-ted in communal transportationcost figures. Establishing the truecosts of transportation would helpto alleviate this deficit.

Nonetheless, it is interesting tonote that the increase in problemscaused by our need for mobilityand the environmental problemsassociated with them cannot beattributed alone to an increase inthe number of trips individualsundertake in their daily lives.What causes the increase in harmto the environment related totransportation are the ever-increas-ing distances people must travel towork, to shop for their needs, andto reach recreational areas, as wellas the shift in which means oftransportation are used in doingso. Due to the increasing expan-sion of urban land use practicesand the growing accessibility ofprivate automobiles, cities areexpanding outwards into the sur-rounding countryside. This leads toan increase in traffic. This is thevery area on which communalurban land use planning can havefundamental influence – commu-nal transportation developmentplanning and the environmentalproblems related to it. Transportation policy in the

48 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7.5 Environmental Aspect Transportation and Mobility

Environmental Programme

European Community and its indi-vidual countries must set a prece-dent for satisfying the needs of thepopulation while at the same timeprotecting the environment.

Europe has set down its goals fora European transportation policythat recognises public needs aswell as undertaking measurestowards this end in its whitebook“European Transportation Policyuntil 2010: Setting the Course forthe Future“. By 2010, a betterbalance of modes of transportationis to be achieved in Europethrough revitalisation of the rail-roads, support for oceanic andinland shipping, and expansion ofintermodal transportation.

In its Federal Long DistanceTransport Route Plan (“Bundes-verkehrswegeplan“) 2003, Germanyhas set down a.o. the followingtransportation policy goals withdirect implications for the environ-ment for the period of time 2001-2015:■ make possible lasting environ-

mentally beneficial mobility ■ encourage sustainable land use

and settlement structures ■ create fair and comparable

conditions of competition forall branches of the transporta-tion industry

■ decrease excessive use of nature,landscape, and non-renewableresources

■ reduce of emissions from noise,toxic substances, gases harmfulto the ozone layer (above allCO2)

The fundamental principles oftransportation policy in theAustralian General TransportationPlan (Generalverkehrsplans) (GVP-Ö-2002) link a commitment tomobility with the principle of sub-stainability as an exchange bet-

7

ween ecological, econominical,and social values. Austria as linkedthe term “substainable mobility”with the following goals:■ efficient expansion of transpor-

tation networks according toneed

■ increase safety

Sustainable transportation con-cepts, such as auto-free residentialareas or auto-free holiday resorts,can only be successful if they donot require people to impose limitson themselves, but rather createadvantages for local residents andthe population as a whole. Thereduction of motorised individualtraffic can bring about the follow-ing advantages: ■ savings in cost and land use to

construction, more surface areaavailable

■ savings in external costs ofauto traffic

■ diversification of the housingmarket

■ savings in government creditsfor housing construction (1st

credit category, “Förderweg“)

■ no noisy traffic and fewer toxicfumes, i.e. reduction of damageto environment

■ no danger of accidents, chil-dren can safely play in thestreets they live in

■ more green structures insteadof parking places and streets

■ higher quality of time spentoutdoors

■ less expensive apartments tothe extent that costs savedthrough the reduction of fundsspent on streets and parkingspaces are passed along to theresidents

Ways Communal Urban Land UsePlanning Can InfluenceTransportation Development

We cannot seek solutions for theenormous growth in the amountand proportion of transportationrealised via motorised vehicles ininfrastructural measures or in theincreased use of public transporta-tion alone. Communal urban landuse planning can be implementedto take direct, instrumental effecton the primary causes of increasedtraffic, such as the dispersion ofsettlement structures and theincreasing specialisation of its sub-structures‘ functions. In the follow-ing table, examples of the differentlevels of transportation planningin Germany are depicted:

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 49

7.5 Environmental Aspect Transportation and Mobility

7 Environmental Programme

50 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7.5 Environmental Aspect Transportation and Mobility

7 Environmental Programme

There is a wide variety of waysthat communal urban land useplanning can influence transporta-tion development. For one thing, ithas a direct impact on the mannerand the degree of designation oftransportation surface area. Foranother, it is influential in respectto the level of traffic, distancesbetween destinations and thus inrespect to the type of transporta-tion people opt for, for example inreaction to the designation of sur-face area for specific types of landuse. Through efforts to concentrate

settlement structure, a higher levelof mobility can be attained with aminimal use of resources.Communal urban land use plan-ning can set the following goalsfor transportation development:

General■ combination of different types

of land use instead of separa-tion into distinctive use typedistricts

■ reduction of surface area usedthrough compact settlementstructures with short distances

between destinations instead ofexcessively extensive settle-ment and suburbanisation

■ optimal integration of areasnewly zoned for constructioninto existing development net-work

■ optimal integration of neigh-bourhood centres into localdevelopment network

■ conservative and differentiateddevelopment of transportationsurface area by means of ter-minal streets, courtyard hou-sing developments, short link

Examples for Transportation Planning Concepts

Federal Long-DistanceTransport Route Plan(„Bundesverkehrsplan“)

Federal Ministry ofTransportation

Mid-term planning as need arises for national and interna-tional long distance transportroutes(highways, railways,waterways, air)

Regularly revised. Stipulationsare integrated into legal codes

State Transport Route Plan("Landesverkehrswegeplan")

State Ministries ofTransportation

Mid-term planning as need arises for regional transportroutes

Often an integral part of statedevelopment plans and regionalplanning

Local Traffic Plan("Nahverkehrsplan")

Instances responsible for provi-ding local public

Transportation, usually district,non-district cities, or regionaltransportation associations

General plan for local publictransportation

Formalised procedure in accor-dance with state law, undergoesrevision every 5 years

Transportation DevelopmentPlan

City/municipality Mid- to long-term exhaustivetransportation planning for cityand municipal region

Voluntary responsibility ofcities and municipalities

Specialised PlanningConcepts

(Cf. Friedrich, Markus (2003): Script G9.1 Verkehrsplanung I der Universität Stuttgart, Institut für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen, Lehrstuhl für Verkehrsplanung und Verkehrsleittechnik, p. 29)

Federal interstate and state highways: specialisedauthorities commissioned byfederal government State highways:state specialised authoritiesMunicipal roads:cities andmunicipalities Train stations: German Railway("Deutsche Bahn AG") and municipalities

Develop concrete, realisablemeasures of organisational and construction nature

Integrated into planning legis-lation, often by means of requi-red procedures for establishingplanning or development con-cepts

Executive PlanningInstance

Goals and Responsibilities

Comments

7.5 Environmental Aspect Transportation and Mobility

7 Environmental Programme

Reference Figures

Reference Data Transportation and Mobility

Calculation Unit n Necessary Base Data

General extent of developed transportation surface area

Transportation surface area to total surface area measured or surface area of municipality

% Transportation surface area,Surface area measured,municipal surfacearea

Specialised developed transportationsurface area

Transportation surface area to structurefloor area and open sites

% Transportation surface area, structurefloor area, open sites

Extent of developed transportationsurface area for planned project

Transportation surface area to grosszoned construction land

% Transportation surface area,gross zonedconstruction land

Choice of means of transportation"modal split"

Proportion of different types of transportation (non-motorised vehicles (bicycle), motorised vehicles (auto, motorcycle, public transportation) to total traffic volume (measure of comparison: routes/ stages)

% Number of bicyclists, number of moto-rists and motorcycle riders,numbers ofpublic transportation passengers

Public's use of public transportation

Number of persons using bus, train incomparison to previous year

Extent to which public transportation is accessible fromneighbourhoods

Average access distance to public transportation with x rounds/ day, radii

m

Number of rides provided by publictransportation

Rides/ resident/ year (according to means of transportation)

Kilometres per person Kilometres per person/ resident/ day(according to means of transportation)

Pkm daily Local statistical records

Adequacy of transportation networksfor pedestrians and bicyclists

Serial metres of sidewalks and bicyclepaths per resident

Serial metres

Length in km to settlement and trans-portation surface area in km≈

roads and residential streets inresidential areas instead of all-encompassing transportationdevelopment in residentialareas

■ reduction and relocation ofparking spaces

Specific:■ designation of Park+Ride park-

ing spaces ■ parking control systems and

vehicle storage concepts ■ traffic calming, designation of

30-kmh zones

■ expansion of existing bicyclepaths and sidewalks

■ reduction of overall parkingspace available

■ construction to improve publictransportation access

■ increase in frequency of publictransportation departures ontimetable

■ roofed-over bicycle parkinglots

■ improve proportion of streetsto bicycle paths and sidewalks(poss. reduction in number ofstreets)

■ reduce noise resulting fromtraffic, designation of surfacearea for required protectivemeasures

■ increase in level of develop-ment measures within neigh-bourhoods, reduction of avera-ge distance to nearest publictransportation access

Along with the designation oftransportation routes for motori-sed and rail traffic, for pedestri-ans and bicyclists, a municipalitycan influence how its citizens are

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 51

The following reference data were compiled for the environmental aspect transportation and mobility as apart of the ECOLUP model project:

52 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

7.5 Environmental Aspect Transportation and Mobility

7 Environmental Programme

Envi

ronm

enta

l G

oal

Mea

sure

sRe

fere

nce

Dat

aRe

spon

sibl

eGro

undw

ork

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dule

Bud

get

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rity

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ort

for

non-

mot

oris

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rms

of t

rans

port

atio

nEx

pans

ion

of D

ornb

irn'

spe

dest

rian

and

bic

ycle

pat

hne

twor

k

Seria

l met

res

of p

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nan

d bi

cycl

e pa

ths,

pla

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and

exis

ting

City

pla

n-ni

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ivil

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neer

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cont

inuo

usco

ntin

uous

budg

etA

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ove

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imis

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pub

lictr

ansp

orta

tion

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ring

s (c

ity a

nd o

verl

and

buse

s)M

onito

ring

for

pub

lic

tran

spor

tatio

n's

pote

ntia

l fo

r im

prov

emen

t

Ride

s/re

side

nt/y

ear,

year

lyus

er f

igur

e ab

solu

te a

ndpe

r km

rid

den

km p

ublic

tran

sp.ro

ute

Euro

/km

rid

den

Euro

/res

iden

t

City

pl

anni

ngCi

ty a

nd o

verl

and

bus

Unt

erla

ndco

ntin

uous

cont

inuo

usbu

dget

A

Slow

ing

grow

th o

f in

divi

dual

mot

oris

edtr

affic

Furt

her

deve

lopm

ent

of

park

ing

faci

litie

sA

vaila

ble

park

ing

bala

nce

City

pla

n-ni

ng, c

ivil

engi

neer

ing

cont

inuo

usco

ntin

uous

budg

etB

Supp

ort

for

non-

mot

oris

edfo

rms

of t

rans

port

atio

n,

part

icul

arly

for

mob

ility

near

are

a of

res

iden

ce a

ndto

the

cen

tre

Mod

al s

plit

(yea

rly

surv

eyon

mar

ket

squa

re, m

arke

tda

y an

d w

eekd

ay)

City

pla

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depe

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t up

ongi

ven

need

cont

inuo

usbu

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Dev

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men

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an

envi

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ound

tran

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; en

viro

nmen

tally

-so

und

flow

of

traf

fic

Take

all

mat

ters

con

cern

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deve

lopm

ent

of s

tree

t en

vi-

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ent

into

con

side

ratio

n-

spec

ifica

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the

are

as o

ftr

affic

, use

and

des

ign

Tran

spor

tatio

n su

rfac

e ar

eato

zon

ed c

onst

ruct

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area

and

TSA

, tra

nspo

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sur-

face

are

a/ r

esid

ents

, tra

ns-

port

atio

n su

rfac

e ar

ea t

onu

mbe

r of

zon

ed c

onst

ruc-

tion

site

s, r

esid

ents

/ st

reet

leng

th

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pl

anni

ng,

Off

ice

ofD

ata

Ana

lysi

s

cont

inuo

usco

ntin

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budg

etA

/B

Envi

ronm

enta

l A

spec

t: M

obili

ty /

Tra

nspo

rtat

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Envi

ronm

enta

l Pr

ogra

mm

e D

ornb

irn

(Mar

ch 2

003)

Prio

rity

:

A:

Envi

rinm

enta

l go

als

tow

ards

whi

ch ..

.....

mus

t be

tak

en i

mm

edia

tely

B:En

viro

nmen

tal

goal

s to

war

ds w

hich

mid

-ter

m a

ctis

m m

ust

be t

aken

C:En

viro

nmen

tal

goal

s to

war

ds w

hich

act

ion

mus

t be

tak

en i

n th

e lo

ng t

erm

53 Environmental Programme www.ecolup.info

informed about the public trans-portation offerings in the com-munity. Mobility centres representonly one possibility. Short inter-vals between the departure ofbuses and trains presented inclear and easily readable timeta-bles heighten the attractiveness ofpublic transportation. The follo-wing 3-point strategy presents ofthe ground rules for sustainablemobility:■ Avoid motorised traffic ■ Encourage drivers to opt for

alternate forms of transporta-tion

■ Develop less environmentallyharmful ways of conductingexisting motor traffic flow

Initiatives such as the Network forEuropean Tourism via SoftMobility ("Netzwerk EuropäischerTourismus mit Sanfter Mobilität",NETS) (www.soft-mobility.com)develop and support concepts forsustainable mobility as qualitativeelements in European tourismdestinations. Examples of auto-freecities are Saas Fee (CH) andWerfenweng (A).

INFO

This chapter contains excerptsfrom: Prof. Klaus Zweibrücken,Rapperswil Technical University,Switzerland, "Mobilität,Raumentwicklung undNachhaltigkeit"; "Bausteine einernachhaltigen Mobillität"

■ www.ecolup.info ■ Wissenspool ■ ECOLUP-Methodik■ kommunale Workshops

"We want to develop the presentspatial, mobility and transporta-tion structures so as further toreduce the damage done to theenvironment through privatemotorised traffic (city of shortdistances)."

Since 1991, Dornbirn has had itscity bus that with its current 120 rides per inhabitant / year is a well-received success.Improvements in the quality ofits service are in planning. In1997, the overland bus systemthat now provides service acrossVorarlberg was introduced. The city aims to have a busdeparting every five minutes,through which goal the numberof riders is expected to increase. The introduction of a pedestrianzone in Dornbirn has also led toan enormous growth in the city's attractivity.

7.5 Environmental Aspect Transportation and Mobility

7 Environmental Programme

www.ecolup.infoEnvironmental Programme54

Constance:In the Constance transportationdevelopment plan of 1996, thefollowing measures were listed asgoals to be accomplished from1990 to 2001:

Extension of the roadway network:B33 new - Grenzbach Street -Shared customs facilities withSwitzerland - A7 : Seetal StreetCH, L 221 north by-passWolmatingen , B 33 reconstruc-tion of Sternen Square, measuresto calm traffic by means of30kmh zones, installation of traf-fic recording machines, residentparking and maintenance of par-king areas.

Public transportation: Railway = Hegau-Bodensee-Railway "Seehas" and expresstrain connection Constance-Zurich.

City bus transport system:two new bus lanes, buses nowhave right of way, 15-minuteschedule into business district,revision of ticket fee system.

Bicycle Paths:Completion of two new bicyclefacilities (new bicycle paths,pedestrian and bicycle paths,Bike+Ride parking spaces).

The tasks and goals presentingthemselves to the city ofConstance consist of continuingto increase the proportion ofpublic transportation, reductionin mass of commuters throughcreating attractive housing in thecity, realisation of concepts forcity centres to minimalise distan-ces within the city, optimal use orreduction of existing transportai-on surface are.

Überlingen:After considering the strengthsand weakenesses of the its trafficsituation, Überlingen set the fol-lowing goals for development:·further reduction of the burdenof private motorised traffic in thecentre of the city ■ extension of traffic-calmed

areas within the historic Old City

■ more attractive public trans-portation offerings and pedestrian and bicycle pathnetworks

Wolfurt:With its two highway exits (a third is in planning), Wolfurthas a high percentage of commu-ters. As a energy-saving munici-pality in the "Climate Alliance",Wolfurt has set a goal of redu-cing C02 emissions by 15%.However, to date only modestreductions have been achieved.

The community aims to support"soft mobility" through optimi-sing public transportation and thepedestrian and bicycle path infra-structure. The community alreadyoffers a good network of pede-strian and bicycle paths that ishowever not yet optimally usedby the residents (communicationproblem).

The overland bus system is wellestablished. Traffic at its goalsand sources has still to be redu-ced. Kindergartens and schoolsshould be within walking distance.

Dornbirn:In its environmental programme,the city of Dornbirn has definedthe following goal for the fieldof transportation:

7.5 Environmental Aspect Transportation and Mobility

7 Environmental Programme

Environmental Programmewww.ecolup.info 55

Sources

Websites:Europehttp://europa.eu.int/comm/ener-

gy_transport/library/communi-presse-lb-de.pdf

http://europa.eu.int/comm/ener-gy_transport/de/lb_de.html

Gemanyhttp://www.bmvbw.de/Bundesverk

ehrswegeplan-.806.htmhttp://www.bmvbw.de/Anlage155

61/Presseinformation-vom-01.-Juli-2003.pdf

Austriahttp://www.bmvit.gv.at/sixcms_up

load/media/131/kurzfassung_gvp.pdf

Literature:Akademie für Natur- und

Umweltschutz Baden-Württemberg und StiftungNaturschutzfonds (Ed.) (2003):FlächensparendeSiedlungsentwicklung. Wiekönnen Kommunen denNaturraumverbrauch verrin-gern? Beiträge der Akademiefür Natur- und UmweltschutzBaden-Württemberg Vol. 31

Friedrich, Markus (2003): SkriptG9.1 Verkehrsplanung I derUniversität Stuttgart, Institutfür Straßen- undVerkehrswesen, Lehrstuhl fürVerkehrsplanung undVerkehrsleittechnik

Fuchs, Oliver; Schleifnecker,Thomas (2001): HandbuchökologischeSiedlungsentwicklung:Konzepte zur Realisierungzukunftsfähiger Bauweisen.Initiativen zum UmweltschutzVol. 32

Halbritter, Günter; a.o. (1999):UmweltverträglicheVerkehrskonzepte:Entwicklung und Analyse vonOptionen zur Entlastung desVerkehrsnetzes und zurVerlagerung vonStraßenverkehr auf umwelt-freundlichere Verkehrsträger.Erich-Schmidt-Verlag, Berlin

Motzkus, Arnd (2002):Verkehrsvermeidung durchRaumplanung?Reduktionspotenziale vonSiedlungsstrukturkonzepten inMetropolregionen. In:Internationales Verkehrswesen(54) 3/2002

Walter, Felix (2001): NachhaltigeMobilität – Impulse des NFP41 „Verkehr und Umwelt“,Bern

Zweibrücken, Klaus (2003):Bausteine einer nachhaltigenMobilität. Presentation forECOLUP workshop on trans-portation and mobility

Zweibrücken, Klaus (2002):Mobilität, Raumentwicklungund Nachhaltigkeit. Scriptfrom Transportation Planningcourse of studies atRapperswil TechnicalUniversity

Model Projects:http://www.modelcity.ch/

http://www.autofrei-wohnen.de/

http://www.wohnen-plus-mobili-taet.nrw.de/home/index.html

http://www.mila.ch/autofrei/index.html

http://www.soft-mobility.com/

http://www2.vol.at/igmobil/

http://www.wohnen-plus-mobili-taet.nrw.de/wohnen_ohne_auto/wohnprojekte/index.html

7.5 Environmental Aspect Transportation and Mobility

7 Environmental Programme

Environmental Managementwww.ecolup.info 55

Significance of thisEnvironmental Aspect

The changes in the landscape areobvious to all observers, and allthe while the dynamic, intensityand variety of how land is used issteadily growing. Due to the limi-ted amount of land available forpermanent settlement and theincreased significance for societyof an intact environment, whatused to be seen as "superfluousand negative areas" have taken onincreased importance. Open spacesno longer represent above all"reserve areas" for use other thanagriculture. What is more, conflictsof interest or concerning usageover exterior areas are on the rise.The appearance of the landscapethat surrounds us is unfortunatelyall too seldom "planned", leadingin many cases to an unsatisfactoryintegration of human structuresinto the landscape. In view of this multiplicity of

interests, regional planning in par-ticular, with its orientation tomany areas of society at once, is afield with special significance, anopportunity to regulate develop-ment in many areas at once. Theintegration of settlement into thelandscape, the controlled develop-ment of border areas, and the pre-servation of a landscape's charac-teristics within areas where deve-lopment is permitted. For example,valley location, existing woodedareas, and shorelines are directlyinfluenced by communal urbanland use planning.

Development has a direct influence on the effects of precipitation and thus on thematerial runoff carries into flowing water (see Chapter 7.4Sealing). The planning basis forpublic wastewater infrastructureis the expedient drawing off ofprecipitation on sealed-off surface area.

7.6 Environmental Aspect Landscape Development and Flowing Water

7Environmental Management

Amendments to Building Code 2004The new building code (BauGB)draft on environmental assessmenthas an impact on practically allcommunal urban land use plansand calls for the integration of allprocedures that have an effect onthe environment into the environ-mental assessment. The new fede-ral nature protection law("Bundesnaturschutzgesetz",BNatschG neu) of April, 2002requires in §14, Art.1 that landsca-pe planning take on a more easilyadaptable form, among other areasfor regional planning concepts.

Opportunities to InfluenceCommunal Urban Land UsePlanning

Instruments of Regional Planningabove the Communal Level Planning measures that aim totake effect across municipal borders operate with the goal ofmaintaining a functioning naturalbalance and the appearance of thelandscape by e.g. setting bindingfunctions in cross-border planningconcepts. For example, the provin-cial development plans drawn upby the Vorarlberg provincialgovernment have set limits to settlement borders beyond whichcommunal zoning plans cannotdesignate any areas for develop-ment. The Zoning Plan as anInstrument The zoning plan (ZP) codifies notonly the fundamental principles ofsettlement development such asplanning goals and the need forhousing and commercial areas,transportation planning, materialinfrastructure, supply and wastedisposal, but also how open spacesare maintained through agriculture,forestry and in conservation areas.

Landscape Planning as anInstrumentThe landscape plan is an ecologi-cal specialised plan that regulatesthe overall form of communal sur-roundings as a part of the zoningplan. In order to ensure that thestandards for sustainable settle-ment development are met, thelandscape plan and the zoningplan must be reviewed and amend-ed at the same time and in closeco-operation. At present, this isunfortunately not always the case.For example, in 2003, about 70%of all cities and municipalities inBaden-Württemberg had drawn uplandscape plans or were in theprocess of doing so. In order topreserve a functioning naturalbalance for future generations,goals and measures in the field oflandscape planning must be for-mulated. The overall goal is thepreservation and development of

landscape potential.

Nature Conservation Law'sRegulation of Interventions intoLandscape and Environment In the German federal nature con-servation law, § 21 BNatschGregulates its relationship to thebuilding code. If procedures withincommunal urban land use plan-ning (§ 21 BNatschG) or statutesregulating the development of exi-sting settlement areas in accordan-ce with § 34, Par. 4, Clause 1Nr.BauGB have the potential to inter-vene in nature and landscape, thelegal regulation of this interven-tion comes into effect. Accordingto §1 a BauGB, the prevention ofand the compensation for theexpected interventions in the envi-ronment are to be taken into con-sideration in the weighing of inter-ests. Avoidable damage must be pre-

vented and unavoidable harmcompensated. Possible qualitativeand quantitative avoidance, aswell as alternative locations, are tobe taken into consideration so thatthe project goals can be achievedwhile causing as little damage aspossible.

NATURA 2000 NetworkIn 2002, nature conservation areasrepresented a mere 2.8% of thesurface area of German territory.Under the name of NATURA 2000,the European Union has created anetwork of ecologically valuableareas in order to secure the long-term preservation of over 200natural habitats as well as 700plant and animal species. The legalfoundation for this effort is theEuropean Union's 1997 fauna-flora-habitat directive (FFH) andit1979 bird preservation directive.NATURA 2000 areas are drawn upwithin the individual nations indialogue with communities, pro-perty owners, farmers, and thepublic. The Union member statescommunicate the designation ofthese areas to the EU, which inturn selects and codifies the areasof "significance to the community".

The EU Water Framework Directive The water framework directive(WFD) extents protective measuresto all bodies of water and aims atachieving a "good condition" forall European bodies of water by2015 and sustainable consumptionof water resources. The new direc-tive contains provisions for theprotection of all bodies of water,rives, lakes, coastal waters, and thegroundwater. By December, 2004,all member states must have con-ducted an analysis of the conditionand the commercial use of allbodies of water within their

56 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.6 Environmental Aspect Landscape Development and Flowing Water

7 Environmental Management

INFO

Instruments for Regulating Landscape Planning in Germany Landscape framework programme as a part of the rural developmentplan ("Landesentwicklungsplan", LEP), landscape framework plan forregional development

In communal urban land use planning: ➯ Preparatory urban land use plan: integration of landscape plan

into the zoning plan (ZP) ➯ Binding land use plan: green area plan as a part of the

communal development plan (CDP) ➯ Preliminary decision: on the basis of new building code

(BauROG) in particular in external areas (models, compensation,and new alternatives…)

➯ Environmental acceptability assessment (EAA) and flora-fauna-habitat directive (FFH)

(N.B.: expanded field of protected resources; monitoring) On a voluntary basis:

➯ Specialised plans and expert assessments ➯ Agenda 21 and environmental balances As of July, 2004➯ Strategic environmental acceptability assessment - SUP

("Strategische Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung")See presentation Lenz, 2003

Environmental Managementwww.ecolup.info 57

borders. By the end of 2006,inspection programmes and byDecember, 2008 control program-mes are to be drawn up for allriver flood plain areas. The directiveunderlines the necessity for co-operation between countries andall political parties, as well as theparticipation of all interestedgroups (including municipalitiesand NGOs) in the controlled use ofbodies of water.

Shoreline Areas The preservation or the reconstruc-tion of nearly natural shorelineconditions, also within settlementsthemselves, is of such overridingimportance that it constitutes theoverall goal for flowing water.Development plans for bodies ofwater and maintenance plans forbodies of standing water supportthese efforts. In the water code, Paragraph (§68b) in reference to shoreline areas isof special significance for commu-nal urban land use planning. Inexternal areas, a shoreline area of10 metre's breadth on both sides ofthe body of water must remainundeveloped. This area's useshould be redirected towards farm-ing or open space. Within the bor-ders of settled areas, a shorelinearea of 5 metre's breadth on bothsides of the body of water must bedesignated. This area shouldremain undeveloped as protectionfor plants and animals as well asthe population against the threatof flooding.

Communal Policy Options■ The FFH directive and the

strategic environmental assessment require monitoringsystems. An environmental management system simplifiesthe implementation of this stipulation.

7.6 Environmental Aspect Landscape Development and Flowing Water

7Environmental Management

TIP

■ Be aware of the scientific, sta-tistical basis for orientationvalues

■ A satisfactory compromisebetween the harmonisation ofindicators or reference figuredvs. a flexible approach. Must be reached in almostevery current project

■ Regulatory measures vs.voluntary co-operation -often people are willing to domore on a voluntary basis!

■ Link indicators to policyfields: if you design the indi-cators so that it is clear whichpotential measures are to beundertaken by which depart-ment, implementation will beall the simpler!

■ Plan a progress check becauseoften the neglect of landscapeissues is due to the fact thatexisting or applicable instru-ments have been overlooked

INFO

The Precondition for MostMeasures for the Protection ofFlowing Water is theAvailability of Surface Area ■ A sound basis: a development

concept for bodies of water(DCBW). This should pertain toflood plain areas, contain con-sistent reference figures for da-ta collection, and seek to pre-serve, develop, and renovate

■ Further precondition (also forfunding programmes): deve-lopment plan for bodies ofwater (DPBW) building on thedevelopment concept

■ Shore areas defined at 5 or 10metres; it would be preferableto establish a wider water cor-ridor

■ Contracts for extensive use ofshoreline areas

■ Property purchase by munici-pality (costs, surveying issues)

■ Determine basic forms of usage■ Integration of related measures

into communal urban land useplanning (e.g. shoreline areas,flooding areas designated inzoning plan, ...)

58 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.6 ECOLUP Reference Data Landscape Development / Flowing Water

7 Environmental Management

Reference Data

Reference Data for Landscape Development Kennzahl

Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Proportion protected areas * Surface area of Natura 2000areas (ha), nature conservationareas, natural monuments,nature parks, protected greenareas to total landscape surfacearea (ha)

% Surface area of Natura 2000areas, nature conservationareas, natural monuments,nature parks, protected greenareas, total landscape surfacearea

Forest density per inhabitant Forest surface area to inhabitants ha/ EW

ha/ inhab. Forest area,number of inhabitants

Separation and isolation figure for landscape / forest

Effective breadth of landscapenetwork elements (lneeff), avera-ge cohesive surface area to totallandscape or forest surface area

% Extent of surface area of cohesive landscape and forestsurface area

Protective outer zones (formof forest surface area)

Surface area to total extent(smaller is worse)

% Forest surface area, extent ofsurface area

Proportion of forest surfacearea with minimum surfacearea extent

Number of standard minimumextent forest areas (>50 ha) tototal number of forest areasbefore-after

% Number of forest areas > 50 ha,total number of forestsurface areas

Reference Data

Reference Data for Flowing Water

Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data Anteil

Number of sections of flo-wing water with sufficientshoreline strip area withinsettled area **

Length of sections of flowingwater with a minimum shore-line strip width of 10m withinsettled areas to total length offlowing water before-after

% Length of flowing water sections

Proportion of renaturalisedsections

Length of renaturalised sections/ total length of flowing waterbefore-after

% Length of flowing water sections

Proportion of open water sections

Length of open sections/ totallength of flowing water before-after

% Length of flowing water sections

*(DEUTSCHE UMWELTHILFE (2002): Zukunftsfähige Kommune - Wettbewerb und Kampagne zurUnterstützung der Lokalen Agenda 21 (Reference figure is also used in the Baden Württemberg environmental set of indicators)**(RUHR-UNIVERSITÄT-BOCHUM (2000): Indikatoren für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung in Bochum, Part II: Liste der Indikatoren)

■ A number of communities have found it productive to draw up an environmental balance. However, you shouldexercise caution when using the reference figures, in parti-cular in reference to biotopes.Reference figures must be drawn up on the basis of exi-sting data, which in the case of the charting of species habitats is incomplete.

■ Up to 80% of the stipulation in green area plans are not transferred into the legally binding development plan! Checks conducted within the context of continual environ-mental management can help to alleviate this problem.

■ Most bodies of water are cha-racterised by significant mor-phological (structural) changes.People perceive bodies of waterin a very limited fashion, for they have more often than not been straightened, built up,or made subterranean. A posi-tive contribution: make bodies of water visible to public (e.g. free those within the city from subterranean pipe systems).

■ According to § 86 of the watercode, municipalities must enactregulations for the preservationof shoreline strips. The imple-mentation of this paragraph can find support through anchoring its standards in development plans.

■ Designation/ introduction of flooding areas in the zoning plan. This has only seldom been achieved in the Lake Constance region. A positive example: the River Argen.

■ The EU water framework direc-tive has not yet been fully implemented in the German water code. For example, neit-her has the range of bodies of waters to which it is to apply been defined, nor has a catalo-gue of guidelines for the deve-lopment of development plans for bodies of water been drawnup.

■ The way bodies of water are structure makes it difficult to measure their characteristics with reference data. Because they can change form so quickly, even creating survey maps presents difficulties. The diversity of bodies of water is an important parameter.

■ Municipality provides funda-mental usage rights instead of buying property parcels: insteadof selling his or her property (many good arguments againstthis), the property owner accepts an entry in the land register and must observe permanent conditions of use.

Further Information

Websites:http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/news/natura/index_en.htmwww.uvp.dehttp://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/water/water-framework/index_en.htmhttp://forum.europa.eu.int/Public/ic/env/wfd/library?l=/ framework_directive&vm=detailed&sb=Titlehttp://www.lawa.de.www.fh-nuertingen.de

Literature:Fachhochschule Nürtingen:Veröffentlichungen derFachhochschule Nürtingen,Stadtplanung undLandschaftsentwicklung.

European Commision (2001):Leitfaden für extensiveKlärverfahren für Abwässer kleinerund mittlerer Gemeinden,Luxemburg

Hage und Hoppenstedt Partner(2003): Situationsbeschreibung derLandschaftsplanung imZusammenhang mit der SUP-Richtlinie, presentation held ofconference of UVP-Gesellschaft,Friedrichshafen 13.11.2003

TIP

This chapter contains passagestaken from the following presentations: ■ Prof. Roman Lenz, Institute

for Applied Research, Department of Landscape Architecture, Nürtingen University: "Landschafts-entwicklung - eine Einführung (D)",

■ Ass. Prof. Arthur Kanonier, Institute for Legal Studies, Department of Architecture and Regional Planning, Technical University of Vienna: "Steuerung der Landschaftsentwicklung im Vorarlberger Rheintal (A)"

■ Bernd Eversmann, Gewässerdirektion Donau-Bodensee, Bereich Ravensburg: "Vortrag Fließgewässer"

www.ecolup.infoàWissenspool àECOLUP-Methodik àkommunale Workshops

Environmental Managementwww.ecolup.info 59

7.6 Environmental Aspect Landscape Development and Flowing Water

7Environmental Management

60 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.6 Environmental Aspect Landscape Development and Flowing Water

7 Environmental Management

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Environmental Managementwww.ecolup.info 61

7.6 Environmental Aspect Landscape Development and Flowing Water

7Environmental Management

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Significance of thisEnvironmental Aspect

One of the central concerns ofenvironmental policy is the pro-tection of the climate. The KyotoProtocol, supported by the EU,established as the first multilateralagreement of its kind concretegoals for reducing emissions inindustrial nations. Over the peri-od from 2008 to 2012, the EUplans to reduce emissions by 8%to the level of 1990, from 2012 to2020 by another 1%, and in thelong term by 70%. The EuropeanClimate Protection Programme(ECCP), in effect since 2000, fore-sees over 40 measures to theseends.

Every year, the world as a wholeemits ca. 4 tons of C02 per per-son, in Germany on the average11 tons per person are emitted,and in Baden-Württemberg 7.6 t.According to its EnvironmentalPlan, the federal state of Baden-Württemberg intends to reduceC02 emissions from 77 mil. tonsper year (2000) to a level of 70

62 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.7 Environmental Aspect Energy and Climate

7 Environmental Management

mil. t in 2005 and 65 mil. t in2010. By 2010, the state plans todouble the proportion of regene-rative energy sources used forprimary energy. A programme tosave energy in older buildings,sponsored energy checks, andextensive energy-saving measureson state property are all currentlybeing implemented.

Settlement development has afundamental effect on the level ofenergy use and is also of impor-tance for the climate due to itsassociation with C02 emissions.Energy is used not only in theproduction of construction materialsand construction itself, but alsoin the demolition and recyclingof existing structures and infra-structure, as well as in transpor-tation and the energy structuresrequire when they are in use. Thefact that structures are used forlong periods of time rangingfrom 50 to 100 years requiresthat we establish high standardsfor new structures and that theenergy use in older ones is adap-ted to current standards.

Furthermore, settlement develop-ment influences the local micro-climate through changes in heatradiation balances, prevailing aircurrents, level of atmospherichumidity, groundwater table, andvegetation, as well as throughemission of dust and toxic sub-stances, all of which factors inturn have an effect on the overallclimatic system. The energy required to heat buil-dings account for the greatestpart of C02 emissions in cities.However, this area has a greatdeal of potential for improvementthrough decreasing energy use byswitching to energy-efficient heat-ing and building technology aswell as by changing how resi-dents use the buildings. Each citi-zen can make concrete contribu-tions to this effort, creating highpotential for public interest andinnovative approaches on thepart of the municipality. In all sectors of consumer beha-viour, three strategies are funda-mental to saving energy and pro-tecting the climate; this applies aswell to settlement development: ➯ efficient energy use through

efficient consumers and use inproportion to need (energy-use behaviour and regulationtechnology)

➯ efficient energy supply (e.g. through power-heat-combination)

➯ use of renewable sources ofenergy

Ways Communal Urban LandUse Planning Can Influence theEnvironmental Aspect Energyand ClimateGovernment funding programmesfor private investments in energy-saving technology and the requi-site supporting legislation canincrease the public’s willingnessto participate.

Factors Influencing HeatingEnergy Consumption:Factors in Urban Planning ➯ Density of urban development➯ Types of structures present ➯ Orientation of structures ➯ Arrangement of buildings ➯ Roof form and orientation

Structural / technological factors➯ Degree of structure compact-

ness (types of structures anddetail design, e.g. avoiding “cooling ribs“)

➯ Structural heat retention fac-tor and avoidance of heat-lossbridges

➯ Degree of airtightness ➯ Ventilation concept

Energy supply ➯ Central (local or distant source

of energy) or decentral supply

➯ Source of power supply ➯ Heating technology and regu-

lation ➯ Central or decentral use of

renewable sources of energy

Type of Use and Use Behaviour

The Most Important FactorsInfluencing the Need for HeatingEnergy in the Order of TheirQuantitative Significance:The structural insulation of thebuilding. In comparison to thestandards of construction cur-rently being used, low-energybuilding methods can save up to40% heating energy while passiveheating technology achieves upto 85%.By means of local heat sourcenetworks and efficient heat gene-

ration through power-heat-combi-nation it is possible to save up to45% of the C02 emissions causedby oil heating. The amount ofenergy saved depends on withwhich alternative source of energyoil heating is compared. InGermany, when overall powerdemand is at an average levelelectricity is drawn above allfrom coal power plants. InAustria, electricity for this levelof power demand is mainly pro-duced by hydroelectric plantswith the result that lower levelsof power can be saved throughthe application of power-heat-combination techniques. In addi-tion, the level of power-lossthrough the network (typically

Reference Date

Reference Data for Energy and Climate

Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Proportion of regenerative sources of energy to totalenergy use

Total energy use / energy use from regenerative sources

% Communal energy data

Proportion of structures withsolar stations

Number of structures with solar stations / Total number of buildings in the relevant area

% Number of structures with solarstations in relevant area,total number of structures inrelevant area Proportion of structures

meeting low energy-use or passi-ve energy-use standards

Number of structures meeting lowenergy-use or passive energy-usestandards/ total number of structu-res in related area

% Number of structures with lowenergy-use and passive energy-usestandards

Proportion of structures withorientation not conducive tosolar energy generation

Number of structures with north-south orientation/ total number ofstructures in relevant area

% Number of structures orientationnot conducive to solar energygeneration

Degree of compactness O/ SAU- or O/LA relationship(Structure’s outer surface area tosurface area in use or living area)

-- Structure’s outer surface area, surface area in use or living area

Proportion of commercial enter-prises incompatible with housingneeds

Number of commercial enterpriseswith toxic emissions that accordingto law are not compatible with hou-sing needs/ total number of com-mercial enterprises

% Number of commercial enterpriseswith toxic emissions, total number of commercial enter-prises

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7.7 Environmental Aspect Energy and Climate

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64 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.7 Environmental Aspect Energy and Climate

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ca. 5-15%) and the proportion ofpower-heat-combination of elec-tricity used for heating as awhole play an important role. Typical levels of C02 reductionare ca. 25%. It is possible toachieve even more significantreductions in C02 emissions iflocal heat-generating networksrelying on renewable sources ofenergy (wood-chipping powerplants, locally generated solarpower, and geothermal power) areused.

The degree of structure compact-ness can reduce the need for heat-ing by up to 30% within buildingssharing a common construction

standard. The greatest influenceon this factor is the type of struc-ture: multi-storey structures,compact forms, rows of structuresor self-contained units, etc.Furthermore, we recommend thatroof dormers (instead full storeyand flatter roofs), bow windows,niches and angles not be used aselements of the building’s outerstructure as its purpose is toretain heat.

By optimising the benefits drawnfrom solar energy through appro-priate orientation of the structures,distances between them, structureheight and location in relation toone another, as well as planting

tree and plant species to createpassive solar energy, up to 10% ofthe energy required for heatingcan be saved (given that the sizeand the quality of the windowsremains the same in comparison toless advantageous varieties thatmight be present in older buil-dings). Along with reducing the amount

Wolfurt: E5 community, Energy Groupsince 1990, since 1992 energyquestion-and-answer office, 1997joined Climate Alliance.Minimum standards are appliedto all renovation and new con-struction work on communal pro-perty (e.g. use of renewable sourcesof energy, insulation, etc.). Inplanning: Energy-use zoningplan, model for communal energypolicy, standards to increase useof renewable sources of energy.Projects: Energy book-keeping,school projects, review of solarstations in community, reviseeco-balance, use organic materi-als as source of energy in com-mercial district, organic gaspower station.

Überlingen: Member of Climate Alliance since1997, number of non-variablepower plants reduced, modernisa-tion of heating plants in commu-nal structures, since 1997 wood-chip heating station, support useof photovoltaic cells on residentialstructures, switch to condensationtechnology, communal hydroelec-tric plant. Goals: energyquestion-and-answer office,increased heating insulation, sup-port for passive energy construc-tion techniques.

Dornbirn: Environmental model 1999, year-ly catalogue of measures toincrease energy efficiency withfocus on public buildings. Projectdirectorial group under deputymayor meets quarterly. Energyquestion-and-answer officereviews energy standards for eachbuilding project, consultants giveadvice on optimisation.

Konstanz: Member of Climate Alliance of1992, energy question-and-answer office, block heating andgenerating plant, programmes tosupport public use of renewablesources of energy, heat-energy-combination, no local heatingplant projects. Goal: Optimisationof energy efficiency in existingbuildings, planned percentageinitially affected 40-50%. TheConstance Department of Works(“Stadtwerke“) offers residents theopportunity to become sharehold-ers of power plants located atcommunal buildings.

TIP

Dornbirn:The Energy Question-and-Answer-Office reviews energysources planned for each building project, consultants give advice on optimisation

EXAMPLE

of energy required for heating,optimisation of the benefits drawnfrom solar energy also results insunnier apartments and officeswith better daytime lighting condi-tions. By using daylight to thisextent, the amount of energy usedfor artificial lighting can be redu-ced. However, having sunny roomsduring the long winter monthleads above all to an increase inquality of life. Orientating rows ofhouses north-south (roofs are thusorientated east-west) is an optimalway to benefit from passive solarenergy during the winter and apractical way to keep cold air fromunnecessarily wasting heat. Thisorientation does not lead to over-heating in the summer, for then aneast-west orientation plays a criti-cal role due to the fact that thesun is lower on the horizon.

Active exploitation of solar energyon roof surfaces and possibly onstructure facades is simpler ifwindows face south (so that theroof has an east-west orientation)and are large, and roofs havecontinuous forms. Active use ofsolar energy in a thermal solarpower station used to warm watercan provide 50–65% of the ener-gy needed each year to run thewater boiler. Combined collectionstations for warm water and hea-ting support typically cover 5–

20% of the heating needs and upto 35% of the overall need forenergy for warmth, for which ofcourse large storage heaters arenecessary. Solar cell stationsmounted on the roof feed theenergy they produce directly intothe building’s electrical networkand can turn a well-constructedbuilding into a “plus energyhouse“ that produces more regen-erative energy in a year than ituses up.

Sealed open sites such as parkinglots can be targeted for roofing-over so that they can be used toproduce solar energy by means ofphotovoltaic stations. (Ex. Solarenergy complex, Constancemunicipal district) (Cf. presenta-tion Bermich 2003)

Communal Policy OptionsIn order to encourage energy effi-ciency and to protect the climatewithin the framework of commu-nal urban land use planning,communities have the followingpolicy options:

Codifications in relation to settle-ment structure and energy utilisa-tion technology in developmentplans based on federal and statelegislation. This way, compactbuildings can be made standard,the prerequisites for generating

active solar energy created, andan optimisation of the use of pas-sive solar energy and use ofdirect daylight implemented.

Limitations of and bans on usagefor solid or solid and liquid fuelson the basis of legislation. Thespecifics of such limitations mustas a rule be anchored in the localemission levels as well as suffi-ciently specific. It must bedemonstrated that such measuresare necessary by the standards ofplanning law and they must beweighed in comparison to alter-native measures. In Heidelberg, aban on solid and liquid fuels hasbeen included in several develop-ment plans. Stipulations for distant sources ofheating energy with requiredhook-up and use (in legal terms,smaller systems usually termeddistant sources are categorised aslocal sources) on the basis of themunicipal regulations within eachfederal state. Heidelberg has usedthis instrument, too, in a numberof fields.

Stipulation of energy-relevantand possibily. Environmentallyrelevant measures in civil lawproperty purchasing contracts orleasing contracts in cases inwhich the city or municipality isthe property owner.

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7.7 Environmental Aspect Energy and Climate

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what residents expect from theirsurroundings should play thecentral role in achieving thisbalance. (Cf. Bermich 2003)

66 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.7 Environmental Aspect Energy and Climate

7 Environmental Management

This is certainly the most effecti-ve instrument, as it can havedirect influence on energy stan-dards for buildings, the mostimportant factor in saving ener-gy. Along with requirements forlow energy-use standards (e.g. inaccordance with RAL seal ofapproval for low energy-use con-struction) and passive energy-usestandards (in accordance with cri-teria drawn up by the Passive-House Institute Passivhaus-institut), in particular standardsfor sources of power, heatingtechnology and solar energy-usebe established. Control mechanisms and sanc-tions for cases of non-complianceto contractual obligations areimportant. It is possible to makean additional entry in the proper-ty register recording particularutilisation requirements. Similar stipulations can also bemade in urban development landuse contracts and contracts regu-lating the realisation of projectsand development plans.Synergy effects occur betweenefforts to save heating energyand to achieve concentration inurban development. The latterlimits land used for new projects,reduces traffic volume, and sim-plifies the effort to make publictransportation accessible: - Density of urban developmentand compact building techniquescomplement one another.- High density makes drawingenergy from local sources moreefficient.A balance between the initiallymutually contradictory goals ofdirect daylight/passive solar ener-gy-use and the desired increaseddegree of concentration is to beaimed for. The “Schollengewann“project demonstrates that this isquite reasonable. Nonetheless,

Sources:

Websites:www.energie-cities.orgwww.initiative-energieeffizienz.dewww.kea-bw.de www.respecteurope.comwww.uniseo.orgwww.eurosolar.orgwww.intersolar.de

Literature:Hildebrandt, Olaf und Kramer,Catrin (Ingenieurbüro ebök,Tübingen), Eds. (1998):Energieeinsparung beiNeubausiedlungen durch privat-und öffentlich-rechtliche Verträge- Erfahrungen bundesdeutscherGroßstädte undVerfahrensvorschlag für Köln,Stadt Köln, Amt fürUmweltschutz undLebensmittelüberwachung

Bermich, Ralf; Lachenicht,Sabine; Fischer, Sabine (Stadt

Heidelberg, Amt fürUmweltschutz, Energie undGesundheitsförderung),Eisenmann, Lothar (ifeu-Institut,Heidelberg) et al. (2000): Texts in:Klimaschutz Heidelberg - VierterCO2-Umsetzungsbericht 2000,Schriftenreihe zur Umwelt, Nr.2/2000 Mahler, Boris; Broll, J., Steinbeis-Transferzentrum Energie-,Gebäude- und Solartechnik stw,(2000): Machbarkeitsstudie füreine Solare Nahwärmeversorgungin Heidelberg-Wieblingen"Schollengewann", Stuttgart

Model project:http://www.energieundbau.de/iso-teg/frame.html?willcode=0.8./iso-teg/news_mb/0308/n030825.html&nummer=10

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7.7 Environmental Aspect Energy and Climate

7Environmental Management

INFO

This chapter contains excerptsfrom the following presentationby Ralf Bermich, City ofHeidelberg:"Energy Efficiency and ClimateProtection"; "Energieeffizienzund Klimaschutz"www.ecolup.info❰Wissenspool ❰ECOLUP-Methodik ❰kommunale Workshops

68 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.7 Environmental Aspect Energy and Climate

7 Environmental Management

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68 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.8 Environmental Aspect Participation / Public Involvement

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Significance of PublicParticipatingIt is not unproblematic to includethe topic of public involvementamong the environmental aspectslisted in this guidance. Thisaspect requires that we perceivethe term "environment" in itstotality, for it also subsumes peo-ple. In this area, too, communalurban land use planning procedu-re can achieve improved environ-mental performance if a commu-nity chooses to encourage morepublic participation than is requi-red by law.

Furthermore, providing opportu-nities for the participation andeducation of all interest groups ishighly valued by EMAS. Amongthe requirements made of anenvironmental managementsystem is for example making theenvironmental policy accessibleto the public. The municipalitymust demonstrate that it providesinformation for and encouragescontact with the outside world inorder to indicate to what extent ithas entered into a process of dia-logue with the public and furtherinterest groups.

Land use planning conceptsaffect the living environment of agreat number of people, most ofwhom hold a wealth of knowledgeabout their immediate surroun-dings. The results of these plan-ning concepts often bring aboutelementary changes of both posi-tive and negative nature that aretherefore of great importance forboth people and the environment.

EU Policy and RegulatoryFramework At the European level, public par-ticipation in planning processes isencouraged through agreementsand directives. One example isthe "Aarhus Agreement". Thisinternational agreement treatspublic access to information,public involvement in decision-making procedures and access tothe courts in relation to environ-mental matters. It is the agree-ment's goal to bring about greaterinvolvement of employees inpublic institutions and the greaterpublic in active environmentalprotection and to improve theenvironment for the good offuture generations. The agreement

will become part of the EU legalcode in the form of two EU direc-tives. These directives must inturn be integrated into the natio-nal legal codes of the memberstates by 2005. If a municipality increases publiceducation and involvement inplaning processes as a part ofECOLUP, it thereby institutionalisescore elements of the "AarhusAgreement" in advance.

Planned Revision of Law inGermany and Austria The German building code requirestwo-tiered public involvement asa part of communal urban landuse planning procedure. Earlypublic participation plays a rolewhen a development plan draft isbeing drawn up, i.e. before it isofficially released. However, thisrequired involvement is definedin the building code only in itsfundamental outline. In contrastto early-phase public participa-tion, the later, more formal publicparticipation is regulated in detailand is bound to certain formalprocedures.

The strategic environmentalassessment ("StrategischeUmweltprüfung", SUP), anamendment to the building code,also calls for public participationin the field of landscape planning.

TIP

“Allowing the public to becomeinvolved as early as possible inthe pre-planning phase contribu-tes to our ability to work throughconflicts and to find solutionsthat everyone can live with."Wolfgang Rümmele, Mayor ofDornbirn at an ECOLUPWorkshop, 09.12.02

In Austria, too, participationplays an important role in com-munal land use planning. Citizensare involved both in the drawing-up of the voluntary land develop-ment concept and in the zoningplan drafted on this basis. Theland development concept andthe zoning plan are, as elementsof municipal regional planning,regulated in accordance with therespective regional planning anddevelopment laws of eachAustrian province. It is requiredby law that all interests directlyand indirectly effected by theplanning procedure are to beidentified and drawn into theprocess.

Opportunities for Communitiesto Influence Public ParticipationCommunities have a number ofoptions when it comes to public

participation. How direct andintensive citizen participation isto be and which dimensions it isto take on is not anchored in thelegally binding regulations foreach planning phase.Municipalities have developed awide range of approaches to getcitizens involved in communalurban land use planning.Whereas the formal (regulated bylaw) participatory processes arevery similar, many communitiesimplement various informal (notregulated by law) participatoryprocesses. Examples such as futureworkshops, future forums, round-tables or planning cells representonly a very few of the variety ofopportunities for informal partici-pation (see CD-ROM for anextensive list of methods ofinformal public participation). From the perspective of the

municipal administration, publicparticipation is important so thatlater objections, complaints andthe resulting delays to progressand higher costs can be kept at aminimum. From the public's per-spective, the opportunity for par-ticipation in the planning proces-ses allows it to represent its con-cerns about its own living envi-ronment and to strengthen itstrust in local government. This isa challenge that regional and cityplanners must take up togetherwith all other effected parties.Public participation must be con-ceived of as a process thataccompanies the entire durationof the planning process. However,an ECOLUP survey establishedthat citizens know too little ofhow all this works (see below andcf. www.ecolup.info).This informal process aims at

Reference Data Calculation Voluntary

Source: “Prozess Kompass”by ecos and IKAÖ Bern

Voluntary participation Number of registered clubs and associations per 1,000 inhabitants

Number

Participation in process of achieving sustainability Number of voluntary work hours within the context of the Local Agenda 21 per 1,000 inhabitants

Number

Contact office for public involvement Number of visitors at contact office for public involvement Number

Early public involvement starting before official public participation as called for by communal urban land use planning procedure, so that citizens can have an impact earlier when concepts are in the planning stage

Number of events towards involving the public at anearly stage per development or zoning plan or develop-ment project

Number

Active informational work for the public as a part ofthe two participatory procedures in communal urbanland use planning

Number

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7.8 Environmental Aspect Participation / Public Involvement

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Informal public involvement(e.g. future workshops, planning cells, citizenassessments, project groups, etc.)

Number of informal public involvement events perdevelopment or zoning plan or development project

Number

Italics = additional details not present in source material

70 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

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establishing what arguments andinterests the public has, so thatthey can be taken into considera-tion during the planning process.There is no legal framework forthis type of communication: hearings, workshops, competitions- the measures can be determinedaccording to what each situationcalls for.

As part of ECOLUP, both formaland informal public participationwas improved, more successfullyorienting it to environmentalissues and making it easier forthe public to become involved.How was this accomplished? Examples for ways of improvingpublic participation in ECOLUP:■ finding better ways of con-

veying sufficient informationto the public (e.g. make new-spaper articles more underst-andable with clear exceptsfrom plans, including streetnames and information onplanning concept and /orpublic participation in theInternet)

■ Measures to better informboth voters and young peopleabout opportunities for publicparticipation, thus encouragingthem to take action (e.g. informal participationmethods, better educationwork in pedestrian areas, inschools or on the radio)

Wolfurt: Semi-annual public meetings atwhich all new planning conceptsare presented and the town coun-cillors give reports, project presen-tations for those effected by parti-cular projects, special informationevenings on planning conceptswith discussion, discussion forumswith invited guests on specifictopics (e.g. concepts for the care ofthe elderly, concepts for youth),open rounds on village renewalconcepts …

Überlingen: Information evenings for thoseeffected in individual neighbour-hoods of a larger planning area,Local Agenda 21 groups: urbandevelopment, environment andenergy, social concerns. Workinggroup on Überlingen's city deve-lopment plan open to all residents,the findings of which have in partbeen integrated into the city deve-lopment plan.

Constance: Future workshops in all Constanceneighbourhoods, e.g. Petershausen

Examples from the Partner Communities

('99), Paradies ('00), Fürstenberg-Wollmatingen ('01), Allmannsdorf-Staad with Egg ('02), Litzelstetten('03), Dettingen-Wallhausen ('03).Future forum Old City ('03), plena-ry meeting "SustainableConstance" since '02 for presenta-tion and exchange between groupsof involved citizens and towardsthe formulation of the city deve-lopment programme 2010.

Dornbirn:Announcements in municipal

newsletter; in reference to trans-portation concept "city chats" inall neighbourhoods with 100 to200 participants at each; in refe-rence to landscape and green areaconcept information provided to12,000 households and by a standat the Dornbirn trade fair; in refe-rence to the renovation of citybathing facilities invitation for alluser groups to discussions; in refe-rence to green areas detailed infor-mation postings and consultationon location; public involvement injury for an architectural competi-tion; Youth Participation Club.

It has proven problematic thatcitizens often only become inter-ested and involved when theythemselves are personally effected.To a great extent, people onlynotice that they are personallyeffected by planning measureswhen it is already too late, name-ly at a point when decision-making processes have alreadyreached a stage at which the pos-sibility of influencing them isquite limited. This is often thecase with the kind of public par-ticipation required by law. Public participation in planningprocesses that comes earlyenough to make a difference, e.g.

through informal methods of par-ticipation and understandableexplanations of the issues athand, can also wake public interestand readiness to become involvedat this early stage.

Policy Options for CommunitiesWithin the ECOLUP model pro-ject, the following was undertakento encourage public involvementin communal urban land useplanning:■ surveys of public opinion in

the 4 participating communities ■ discussion rounds and surveys

of young people in the 4 partner communities

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7.8 Environmental Aspect Participation / Public Involvement

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■ formal and informal participa-tory procedures were tried outin the communities

■ international and local work-shops on Public Involvement/Participation

■ The public opinion surveysand discussion rounds withyoung people demonstrated toan equal extent that only onein two residents was aware ofthe public's right to participa-te in communal urban landuse planning. The majority ofadults surveyed saw limitedpossibilities for taking influenceon planning procedures. Young

people had even less trust inthe ability of public involve-ment to bring about change.Recommendations for impro-ving public involvement repe-atedly called for better infor-mation, greater transparency,and more understandableinformation.

■ Practical experience withinformal public involvementwithin the communities provedto a great extent to be positive.However, there is still muchroom for improvement. It isoften the case that localgovernment believes that it is

TIP

Overview of Methods of Involv-ing the Public and Recommenda-tions from the Four CommunalWorkshops on the AspectParticipation ➯ www.ecolup.info

Public Opinion Survey in Participating Communities - Findings onParticipation: AnaysisInterviews with a standardised questionnaire in March of 2003,total of 235 citizens (45 in Wolfurt, 60 in Dornbirn, 60 in Überlin-gen and 70 in Constance)

Results (excerpt):

■ Knowledge of opportunities forbecoming involved (only 55%)

■ Of these, the majority sees goodto average potential for partici-pation

■ Opinion that the right to partici-pate is makes sense (51%)

■ Own level of influence of plan-ning processes is low (61%)

■ Urban development planning isimportant (66%)

■ No active participation in initia-tives (only 15% active!) due tolack of time (20%), no particularneed (18%!) and lack of interest(11%)

■ The majority of the 66 activecitizens (=15%; see above) aredissatisfied with the results oftheir participation

■ To date no personal participa-tion in planning processes

■ Personally involved in futurecity development (31% yes, 38% no, 31% don'tknow)

Only 44% of those surveyed couldprovide concrete suggestions:

■ Higher degree of transparencyo improved clarity of termino-logy o expansion of publicrelations work

■ Greater involvement of youngpeople o Public forums, refe-renda, open office hours, etc.

■ Take citizens' concernsseriously

INFO

Information and results of thecommunal and internationalECOLUP workshops on participa-tion and public involvement incommunal urban land use planning under: www.ecolup.info ➯ Wissenspool➯ ECOLUP-Methodik ➯ kommunale Workshops

INFO

72 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.8 Environmental Aspect Participation / Public Involvement

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Environmental Managementwww.ecolup.info 73

7.8 Environmental Aspect Participation / Public Involvement

7Environmental Management

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74 Environmental Management www.ecolup.info

7.8 Environmental Aspect Participation / Public Involvement

7 Environmental Management

providing the public with sufficient opportunities to get informa-tion and complains of the public's lack of interest and willingnessto become involved. In contrast, citizens complain of a lack ofinformation about opportunities for participation and that they are"not taken seriously".

Environmental Managementwww.ecolup.info 75

Sources

Model ProjectsFuture Freiburg - Dialogue oncity development: As the first cityin Germany, Freiburg preceded itsdraft for and the political decision-making process on the revision ofits zoning plan with extensiveopportunities for public involve-ment. This participation processwas conducted under the name of""Zukunft Freiburg-Dialog zurStadtentwicklung" from May of2001 until July of 2002.www.zukunft.freiburg.de/prozess/ergebnisse.html

Websiteshttp://www.buergerengagement.de/

http://www.iska-nuernberg.de/lan-desnetzwerk/index.htm

http://www.bundestag.de/gre-mien15/a12_buerger/

http://www.wegweiser-buergerge-sellschaft.de/

http://www.buergergesellschaft.net/

http://www.aktive-buergergesell-schaft.de/

Literature:Bundesministerium für Verkehr,Bau- und Wohnungswesen (Ed.)(1999): Planen, Bauen, Erneuern -Informationen zumStädtebaurecht

Deutsches Seminar für Städtebauund Wirtschaft (Ed.) (1998):Partizipative Stadtentwicklung -Bürgergutachten in derStadtplanung. Erfahrungen ausdrei Kommunen Thüringens.DSSW-Dokumentation - DSSW-Schriften No. 30

Schildwächter, Ralph (1996): DasdigitaleBürgerinformationssystem :Techniken des World Wide Webfür die kommunaleBauleitplanung / RalphSchildwächter. - Kaiserslautern.121 S. : ill. (Beiträge zu compu-tergestützten Planungs- undEntwurfsmethoden ; 2)

Stadt Konstanz -Agenda Büro-(Ed.) (2003): Lokale Agenda 21Konstanz - Konkrete Beiträge zurZukunftsfähigkeit.

Wiese-von Ofen, Dr.-Ing. Irene:Kultur der Partizipation - Beiträgezu neuen Formen derBürgerbeteiligung bei der räum-lichen Planung, DV-Gesellschaftdes Deutschen Verbandes fürWohnungswesen undRaumordnung mbH (Ed.)

7.8 Environmental Aspect Participation / Public Involvement

7Environmental Management

System Audit www.ecolup.info 75

Environmental management can-not function without structuredprocesses, i.e. a system. Most firmsor organisations have alreadyinstituted elements of an environ-mental management system (EMS),or have established procedures thatenable them to meet legal require-ments or the standards set in per-mits.

In municipal administration, it israre to find an all-encompassingregulatory system for competenciesand responsibilities that covers allaspects of communal environmen-tal protection policy. The hierar-chical structure of an environmen-tal management system is meantto be applied to the existing struc-tures in municipal administrationand all supporting offices anddepartments.

At the present time, there are twoways of obtaining certification orvalidation for an environmentalmanagement system: in accordancewith the European Union Eco-Audit procedure or the DIN EN ISO14001. Both of these are orientatedto the management cycle "Plan -Execute - Assess - Adjust".

What Standards Does EMAS IIRequire of an EMS?

The organisation (instancesresponsible for the communalurban land use planning process =specialised offices, town counciland mayor) must ensure that:■ its always has up-to-date infor-

mation on the impact its activi-ties have on the environment

■ all legislation is observed, inparticular environmental legis-lation

■ environmentally relevant gene-ral and specific goals aredrawn up and documented for

each function and level withinthe organisation

■ an environmental programmewith responsibilities, tasks, andcompetencies, as well as infor-mation on the means and thetime-frame for implementationis approved and regularly revi-sed

■ an environmental team is esta-blished so that all key organi-sational positions are integra-ted into the environmentalmanagement process

■ an environmental managementrepresentative is designated asthe person ultimately responsi-ble for the EMS. He or shemust be able to influence otherdepartments in matters concer-ning environmental protectionand eco-audits

■ clear regulations exist for pro-cedure and documentation incontact between all offices anddepartments, procedures, andactivities with relevance to theenvironment

■ training courses are conductedfor all employees whose activi-ties have a significant impacton the environment

■ internal communication bet-ween various organisationallevels, as well as betweenemployees who field questionsand pass along informationcoming from outside the orga-nisation, and communicationwith the public (environmentaleducation) all function smoothly

The "plan - execute - assess -adjust" management cycle can beapplied to communal urban landuse planning when concepts meantto be applied to firms are interpre-ted for application to communalurban land use planning, an in-strument the effectiveness of whichis determined by municipality's

legal planning sovereignty in thisfield.

"Plan": Applied to communal urban landuse planning, this means the plan-ning of the plan. Which environ-mental goals must definitely beintegrated into the plan as deter-mined by the significant environ-mental aspects (e.g. excessiveurban expansion, sealing-over ofsoil, a.o.)? Which environmentallyrelevant organisational units are tobe included in the managementprocedure beyond what is prede-termined by the procedural steps(e.g. citizen, associations, municipalenvironmental representative, a.o.)?

"Execute" How can it be ensured that theenvironmental goals identified asfundamental to those planningprocedures affected by themanagement system are taken intoconsideration during every phaseof the procedure? How is thisregard for the environmentalissues to be documented as a partof the planning process?

"Assess" Which assessment procedures (e.g.introduction of development stan-dards, establishment of referencefigures, a.o.) are to be selected?How are their results to be docu-mented and how are the conclu-sions drawn from them to be inte-grated into any subsequent com-parable planning procedures?

"Adjust" How are the changes called for bythe environmental managementsystem to be introduced into com-munal urban land use planning?Must preparation and evaluationphases be established so thatimprovements in environmental

8.1 What Standards Must an Environmental Management System Meet?

8 System Audit

impact can be defined and initialprogress measured? The overall goals the environmen-tal management system requiresfor every pertinent function andlevel within the organisation are tobe limited to the task of communalurban land use planning. Onlythose functions and areas of acti-vity are included which activelyinfluence the process of communalurban land use planning or take

on responsible positions withinthis process. It is of interest both to EMAS andof course to the community thatthe environmental system can beadjusted to existing administrativestructures. What is important isthat these structures create thenecessary conditions for the reali-sation of "continually improvingenvironmental performance". Thisis what the environmental verifier

checks for during the validationprocess according to EMAS II orISO 14001.

TIP

See www.ecolup.info for a presentation by Dr. Tröbs,Intechnika, on this topic.

76 System Audit www.ecolup.info

8.1 What Standards Must an Environmental Management System Meet?

8 System Audit

According to the EMAS directive,the "uppermost executive instance"of an organisation is responsiblefor the environmental manage-ment system (EMS). In a munici-pality, the town council and themayor are the final decision-making instances in planning pro-cesses, therefore also in communalurban land use planning.Accordingly, the town council andthe mayor supervise environmentalmanagement and are responsiblefor:

■ making sure that the financialand personnel resources neededfor a functioning EMS are pre-sent

■ the designation of an environ-mental management represen-tative who co-ordinates andchecks the EMS and reports tothe EMS supervisory bodiesregularly

■ approving the environmentalpolicy, programme and theenvironmental statement

Although all those involved mustcontribute to the implementationof an EMS, the environmentalmanagement representative holdsa decisive function as the person

who drives on and moderates themanagement process. Aside fromhis or her personal qualities, thisposition should be held by someonewhose position is endowed withenough competencies to get thejob done. So that bureaucracy andcomplicated official procedures donot block the changes beingattempted, the environmentalmanagement representative shouldbe in a position to exert influenceon other administrations anddepartments in matters concerningenvironmental protection and theEMS.

Description of the EnvironmentalManagement Representative'sResponsibilities (EMR)

The EMR is responsible for coor-dinating and conducting internalreviews of the environmental ma-nagement system. The followingrepresents a detailed description ofhis or her responsibilities:

■ co-ordination of the environ-mental team: preparation, cal-ling and moderation of mee-tings, distribution of protocols

■ co-ordination of reference dataused within the EMS: request

data from specialised depart-ments, check that statistics areupdated, comparison with thegoals set down in the environ-mental programme, publication

■ regular information on EMSprogress for employees

■ introduction to system for newemployees

■ keep job descriptions for activi-ties relevant to the environ-ment up to date

■ keep information on the EMScommunicated to the outsideworld up to date (reports, web-site, environmental statement)

■ conduct a yearly internal auditin accordance with the organi-sation environmental assess-ment programme

■ report regularly on the progressof the EMS, the current state ofthe environmental programme,which goals have been achie-ved, etc. to decision-makinginstances (town council andmayor)

■ keep environmental manual upto date

■ prepare for EMAS validation orre-validation conducted byenvironmental verifier

8.2 Supervision of Environmental Management and EnvironmentalManagement Representative

System Audit www.ecolup.info 77

8 System Audit

Environmental Team as Consulting Committee within the EMS

On the basis of our experiencewith ECOLUP, we strongly recom-mend that the environmental teambe established as a permanentconsulting committee as a part ofthe environmental managementsystem. It is ideal if the environ-mental team is made up of repre-sentatives of the communal andregional authorities responsible forwith environmental affairs, as wellas of representatives of privateinterests such as private environ-mental protection organisations,the agricultural association, cham-bers of industry and labour, and

Agenda 21 working groups. Inmost cases, it is enough to includethe usual public interest groups aswell as representatives of privateinterests.

Establishing an environmentalteam is a good way to include spe-cialised offices and departments inthe EMS and to get all bodies ofexperts together around a singletable. An environmental team themembers of which represent awide scope of interests and autho-rities meets another fundamentalEMAS requirement: that represen-tatives of different interest groupsbe involved. If a community deci-des not to establish an environ-mental team, it must ensure by

other means that all interest grouprepresentatives are regularly infor-med about the EMS' progress andare able to evaluate this progress.In other words, they must bedirectly involved in the mange-ment process.

Environmental Team'sResponsibilities:■ groundwork for the environ-

mental assessment (provideinformation, base data andreference figures)

■ draw up and revise environ-mental programme (draft)

■ support the EMR during theyearly assessment of the environmental programme (internal audit)

8.2 Supervision of Environmental Management and EnvironmentalManagement Representative

As already explained in Chapter 6"Environmental Assessment", theECOLUP model project refrainedfrom starting the third part ofenvironmental assessment, thesystem audit, until after the fourpartner communities had conduc-ted intensive studies of their signi-ficant environmental aspects andthe first draft of the environmentalprogramme had been completed.This manner of proceeding isadvantageous because by the timethe system audit is conducted, allthe specialised offices and depart-ments that need to participate inthe EMS for communal urban landuse planning have already beenidentified.When conducting the analysis ofexisting administrative structures,the following tables are useful: ■ organisational structure of the

administration ■ scheme of procedure for dra-

wing up a zoning plan ■ scheme of procedure for dra-

wing up a development plan ■ scheme of procedure for dra-

wing up a plan for a projectthat falls under efforts to meetthe requirements of the envi-ronmental acceptability assess-ment

As a part of ECOLUP, the EMSstructure was discussed with theenvironmental team and all neces-sary management or EMAS ele-ments were hooked into the exi-sting organisational structure. Thefollowing EMAS elements are indi-spensable:■ town Council and mayor as

"uppermost executive instance"■ environmental management

system representative ■ environmental team (not requi-

red by EMAS, but highlyrecommended)

■ position responsible for obser-vation of environmental legis-lation

■ position responsible for organi-sing training courses for staff

■ position responsible for com-munication outside the organi-sation

EMAS does not stipulate how theEMS structure is to be documen-ted, i.e. municipalities can presentthe structure in the form of gra-phics or a table or it can be descri-bed in a text.

8.3 Environmental Management Structure: Who - What - How

INFO

EMAS-V O Annex I A:Requirements for an environmen-tal management system (same asSection 4 of ISO 14.001:1996)EMAS-V O Annex I B: Questionsthat must be answered by organi-sations participating in EMAS

78 System Audit www.ecolup.info

8 System Audit

8.3 Environmental Management Structure: Who - What - How

Procedural Step Participants Responsible Additional ‘EMAS/ECOLUP Elements

Decision to draw up azoning plan

Town council Town council takes into con-sideration environmental poli-cy and programme goals

Participation of regionalplanning instances

Region, regional admini-strative authorities

Draw up pre-draft forzoning plan

City planning department Thomas Nöken, Director Pre-draft approved withenvironmental policy andenvironmental programme

Public participation inearly planning stages

The public Goals and measures forimprovement of publicparticipation integrated

Participation of publicinterest groups

Public interest groups PIGs kept informed re:environmental policy andprogramme and evaluatepre-draft on this basis

Approval of draft by neighbouring communities

City planning department Thomas Nöken, Director Neighbouring communitiesare informed about environ-mental policy and programme

Further work on zoningplan draft (weighing ofinterests)

City planning department Thomas Nöken, Director Check: is the plan in linewith the environmentalpolicy and programmegoals? Collection of pre-determined reference data

Public presentation of ZP The public Goals and measures forimprovement of publicparticipation integrated

Handling of suggestions City planning department Thomas Nöken, Director

Public interest groupsinformed

Public interest groups

Decision on ZP Town council Check: is the plan in linewith the environmentalpolicy and programmegoals?

Approval of ZP Higher administrativeauthorities

Announcement, ZP goesinto effect

Municipal administration Information in environ-mental statement

Scheme of Procedure for Drawing Up a Zoning Plan. Municipality of Überlingen

System Audit www.ecolup.info 79

8 System Audit

8.3 Environmental Management Structure: Who - What - How

Procedural Step Participants Responsible Additional EMAS/ ECO-LUP Elements

Preparatory phase Administration, city plan-ning department

DCPE (Department of CityPlanning and theEnvironment)

Results of public participa-tion taken into considera-tion (Local Agenda, FutureWorkshop, etc.)

Decision to draw up a D-plan

Town council Draft from DCPE Draft in accordance withenvironmental policy andprogramme

Draw up pre-draft of D-plan

City planning department DCPE, planning experts Pre-draft aligned to envi-ronmental policy and envi-ronmental programme

Public participation inearly planning stages

The public and associa-tions

(DCPE provides content),DCPE administration takeson organisational tasks

Goals and measures forimprovement of publicparticipation integrated

Public interest group participation

Public interest groups (DCPE), DCPE administra-tion makes announcement

PIGs are informed aboutenvironmental policy andprogramme and evaluatedraft on this basis

Approval of draft by nei-ghbouring communities

City planning department (DCPE checks contents),DCPE administration takeson organisational tasks

Neighbouring communitiesare informed about environ-mental policy and programme

Further work on D-plandraft (weighing of inter-ests)

City planning department DCPE, planning experts Check: is the plan in linewith the environmentalpolicy and programmegoals? Collection of pre-determined reference data

Public presentation of D-plan

The public and associations

(DCPE), DCPE administra-tion, planning experts pro-vide information

Goals and measures forimprovement of publicparticipation integrated

Handling of suggestions City planning department (DCPE checks contents),planning experts

Public interest groupsinformed

Public interest groups DCPE, (DCPE administration)

D-plan approved andentered into municipal statutes

Town council Draft from DCPE and/orplanning experts

Check: is the plan in linewith the environmentalpolicy and programmegoals?

Approval of D-plan Higher administrativeauthorities

Announcement, D-planbrought into effect

Municipal administration DCPE, DCPE administration

Schema of Procedure for a Development Plan. Municipality of Constance

80 System Audit www.ecolup.info

8 System Audit

8.3 Environmental Management Structure: Who - What - How

The EMS structure used in Überlingen was drawn up in acommunal workshop with theenvironmental team. A certifiedenvironmental verifier providedspecialised knowledge and advicefrom the perspective of thoseresponsible for validation. (Cf. Presentation Dr. Tröbs,Intechnica Umweltberatung, atwww.ecolup.info > kommunale Workshops

EXAMPLE: Large Districition Überlingen - Oranisation of Environmental Management

Building Comi

Controls procedure:Takes standards in environmen-tal policy and programme intoconsideration during: ■ Weighing of interests ■ Consultation ■ Recommendation made to

town council ■ Preparation of decisions

Building Commitee

Umweltmanagementleitung (UML)

Mayor and town councilTasks as part of EMS:

■ Overall responsibility for envrionmental management ■ Decision for approval of environmental policy, programme

and statement ■ Designates EMR■ Regular evaluation of EMS ■ Makes adjustments to EMS, if needed

Supervisory Board for Environmental Management (SBEM)

Stadtplanungsamt

Tasks as part of EMS:■ Implementation of environmental programme ■ Provides reference data for environmental goals ■ Environmentally relevant documentation ■ Public involvement■ Integration of PIGs■ Communication with outside world (announcements)■ Integration of interest groups (PIGs, neighbours, NGOs)■ Provides relevant information to environmental team and EMR ■ Informs planning experts about environmental programme

City Planning Department

Personalamt

■ Task as part of EMS: Staff training courses

Human Resources Department

Baurechtsamt

■Task as part of EMS: Observation of legislation

Building Regulatory Office

Träger öffentlicher Belange (TÖBs)

Tasks as part of EMS:■ Member of environmental team■ Ensures legal security by checking needs in repective area of expertise

Public Interest Groups

Fachplaner

Tasks as part of EMS:■ Determine present conditions

using base data ■ Calculate balances

Planning Experts

Tasks as part of EMS:■ Involvement in informal

planning process■ Written suggestions and

concerns as a part of public participation in the early-stage planning

■ Included via Agenda working group "Settlement development and transportation. Agenda working group has representative on the environmental managemment

The Public

System Audit www.ecolup.info 81

8 System Audit

8.3 Environmental Management Structure: Who - What - How

Umweltmanagementbeauftragter (UMB)Environmental Management Representative (EMR)

UmweltteamEnvironmental Team

Specialised Departments andOffices■ City Planning Department■ Department for Green Areas,

Forestry and the Environment■ Department of Civil

Engineering■ Building Administration

Offices■ Building Regulatory Office■ Property Registration Office

Tasks as part of EMS:

■ Drafts and revises environmental programme (draft for town council)

■ Groundwork for environmental assessment

■ Supports EMR during assessment of environmental programme (internal audit)

■ Draws up environmental statement

■ Groundwork for environmental statement

Private Interest Groups■ Commerce and Chamber of

Commerce■ NABU■ Agenda 21 working group

Höhere Verwaltungsbehörde

Tasks as part of EMS:■ Member of environmental team■ Ensures legal security through evaluation and approval

Higher Administrative Authorities

EXAMPLE: Large Districition Überlingen - Oranisation of Environmental Management

Tasks as part of EMS:■ Co-ordinates environmental team: prepares, calls, and moderates meetings, distributes protocols

■ Co-ordinates reference figures used in context of EMS: requests data from specialised departments, checks that statistics are updated, comparison with the goals set down in the environmental programme

■ Regular information on EMS progress for employees, introduction to system for new employees

■ Keeps job descriptions for activities relevant to the environment up-to-date

■ Keeps information on the EMS communicated to the outside world up-to-date (reports, website, environmental statement)

■ Conducts a yearly internal audit in accordance with the organisation environmental assessment programme

■ Reports regularly on the progress of the EMS, the current state of the environmental programme, which goals have been achieved, etc. to decision-making instances (town council and mayor, SBEM)

■ Keeps environmental manual up-to-date ■ Prepares for EMAS validation or re-validation

conducted by environmental verifier

Example: Communication and Documentation Structure City of Überlingen

82 System Audit www.ecolup.info

8.4 Communication and Documentation

8 System Audit

Developement Comittee Supervisors for Environmental Management (SEM):

Mayor and town council

City Planning Office

Staff meetingsProject meetings with

participating departments

Public Interest Groups

Planning Experts

Citizens

Vote (mostly show hands)

Meeting protocols

Contract (contains additional service

for environmental)

Meeting protocols

Plan and explanatory report

Responding to inquires Preliminary appt. in cases

of conditional approval Publication in community

newspaper/office newsletter

Written recommendationsand concerns

Agendas for meetings Meeting protocols

Written assessment

Plan and explanatory report

Environmend statement

Environmend statementAgendas for meetings

EMAS requires that a procedurebe introduced that guaranteesgood internal communicationbetween the departments invol-ved in the environmentalmanagement system. An environ-mental management system can

only function well if all partici-pants active in the system’svarious fields receive the infor-mation they require to meet itsstandards. It is just as important to docu-ment steps taken and decisions

made in order to ensure thatdevelopments, decisions, andagreements can be reconstructedand that it can be demonstratedto outside observers that theyoccurred (e.g. training courses for staff).

EXAMPLE:

System Auditwww.ecolup.info 83

8.4 Communication and Documentation

8System Audit

Uppermost administrative authorities

Environmental ManagementRepresentive (EMR)

Environmental Team

Specialised departmentsHuman resources

Building regulatory office

Human resources

Building regulatory office

Written and oral inquiriesfrom experts in the field

(departement head meeting w. protocoll)

■ Written results of the(re-) validation

■ Written report on inter-nal audit

■ Draft for environmentalprogramme

■ Protocoll from meetings

Written task description

Approved legally-binding draft of plan

■ Draft and revisionof environmentalprogramme

■ Data for environ-mental programme

■ Report for internalaudit on progress onmeasure imolemen-tation

■ Written meetinginvitation for envi-ronment at team

■ Meeting protocoll(which?)

In addition to communicationwithin the community, providinginformation to the world outsideof it is very important for EMAS.This can range from answeringrelevant communications from

interested parties to presentingresults and planning successes tothe general public. Fielding ques-tions from the public is alreadypart of a planning office’s dailybusiness.

What is decisive is how you dealwith those external questions.

Questions relevant to EMAS:■ What happens when the

municipal administration receives an inquiry having to do with environment from someone outside the organisation?

■ How is this inquiry passed along within the organisation?

■ What general paths does the flow of information take?

■ How is information related to the public?

■ Which data are provided to outside sources?

In communal urban land use plan-ning administration, plans aredrawn up according to a set proce-dure. Administrative procedurebeing what it is, this process, likeall others, must be documented tothe fullest possible extent. The participation of specialisedadministrative departments andco-operation between them is apermanent attribute of this proce-dure. In this way, it is assured thatboth documentation and commu-nication conform to EMAS stan-dards and that the questions listedabove are answered. As part of ECOLUP, procedures inurban land use planning in theparticipating communities wererepresented as graphics and theelements relevant to EMAS addedor made more evident. Because procedure was so strictlyregulated, a framework existedwithin which it was comparablysimple to add the EMAS elementscommunication and documenta-tion. It was mainly a matter ofidentifying the contents presentin given structures and of ordering them.

Approves training courses provides course schedule (offerings)

Demand for staff further education

written assessments, written approval

Plan and abstract/explanatory report

84 System Audit www.ecolup.info

8.5 Positions and Specialised Departments and Offices Relevant to the Environment

8 System Audit

As a part of the system audit, EM-AS requires the thorough regula-tion of competencies and responsi-

bilities for all employees in envi-ronmentally relevant positions.The following offices and depart-

ments are generally relevant to the envi-ronment within the context of commu-nal urban land use planning:

Offices / Specialiseddepartment

Areas of Work Relevant to the Environment Name of Employee

Mayor + town council

Decisions

Building Committee Advises town council

City PlanningDepartment

■ Draws up overall goals and policy concepts for city development ■ Draws up urban development goals ■ General plan for urban development, informal planning ■ Urban development draft ■ Concepts for construction and open spaces ■ City design ■ Draws up of fundamental principles of city development

and urban renewal ■ Preparatory urban land use plan (ZP)■ General urban development planning ■ Preparation for Town Council decision■ Vote with all participants ■ Codification of binding standards for development planning

in zoning plan ■ Adaptation to other cross-border planning concepts outside the city ■ Binding communal urban land use planning,

draws up development plans ■ Informs public of contents of D-plans ■ Conducts public forums

Department of PublicGrounds ■ Maintains and supports health, biological diversity,

and sustainable successful adaptation of natural environment ■ Preventative measures for the protection of humankind, animals,

plants, air, water, soil, as well as cultural and other material goodsagainst corrosive toxic substances, air and noise pollution, tremors,light, heat, radiation, and further harmful impact on the environment

■ Concepts and measures to ensure sustainable use of the natural environment

■ Waste disposal and prevention of threats for the protection of human-kind, animals, plants, air, water, soil, as well as cultural and other material goods from harmful impact on the environment

■ Co-operation to develop a sustainable urban environment ■ Development of concepts for the protection of nature and the landscape ■ Protection, securing, maintenance, formation and development

of nature and the landscape■ Measures towards the protection of nature and biodiversity

System Auditwww.ecolup.info 85

8.5 Positions and Specialised Departments and Offices Relevant to the Environment

8System Audit

Department of Public Grounds

■ Creation of a network of biotope-systems ■ Maintenance of appearance of landscape ■ Designation and maintenance of nature and landscape conservancy

areas and areas of particular significance (natural monuments)■ Development of concepts for water protection ■ Measures to protect water ■ Communal protection of bodies of water ■ Restoration of bodies of water to natural state ■ Development of concepts to maintain and support the environmental

function of forest areas ■ Measures to maintain and support the environmental function

of forest areas ■ Managed forestry ■ Draws up landscape development plans and green area plans ■ Designation and maintenance of green strips along roadways ■ Green area planning and development of open area

(park and open areas, sport and playgrounds, cemeteries)■ Designation and maintenance of green areas and parking facilities ■ Designation and maintenance of recreation areas and play areas■ Designation and maintenance of small garden areas ■ Care and maintenance of green areas, sport and playgrounds,

street plantings, ditches and bodies of water, natural monuments■ Eco-audit·Formal and informal events in the field

of environmental protection■ Planning for compensatory measures■ Environmental acceptability assessments

Offices / Specialised department

Areas of Work Relevant to the Environment Name of Employee

Department ofMunicipal Engineering

■ Development of concepts for prevention of noise pollution■ Measures against noise pollution ■ Development of concepts for protection of soil ■ Measure to protect soil■ Mapping, investigation, and redevelopment of contaminated sites■ Maintenance of property register incl. parcel descriptions

accessible to the public ■ Development of concepts for the protection of ground water■ Measures for protection of groundwater ■ Development of concepts to prevent air pollution,

for energy planning and to protect the climate ■ Measures to limit emissions ■ Measures to protect the climate■ Concepts for traffic planning ■ Concepts for traffic-flow and -regulation planning■ Transportation development plan ■ Measures for traffic regulation ■ Designation and maintenance of roadways, paths and public squares ■ Designation and maintenance of roadway conditions

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8.5 Positions and Specialised Departments and Offices Relevant to the Environment

8 System Audit

Building Admini-stration Department

■ Administration of funding programmes

Building RegulatoryDepartment

■ Assessments on planning concepts and projects of third parties ■ Handle building permit application and approval process ■ Consulting services for building contractors ■ Division of property parcels ■ Supervision of building projects ■ Inspection of building projects

Offices / Specialised department

Areas of Work Relevant to the Environment Name of Employee

■ Designation and maintenance of public transportation and requisite infrastructure

■ Designation and maintenance of public bodies of water and hydraulic engineering plants

■ Drainage of waste water ■ Maintenance of city waste water disposal service■ New construction, maintenance, and repair of roadways,

paths, public squares and waterways ■ New construction, maintenance, and repair of pedestrian and bicycle

paths ■ New construction, maintenance, and repair of street lighting,

traffic light systems ■ Input for urban development■ Input for building permit procedure

Property RegistrationOffice and BuildingAdministration

■ Basic information concerning properties ■ Conduct procedures for change in property ownership

Department of Public Works

■ Designation and running of public transportation services and requisite infrastructure

Roads Department Administrative district

Administrative district

Administrative district

See Chapter 8.2

See Chapter 8.2

Department ofAgriculture,Landscape and Soil

District ForestryOffice

Environmentalrepresentative

Environmental team

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As explained in Chapter 8.2, theimplementation of an environ-mental management system isnot the responsibility of the envi-ronmental management represen-tative alone, but rather that of allstaff and departments concerned

with the process of urban landuse planning. The planningdepartments must be kept up todate as well and included in theimplementation of the environ-mental programme. In order to establish binding

fields of competency for this co-operative process, the mayor ashead of the administrative orga-nisation and/or the departmenthead must set position-relatedand procedural regulations orcontractual stipulations.

8.6 Position-Related and Procedural Regulations

8 System Audit

EXAMPLE

Example for a Procedural RegulationProcedural Regulation for the Public Grounds Department,Municipal Engineering Office, Building Administration Department,Building Regulatory Department, Property Registration Office,Department of Public Works …

In 2004, an environmental management system in accordance withthe EU eco-audit regulation (EMAS II) was introduced in the muni-cipality of xy for application in the field of communal urban landuse planning. Mr./Ms xy is as environmental management representative respon-sible for the co-ordination of the environmental managementsystem. You will find complete information on the environmentalprogramme and EMS structure in the environmental managementmanual in Mr./Ms xy’s office and in the Intranet/Internet under …

Environmental management can only be successful if all employ-ees and departments co-operate and do their part to implement themeasures agreed upon and to achieve our environmental goals.

All specialised departments and offices are instructed to:

■ update staff regularly (at least twice annually) on current progresson the environmental management system and the environmentalprogramme

■ encourage staff to contribute their ideas for achieving our environ-mental goals

■ collect and analyse the reference data stipulated in the environ-mental programme and pass this information on to the environ-mental management representative

■ participate in environmental team meetings ■ implement the environmental measures agreed upon in good time

to the extent that they fall into the department’s area of responsi-bility and make regular reports to the environmental managementrepresentative

■ support the environmental management representative to conductan internal audit if needed

Date Mayor XY

EXAMPLE

Example Überlingen: Contractual Stipulation

City of Überlingen –Environmental Management forCommunal Urban Land UsePlanning Stipulation in Contracts forAdministrative Posts as of March2004 § 2 Basis of Contract

The signing party must complywith the following plan excerptsor other standards as a part ofhis/her duties:

The environmental policy andenvironmental programme of theCity of Überlingen, passed bythe Town Council on ..........(see attachments)

§ 8 Additional Agreements

As a part of his/her duties, thesigning party must collect andupdate the reference data stipu-lated in the environmental pro-gramme for urban land useplanning for the City of Überlin-gen. For this contract, these arespecifically:..........

Überlingen, ..........Thomas Nöken, Director,City Planning Department

Volkmar Weber,Mayor of Überlingen

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8.7 Training Courses for Employees

8 System Audit

The expertise of every employee isof great importance for an envi-ronmental management system.The continual improvement thatEMAS requires also applies toadministrative employees’ know-ledge. Employees‘ level of compe-tency should be continuallyimproved in particular throughtraining courses as a complementto their job-related education andjob experience. For this reason,“education, level of awareness andcompetency“ are important fieldsfor the implementation and suc-cess of environmental manage-ment.

Along with training courses forjob-related topics, employeesshould regularly receive informa-tion about environmental manage-ment and its progress in the orga-nisation.

The head of an office or depart-ment should co-ordinate theimportant work of establishingwhat educational needs are presentamong the staff. In this way, coursetopics requested by employees canbe integrated into the training planand the co-ordinating instance cankeep track of the wide range ofcourse offerings. The staff’s feed-back on the training courses canbe used to pass on informationabout high-quality courses to otheremployees and to communicatethe contents of courses to a widerpublic. From beginning to end, successfulenvironmental management re-quires the participation of stafffrom all levels. Continuity can beensured from the outset by esta-blishing a continually maintainedIntranet that connects the admini-strations of a number of municipa-lities. This medium can provideup-to-date links and information

concerning new legislation, proce-dures, ideas, and examples fromcommunal urban land use plan-ning, as well as informing staff onthe latest scheduling and personnelissues within the individual admi-nistrations. Because such anIntranet provides so many impor-tant services, it is worth establis-hing even in small communities.Through this medium, it is ensuredthat all participants receive thelatest information on city planningand its progress.

The field of land use planning andurban development already offersa wide range of training courses inGermany and Austria. You canfind information on them in the

Internet and at conferences andtrade fairs in the field. Often youwill discover that in your ownregion there are specialised officesthat offers further education coursesin the field of communal urbanland use planning or on new pro-grammes such as the StrategicEnvironmental Assessment. Otheropportunities are offered at thestate level. Example: Landsiedlung Baden-Württemberg GmbH offers interdi-sciplinary courses on urban andmunicipal planning, or the Officefor Future Development (“Büro fürZukunftsfragen“), a part of theVorarlberg provincial government. Internet example: www.umweltbildung.de

The Municipality’s Responsibilities as an Organisation:

■ Acknowledge the importance of continual information and further education on environmental issues

■ Take stock of need for training courses, always taking uppermanagement into consideration, as well

■ Training courses for all employees whose activities have an impacton the environment

Raise level of awareness at all levels:

■ Significance of conforming to environmental policy and environmental management system

■ Significance of the real and potential impact of their activities on the environment

■ Significance of their duties and responsibilities for successfullyimplementing the environmental policy, the procedure and stipulations of the environmental management system

■ The significance of the consequences of deviating from given pro-cedures

■ Documentation of training courses

INFO

Monitoringwww.ecolup.info 89

Keeping the public informed is avery important issue for EMAS.The most important issue fordoing so is the environmentalstatement containing all-impor-tant information about the EMSand the environmental policy, aswell as the complete environmentalprogramme.

The environmental statement,including new findings and vali-dated by the environmental veri-fier, must be updated after eachinternal audit. If the environmentalverifier makes a yearly visit tothe municipality (because he orshe is conducting the yearly ISOcertification or a yearly EMADvalidation is necessary), he or shewill assess it. Otherwise, he or shecan assess the updates environ-mental statements and the reference documents (reports oninternal audit, current environ-mental programme, etc.) from his or her own office desk.

Annex III of the EMAS directivesets criteria for what informationmust be contained in the envi-ronmental statement:■ Introduction written by the

“highest executive authorities“, i.e. the mayor

■ Short description of the orga-nisation and its activities (seeChapter 4.2) and assessmentof the relevance to the envi-ronment of these activities(see Chapter 6.3)

■ Description of the currentcondition of the environmentusing qualitative statementsand the basic reference figures(see Chapters 6.1, 6.4, 13)

■ Environmental policy (seeChapter 7.2)

■ Environmental programmewith goals and measures (seeChapters 7.3. through 7.8)

■ Management structure withdesignation of EM-representa-tive, environmental team andperson responsible for communication with the outside world (see Chapters 8.2 through 8.4)

The environmental statement isintended to inform and encoura-ge local residents and all otherinterest groups to take interest inthe topic of communal urbanland use planning and to becomeinvolved in local government.Incomprehensible official langua-ge and deadly expanses of stati-stics do nothing to contribute toachieving this goal. What is nee-ded is an understandable andinformative overview of environ-mental management and the pro-gress being made.

9. The Environmental Statement

9Monitoring

Constance Foundation and expertsfrom the Ecological Institute andNürtingen University, an environ-mental team consisting of specialisedoffices and representatives of theTown Council drew up an environ-mental programme touching on allenvironmental aspects of relevanceto the field over the course ofeight workshops. “Environmentalprogramme“ is a term taken fromthe EU Eco-Audit Regulations thatdesignates the concrete environ-mental goals and measures thatspecific instances are responsiblefor realising within set time frames.

The following environmental state-ment is the result of Wolfurt’s par-ticipation in the ECOLUP LIFE pro-ject and will inform you about ourconcrete contribution to solvingthe primary environmental pro-blem in the thickly settled centreof Europe: the ever-increasing rateof land use and the excessive sett-lement of the landscape.

Erwin Mohr Mayor of Wolfurt

Our Community

Wolfurt lies on a western slope ofthe Vorarlberg Rhine valley betweenthe provincial capital Bregenz andthe largest city in the Vorarlbergprovince, Dornbirn. Due to its cen-tral location in the “Dreiländereck“(“place where three countriesmeet“), Wolfurt has in the course ofrecent decades developed from arural agricultural village to a prospering site for commercialfirms. Despite the increased influxof population in connection withthis change and the general demo-graphic development, the area hasbeen able to retain a great numberof its families, which in particularhas had a positive effect on privatecare provided for the elderly.

At the beginning of the seventies,when the zoning plan was passed,the area underwent a populationexplosion, which led to a dispro-portional designation of constructionsites. Studies conducted as a partof the communal land use develop-ment concept have calculated thatconstruction sites for approx.30,000 inhabitants exist. Withinthis context, the planned develop-ment of settlement surface areausing the instruments available toland use planning is hardly possi-ble. One of the few managementpossibilities is the application ofspecific requirements for construction.For example, in this way retrospec-tive concentration within existingsettlement areas can be made moreattractive than new construction,thus reducing the amount of newland used. All that can be donewithin the context of urban deve-lopment planning has been tomaintain existing settlement borders,develop the “Hohe Brücke“ busi-ness district, control the number ofindividual construction projects byregulating the number of projectsthat can be conducted at once timeand in particular through non-invasive changes in currentprojects so as to ensure that urbandevelopment planning goals aremet. Most recently, the pressure puton those remaining open spaces byrecreational use has created a particular need for intelligent solutions.

European EnvironmentalManagement System EMAS

EMAS for communal urban landuse planning conforms to all prere-quisites for registration in accor-dance with Chapter 2 of theOrganisation Guidance as establishedby the Commission (2001/861/EG).This text stipulates that an organi-

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9. The Environmental Statement

9 Monitoring

The Environmental Statement –Municipality of Wolfurt

ECOLUP: EnvironmentalManagement for the CommunalLand Use Planning in theMunicipality of Wolfurt

Environmental management forcommercial businesses, serviceproviders, or particular communitylocations such as town administra-tion buildings, the city greenhousesor swimming areas – of course!But for communal planning processes? Is that at all possible,and if so, is it worth it?

When the Lake ConstanceFoundation asked our communityin July 2001 if we would like toparticipate in the ECOLUP LIFEproject, we had a great deal ofopen questions. To that point, nocommunity had rigorously appliedthe ambitious official Europeanenvironmental system EMAS to itsurban land use planning processes.

Nevertheless, we did not hesitateto join the other partner communi-ties Constance, Überlingen, andDornbirn in participating in thispilot project supported by theEuropean Commission. Under theco-ordination of the LakeConstance Foundation and suppor-ted by the Ecological Institute inBregenz and Nürtingen University,we developed an environmentalmanagement system with whichwe aimed to continually improvethe environmental performance ofour municipality’s urban land useplanning.

In the last two years, we havebeen intensely occupied with theeffects our urban land use plan-ning has on the environment.Under the supervision of the Lake

Monitoringwww.ecolup.info 91

sation may also register smallerunits than an organisational loca-tion under exceptional circumstan-ces, given:■ the subfield of the organisational

location produces clearly defi-ned products, performs servicesor undertakes activities of itsown and the environmentalaspects and effects of the sub-field can be clearly identifiedand differentiated from those ofother, non-registered parts ofthe organisation location

■ the subfield possesses its ownexecutive management andadministration by means ofwhich to organise and check itsEMS and the subfield’s effectson the environment and ifnecessary to under take correctivemeasures

■ the subfield has been allocatedclearly defined responsibilitiesso that it can achieve theappropriate standards forapproval and thereafter main-tain the valid environmentalstandards

Communal urban land use planning is a perfect example of

fundamental indirect environmen-tal aspects such as excessive urbanexpansion, sealing-over of soil, theuse of green areas, energy, trans-portation, landscape developmentand free-flowing waters (seeChapter 6.1.) ECOLUP is focused oncontinual improvement withinthese environmental areas.

Nonetheless, the town planningoffice or urban development offi-ce is also to be regarded as anorganisational location, i.e. wemust make careful use of theresources that its employeesdirectly consume to go abouttheir daily tasks such as energy,water, paper, etc. Environmentalpollution caused by business tripsis another environmental aspectrelated to location that we takeinto consideration.

EMAS for Communal UrbanLand Use Planning

Who undergoes validation?

The local government as theinstitution directly responsible forthe process of urban land use

planning is the object of the vali-dation process. Executive instanceswithin the local government arethe specialised offices (buildingcontrol office or city planningoffice), the community counciland the mayor.

What undergoes validation?

The planning process and (to theextent possible) its execution isvalidated. Urban land use planningis made up of zoning regulationsand a development plan. Furtherprogrammes and plans, such as thetown development plan, the frame-work for urban development orspecialised plans can be includedin the programme. The city planning office is respon-sible for the expert supervision andthe implementation of communalurban land use planning. Amongits responsibilities are:■ Establishing urban develop-

ment goals and policy concepts

■ Framework for urban plan-ning, drafting urban develop-ment plan, informal planning

■ Preparatory communal urbanland use planning (zoning plan)

■ Binding urban land use planning, establishing landuse plans

■ Concepts for construction andopen sites, as well as citydesign for as a whole

■ Co-ordination of local plan-ning with planning conceptsfrom outside the city whicheffect areas extending beyondmunicipal boundaries

Further elements are the co-ordi-nation with instances responsiblefor issues of public concern, theconduction of public forums, andproviding citizens with informa-tion on the contents of urbanland use planning. As a part of

9. The Environmental Statement – Municipality of Wolfurt

9Monitoring

OrganisationPersonnel

ProcedureCheck

Docu-mentation

Environmental Goals

Environmental Assessment

Environmental Criteria

Conducting theEnvironmental

Programm

Environmental Programm

Company Environmental Assessment

Environmental Statement

European Environmental Management System EMAS

this procedure, the final planningdraft is turned over to theresponsible offices, the city coun-cil and the higher administrativeauthorities for approval.

Our Environmental ManagementSystem Meets the Standards ofthe European EMAS andContains Following Elements:

Environmental Policy: This is the centrepiece of EMAS.It defines the organisation’s ove-rall goals for environmental pro-tection to which all its program-mes and activities must be attu-ned. Link to Wolfurt

Environmental Assessment /Performance Audit:

As a first stocktaking and as partof the SWOT analysis, the effectsour communal urban land useplanning was having on the envi-ronment were recorded and evalu-ated. Through this process, the following environmental aspectswere identified as significant:excessive urban expansion, sealing-over of soil, use of greenareas, transportation, energy/climate,landscape and flowing water. Theaspect public involvement/partici-pation was also added, as it playsan important role in this planningprocess. Link to protocol of SWOTworkshop and SWOT profileWolfurt

Environmental Assessment /Compliance Audit:

EMAS requires evidence that thecommunity is aware of all rele-vant environmental legislation,has access to this body of lawand always keeps its informationup to date. In the ComplianceAudit, the municipality’s confor-

mity to legal standards, i.e. itsability to observe legal guidelines,is reviewed. In the municipality of Wolfurt, allemployees occupied with urbanland use planning have access toa federal (RIS) and a provinciallegal data bank for Vorarlberg(VORIS). There, they can use thecontinually updated legal textsrelevant to their work. In addi-tion, a loose-leaf collection ofcurrent provincial law, variouslegal commentaries, and a collec-tion of municipal protocols areavailable in the office of theAmtsleiter. Furthermore, protocolsand decisions can be access byevery employee through the“Consolidate“ workflow system. As a part of the evaluation theydraw up, representatives of publicinterest groups also investigatewhether the legal standards intheir respective area of expertiseare being observed. Among thegroups regularly asked to assessthe management system are thespatial planning office and thedistrict agricultural authoritiesseated in the Vorarlberg provincialgovernment, as well as the chambers of labour, commerceand agriculture.

Environmental Assessment /System Audit

An environmental managementsystem requires systematic pro-cesses, i.e. an overall systematicin order to function. For this reas-on, we have adapted or expandedour administrative structures tomeet EMAS requirements. Our environmental managementrepresentative is WolfgangDittrich from the Building ControlOffice (Bauamt). With supportfrom the environmental team, heis responsible for co-ordinating

environmental management andreports regularly to the mayorand town council on the currentenvironmental situation, theimplementation of the environ-mental programme, and theresults of the measures alreadyundertaken. Mr. Dittrich is alsoresponsible for providing infor-mation to the public. If you havequestions or suggestions concer-ning our environmental manage-ment system, please feel free tocontact him: Tel: 0 55 74/68 40-22 Fax: 0 55 74/68 40-20 e-mail: wolfgang.dittrich@wolfurt.at Link to organisational structure

Environmental Programme:

Our environmental programmecontains concrete goals for muni-cipal urban land use planning; inorder to review these, we havealso formulated reference figures.In doing so, we concentrated onthe following significant environ-mental aspects: excessive urbanexpansion, sealing-off of soil, useof green areas, transportation,energy/climate, landscape andflowing water. The environmentalprogramme defines our workschedule for March, 2004 toMarch, 2007 on the basis of con-crete measures delegated to clearlydefined competencies, a schedule,and the personnel and financialresources necessary for imple-menting them. The reference datawe have chosen are intended topermit us to follow the develop-ment of each environmentalaspect and to measure the resultsof the measures we undertake.Both the environmental policyand the environmental program-me will be approved1 by the towncouncil on ........, making it binding for the entirety of oururban land use planning.

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9. The Environmental Statement

9 Monitoring

Monitoringwww.ecolup.info 93

Link to environmental programmeWolfurt

Assessment (Validation) of theEnvironmental Statement

An independent environmentalverifier assesses whether ourcommunal administration hasobserved the standards set downin the Eco-Audit regulations andwhether the data in the environ-mental statement are correct. Ifthis is the case, the communaladministration can be enteredinto the EU register of validatedlocalities and can use the EMASlogo in its public relations Theland use planning in our commu-nity was validated on ....... by....... , an environmental verifierfrom ........

Environmental Assessment /Internal Audit:

Every management system con-tains procedures for self-supervi-sion and –correction. One of theresponsibilities of our environ-mental management representativeis to conduct a yearly internalaudit in order to establish whetherthe environmental managementsystem is working and the envi-ronmental policy is being imple-mented. Every three years, a re-validation is conducted by anexternal environmental verifier. It is only by means of regularassessments and updates of goalsand measures that environmentalmanagement can achieve its purpose of continually improvingthe environmental performanceof our urban land use planning.

What advantages does ECOLUP,i.e. and environmental manage-ment system in accordance withEMAS, provide for our commu-nity?

■ Systematic environmentalprotection via eco-audit: allareas relevant to the environ-ment are reviewed. Only thenare goals set and measuresplanned.

■ Eco-audit brings aboutsystematisation of environ-mental data; as a result of theenvironmental assessment,data are collected that werepreviously spread in therecords of different departments.

■ Eco-audit as a communicativeprocess supports trans-depart-mental co-operation.

■ Administrations that introducean eco-audit show that theyare taking their position as arole model for the rest of thecommunity seriously.

■ The clear designation ofresponsibilities and competencies,as well as the clear descriptionof processes can contribute tothe elimination of points ofconflict between departments:Environmental controllingholds within it the prerequisitesfor the successful implementationof measures for the protectionof the environment.

■ Employees are motivationbecause they have been acti-vely involved in the system.

■ Greater transparency andmore communication with thepublic make it easier to appro-ach problems and conflicts ina constructive manner.

■ The environmental manage-ment system for communalurban land use planning inaccordance with EMAS sim-

plifies the introduction of theStrategic EnvironmentalAssessment for Plans andProgrammes, required as ofJuly, 2004 in all Europeancountries. Similarly, theimplementation of Europeanregulations such as the Fauna-Flora-HabitatRegulation or the EU WaterGuidelines will also be easier,since the necessary informa-tion is now available and prepared and participatingcommunities can demonstratethat they have introducedmonitoring procedures.

■ EMAS is compatible withother instruments and createsthe groundwork for synergyeffects, e.g. with the LocalAgenda 21 programme.Agenda results take on greatersignificance if they have beenintegrated into an obligatoryenvironmental programme.

1 Mayor Mohr intends to present the envi-

ronmental policy and programme to repre-

sentatives of the community so as not

only to discuss it with the community

council. This will occur spring of 2004.

9. The Environmental Statement

9Monitoring

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10 Organisational Environmental Assessment: Internal Audit

10 Monitoring

Procedures to check and correctactivities are part of every mana-gement system. EMAS, too, requi-res a concrete test of procedures inorder to ensure on a regular basisthat the measures undertaken asapart of the EMS and the environ-mental programme are truly beingimplemented. The procedure testconsists of two elements: ■ a regular procedure check that

can be conducted by a repre-sentative of the town planningdepartment and/or another ofthe specialised offices and de-partments involved

■ the internal audit (organisatio-nal environmental assessment),which is conducted by an out-side auditor (or team) who hasno connection to the field to beverified. This can be the EM-representative if he or she isnot an employee of the townplanning department. Other-wise, someone from anotherspecialised office or depart-ment, from a neighbouringcommunity or an external con-sultant must be commissioned.

During the regular procedure test,not all areas need be examined. Inthe case of town planning depart-ments and other involved speciali-sed offices and departments, werecommend that: ■ development plans are checked

for their compatibility with theestablished environmentalgoals and programme whenthey are being drawn up;

■ the statistics used in the envi-ronmental programme are col-lected on a yearly basis andcompared with the figures fromthe previous year as well aswith the environmental goalsthat have been set;

■ the description of all authori-ties and specialised offices anddepartments having to do with

the environment are broughtup to date on a regular basis;

■ the updated versions of lawsand regulations with relevanceto the environment and theirobservation are checked on aregular basis;

■ regular procedure check is apermanent point on the agendaof the environmental team’smeetings.

All municipal authorities and spe-cialised offices are to be made res-ponsible for continual checks orco-operation by means of instruc-tions issued by the mayor as thechief executive of the municipaladministration (see Chapter 8.5).All procedure checks are to be do-cumented by a protocol (e.g. pro-tocol of the environmental teammeeting in which the topic wasdiscussed).In addition to continual checks,EMAS requires an internal audit(organisational environmental as-sessment), i.e. an independentstudy of the new managementsystem with the purpose of com-paring the then- and now-situa-tions. This internal audit must beconducted for the first time beforethe system has been verified bythe executive instance in the localgovernment or by the EM-represe-ntative in charge of it. Afterwards,the audit should be conducted atregular intervals, and at least everythree years (EMAS, Annex II).The internal audit emphasises: ■ determining whether the direct

and indirect environmental is-sues and their evaluation areup to date

■ determining whether the envi-ronmental policy is up to date

■ comparing present and targetrealisation of the environmen-tal programme

■ comparison of current and tar-get progress towards achieving

environmental goals ■ checking whether the laws and

regulations of relevance to theenvironment have been upda-ted and are being followed

■ checking the EMS’s functions(organisation, documentation,internal communication as wellas with the community as awhole, regular procedure check)

■ checking the training plan foremployees and that it is beingheld to

If the EM-representative is employ-ed outside of the town planningdepartment, he or she may conductthe internal audit. Depending onthe extent of the assessment, he orshe can seek support in conductingit and in all cases should expectpreparatory work from the envi-ronmental team. If the director ofthe town planning department orone of his or her employees hasbeen named EMS representative,then an independent auditor or anauditing team from another specia-lised office or department, a neigh-bouring municipality or an exter-nal consultant or verifier must bedesignated. Of overall importanceis that the auditor or auditing teamhave a solid grounding in theexpert knowledge necessary toconduct EMAS and communalurban land use planning.

In order to make it easier to con-duct the internal audit and toensure the comparability of theresults, a set procedure has beendrawn up in the programme for thecompany environmental assess-ment. All specialised offices anddepartments or the environmentalteam must be informed an appro-priate amount of time in advanceas to the exact steps to be takenand the timeframe so that they areable to make the appropriate pre-parations and co-operate as requi-

Monitoringwww.ecolup.info 95

red. The results of the audit are tobe evaluated and presented to thetown council or the mayor in theform of an audit report, along withrecommendations for improve-ments to procedure, if called for.Any corrective measures subse-quently agreed upon and theirimplementation must also be recor-ded in documentation.

10 Organisational Environmental Assessment: Internal Audit

10 Monitoring

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10 Organisational Environmental Assessment: Internal Audit

10 Monitoring

TIP: CHECKLIST /PROGRAMME FOR THE INTERNAL AUDIT

EMAS Element Objects of Audit Check /Possible Corrections

EnvironmentalAssessmentExternal Definition ofSystem

■ Which data were collected?■ Framework for SWOT-analysis■ List of information analysed and reference figures

along with year sample taken

Must / can further reference figures orinformation be collected?

Performance-Audit ■ Results of SWOT-Analysis (report)■ Protocol from SWOT workshop ■ List of direct and indirect areas of impact on

environment ■ Evaluation of direct and indirect impact on

environment according to significance (description on analytical criteria)

Has the environmental situation changed? Must further direct or indirect areas ofimpact on the environment be takeninto consideration?

Compliance Audit ■ List of environmentally relevant legal stipulations■ Description: How is it ensured that legal

stipulations are kept up to date? Who is responsiblefor the observation of which laws and regulations?

Have the laws and regulations relevantto the environment been brought up todate? Is their observation guaranteed?

System-Audit ■ Protocols of the EMS workshops■ Organigram of organisation relevant for EMS■ Organigram of documentation relevant for EMS ■ Organigram of internal and external communication

relevant to EMS

Must further specialised offices anddepartments, documentation, commu-nication relevant to the EMA be takeninto consideration?

EnvironmentalProgramme

■ Have all environmental issues identified as significant been taken into consideration in the environmental programme?

■ Have the environmental goals been quantifiedwhere possible?

■ Environmental measures: Have task responsibilities and schedule been set, the necessary financing been allocated in the budget?

■ Has the programme been approved by the town council?

■ Current stage of environmental policy's realisation

■ Evaluation of results of environmental measures taken (successful, moderately successful, unsuccessful - why)

■ Comparison of current and target progress towards environmental goals

■ Protocols of environmental team's meetings

■ Must further or other issues of relevance to the environment be taken into consideration?

■ Can further environmental goals bequantified?

■ Must environmental goals be modified? Explanation.

■ Have there been delays in the realisation of certain measures? Talk with office or department responsible.

■ Must the schedule be revised?■ Must environmental measures be

expanded or replaced?■ Are the reference data and other

information concerning the environment readily available? Has this information been evaluated?

■ Have any environmental measures not been undertaken? Any environmental goals not realised?

Environmental Policy

■ Are all the fundamental environmental goals listed inthe environmental policy?

■ Has the commitment to observing environmental law and regulations and to continually increasing benefitsto the environment been included?

■ Has the environmental policy been passed by the town council?

■ Must fundamental changes to one or more issues with impact on the environment be taken into consideration?

■ Has the revised environmental policy been passed by the town council?

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10 Organisational Environmental Assessment: Internal Audit

10 Monitoring

TIP: CHECKLIST /PROGRAMME FOR THE INTERNAL AUDIT

Documentationof the EMS

Structure for the implementation of theEMS:Organigram of the instances responsible for EMS-relevant matters

■ Have all relevant specialised offices,departments, instances responsible forissues of public concern been involved?■ Is there a complete listing of instan-ces with responsibilities relevant to theenvironment?

EMAS Element Objects of Audit Check /Possible Corrections

■ Description of tasks for environmental management system representative

■ Description of tasks for employees involved■ Description of activities within specialised offices

relevant to environment, specific employees or positions responsible

■ Is the task description for the EM-representative complete? Does he orshe hold the appropriate competencies to fulfil them?

■ Is the description of the activities with relevance to the environment complete?

Procedural or position-related instructions and/or regu-lations of relevance to EMAS, contract elements

■ Must current procedural or position-related regulations be revised?

■ Must any further regulations be drawn up?

Checklists for the collection of further reference dataand environmental information: who, what, when

■ Were all agreed-upon reference data collected on a regular basis and routed to the EM-representative?

■ Were the reference data evaluated? What do they tell us about developments in the condition of the environment?

■ Do they indicate a continual increase in benefits to the environment?

Organigram for documentation structures relevant toEMAS (which documents, where located, distribution list)Organigram for communication structures relevant toEMAS

■ Are existing structures for documentation and communicationadequate? Have all pertinent instances been included?

■ Have the procedures specific to EMAS been adequately documented?Has there been excessive documentation?

Documentationof EMS

Training schedule for employeesInvolvement of employees in the EMS

■ Could the previous year's training programme be realised? If not, explanation.

■ Were environmental issues currently relevant to urban land use planning taken into consideration in training programme?

■ Were all employees kept up to date onthe development of the EMS? (protocols of meetings with employeesof all involved specialised offices)

■ Were their suggestions, ideas, points of criticism taken into adequate consideration?

TIP: CHECKLIST /PROGRAMME FOR THE INTERNAL AUDIT

EMAS Element Objects of Audit Check /Possible Corrections

Documentationof EMS

Description of measures intended to gain public partici-pation: Procedures required by law and procedures opento voluntary participation

■ Was the procedure required by law improved? (see measures listed in environmental programme)

■ Were the procedures open to voluntary participation undertaken, documented and evaluated?

Description of environmental team in respect to participation of all relevant interest groups: participants,function of environmental team within the EMS, wor-king method, documentation

■ Do all designated specialised officesand interest groups participate in environmental team meetings?

■ Are meeting results documented and passed on to the mayor /city council for discussion or approval?

■ Does the environmental team provide the required support /groundwork for the EM-representative? Is this support adequate?

Statement to the effect that emergencies in urban landuse planning will not occur, as the issues being dealtwith are in the planning phase, not in the process ofrealisation

■ Has the statement been drawn up?

EnvironmentalStatement

■ Has the town council passed the environmental statement?

■ Is the statement updated regularly?■ Is it available to the public?

(in print, in the Internet)■ Are public reactions processed

with care?

Environmental Manual

All documents in printed or digital form with relevanceto the EMAS

■ Has the environmental handbook been regularly updated?

■ Were employees informed of the existence of an environmental handbook?

■ Is it accessible for all employees?■ Have the employees been reminded

/motivated at regular intervals to learn about the processes and current state of the EMS?

Programme for company environmental assessment forthe EM-representative. Procedure /checklist for use inthe company environmental assessment (internal audit).

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10 Organisational Environmental Assessment: Internal Audit

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13Monitoring

13. ECOLUP Core Reference Figures Set

Reference Figure Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Land Use ConditionsProportion of settled surface area Settlement and transportation surface

area to surface area of municipality% Settlement and transportation

surface area, surface area of municipality

Density of Use

Settlement density (*1) Number of inhab. to settlementand transportation surface area

inhab./ha Number of inhabitants, settmentand transportation surface area

Housing density (*1) Number of inhab. to structureand open site surface area in ha

inhab./ha Number of inhabitants, structureand open site surface area

Change over Time

Change in density Present number of inhabitants plus influx of inhabitants to present centresurface area2 plus surface area to beincorporated minus present number ofinhabitants to present centre surface area yearly

inhab./ha Present number of inhabitants, influx of inhabitants present centre surface area,surface area to be incorporated

(*1) as value found in the statistical records and as figure for comparison before and after (*2) Centre surface area = settlement and transportation surface area within centre of municipality

Excessive Urban Expansion

Reference Figure Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Amount of sealed transportation surface in relevant area

Transportation surface area/ total relevant surface area

% Transportation surface area in relevant area, Total surface area of relevant area

Extent of sealing-off of soil per

unit of relevant area1

Structure floor area + transportation surface area to total relevant surface area

% Structure floor area, transportation surface area in relevant area, total relevant area

Sealing-Off of Soil

A core set of reference figureshas been developed for use in theECOLUP management system bymeans of which sustainable devel-opment through communal urbanland use planning can be meas-ured and checked. In most cases,these reference figures can beapplied no matter which meas-ures have been chosen for reali-sation. Reference figures particu-lar to specific measures havebeen collected and presentedaccording to environmentalaspect elsewhere (see Chapters 7.3

through 7.8). If a statistic is to bechosen for the core set of data, itmust be simple to calculate fromthe given data material, the so-called base data, and be easilyapplicable as well as meaningfulfor the purposes of communalurban land use planning. Somereference figures can also beimplemented as indicators forsustainable local developmentand are also used in this way inthe literature. What is new abouthow ECOLUP uses data is theconcentration on that informa-

tion which is available as a partof all spatial planning conceptsor at least are a necessary aspectof the planning process. In addi-tion, the core set of referencedata represents all environmentalaspects which have been identi-fied as significant for communalurban land use planning (see CD-ROM). Most of the referencefigures indicate a status quo andmust be adapted to serial data ora benchmarking system so thatthe improvement in environmen-tal performance can be shown.

102 Monitoring www.ecolup.info

13. ECOLUP Core Reference Figures Set

13 Monitoring

Reference Figure Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

General extent of development Transportation surface area tototal surface area or municipalsurface area

% Transportation surface area,total surface area (*3),municipal surface area

Extent of development planned in project

Transportation surface area tototal zoned construction land

% Transportation surface area,total zone construction land

“Modal split“ – choice of mode of transportation

Proportion of various modes oftransportation (NMV (bicycle),MIV (auto, motorcycle, publictransportation) to the totalamount of traffic (Comparativemeasure: routes/ legs of journey)

% Number of bicycles, number of motorists and motorcyclists, number of public transportation users

Kilometres per person Kilometres per person/ inhabi-tant/day (according to mode of transportation)

Pkm perday

Local statistics

Transportation / Mobility

Reference Figure Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Proportion regenerative sourcesof energy to total energy use

Total energy use/ energy usefrom regenerative raw materials

% Communal energy statistics

Proportion of commercialenterprises incompatible withhousing needs

Number of commercial enterpriseswith toxic emissions that accor-ding to law are not compatiblewith housing needs/ total numberof commercial enterprises

% Number of commercial enter-prises with toxic emissions*, total number of commercialenterprises

*Guideline for evaluating the level of emissions at outdoor locations in core settlement areas, village areas and mixed usage areas:60 dB(A) daytime45 dB(A) night-time

in general housing areas and small settlement areas: 55 dB(A) daytime40 dB(A) night-time

in purely housing areas: 50 dB(A) daytime35 dB(A) night-time

in spa areas, for hospitals and permanent care institutions: 45 dB(A) daytime

35 dB (A) night-time

Source: Sechste Allgemeine Verwaltungsvorschrift zum Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz (TA Lärm) from 26th August, 1998

Climate / Energy / Emissions

Reference Figure Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Available open areas2 Total public green areas to number of inhabitants

m≈/inhab.

Total surface area of public greenareas, Recreation areas, Numberof inhabitants,Number of storeys

Green area figure 3 for relevant area

2ARLT/KOWARIK/MATHEY/REBELE (2003): Urbane Innenentwicklung in Ökologie und Planung; IÖR Schriften / Vol. 39, 3EVERTS (1989): Materialien der Grünordnungplanung, Part II, LFU-Schriften, Vol. 18

Total surface area + pavedcourtyards + transportationsurface area to green areas(the lower, the better)

figure Structure floor area,number of storeys transportationsurface area in relevant area,paved courtyard areas,remainingsurface area that could be madeinto green areas in relevant area

^^^^ Use of Green Areas

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13Monitoring

13. ECOLUP Core Reference Figures Set

4DEUTSCHE UMWELTHILFE (2002): Zukunftsfähige Kommune – Wettbewerb und Kampagne zur Unterstützung der Lokalen Agenda21 / This reference is also used in the set of environmental indicators for Baden Württemberg

Reference Figure Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Proportion conservation area4 Surface area Natura 2000 regions (ha), nature conservancyareas, natural monuments, natural parks, protected greenareas to total landscape surfacearea (ha)

% Surface areas of: Natura 2000 regions, nature con-servancy areas, natural monuments,natural parks, protected greenareas,total landscape surface area

Landscape Development

5 RUHR-UNIVERSITÄT-BOCHUM (2000): Indikatoren für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung in Bochum, Part II: Liste der Indikatoren

Reference Figure Calculation Unit Necessary Base Data

Proportion of flowing watersegments with adequate shoreline strips within the locality 5

Length of those flowing watersegments with at least 10 m wide shoreline strips within thelocality to the total length of flowing waters

% Length of flowing water segments

Flowing Water

As one of the requirements for theintroduction of an environmentalmanagement system the EMAScalls for an assessment by an inde-pendent, certified environmentalverifier. It is only after this personhas "validated" the managementsystem that it may be termed anapproved environmental manage-ment system according to EMAScriteria.

The environmental verifier must beaccredited by the GermanAccreditation and CertificationAssociation for EnvironmentalVerifiers and Organisations(Deutsche Akkreditierungs- undZulassungsgesellschaft für Um-weltgutachter und -organisationen,DAU) in Bonn. The accreditation isgranted for individual branches ofindustry in accordance with exi-sting NACE codes. You will find anindex of certified environmentalverifiers under www.diht.deTo date, no separate NACE code

has been introduced for the valida-tion of planning processes. Themost applicable NACE code is 75.1Public Administration ofMunicipalities and Districts. Asexplained in Chapter 3, EMASmeets the requirements of ISO14001. Therefore, the verifier canalso certify your organisation inaccordance with ISO at no extraeffort or cost. However, the ISOrequires a yearly on-site reassess-ment.

The environmental verifier valida-tes the environmental statement,i.e. he or she checks that the infor-mation it contains is correct andreliable and confirms its validity. Itlies within the powers of the envi-ronmental verifier to determinewhether an on-site reassessmentmust be conducted every one orthree years. He or she makes thisdecision on the basis of the num-ber of employees (fewer that 50)and the impact the organisation

has on the environment (apprecia-ble or less so). The long periods oftime required in the field of com-munal urban land use planning torealise objectives means that chang-es are therefore only measurable inthe long term. This ought to con-vince the environmental verifierthat a validation cycle of 36months is appropriate for an EMSin this field.

The environmental verifier carriesout the validation in two steps: areview of the documents and anon-site visit. The assessment of thedocuments includes all constituentparts of the environmentalmanagement manual (see Chapter11), including a draft of the envi-ronmental statement. The EM-representative is responsible forpreparing for the verifier's on-sitevisit. He or she must ensure that: ■ the environmental verifier is

given an appointment with the"top executive" (the mayor) in

14 . External Assessment Conducted by an Environmental Verifier

104 Monitoring www.ecolup.info

13 Monitoring

order to talk to him or herabout the environmental poli-cy and programme as well asthe inclusion of the decision-making instances in the EMS

■ the environmental manage-ment manual has beenbrought up to date and iscomplete

■ all employees have been infor-med of the verifier's visit andcan provide information ontheir duties within the frame-work of EM if necessary

■ the environmental verifiertakes random data samplesand is shown informationrelated to EM (protocols fromenvironmental team meetings,updates to reference data, theprocess by which the observa-tion of legal requirementsrelevant to the environment isensured, the contractual ele-ments handed over to theplanning office ....)

The results of the audit as well asnecessary corrections are discussedat the end of the visit. After theon-site assessment, the mayorreceives a detailed audit report. Ifspecific EMAS requirements havenot been met, the municipal admi-nistration normally is granted aperiod of time to make corrections.In the case of serious deviationsthat cannot be adequately correc-ted within this period, the environ-mental verifier does not grant thevalidation. But since you have theECOLUP Guidance to rely on, thiscannot happen to you!Once the environmental verifierhas declared the validity of theenvironmental statement, themunicipal administration can applyto the appropriate office (inGermany, usually the IHK -Chamber of Commerce) to beentered into the EMAS register. Tothis end, the validated environ-mental statement must be handed

in and a registration fee paid. The IHK then requests that theresponsible supervisory authori-ties - in this case the governmen-tal presidium for cities with over20,000 inhabitants or the officeof the county administrator forsmaller towns and municipalities- issue a statement as to whetherthe municipality concernedobserves all pertinent environ-mental legislation and grants thesupervisory authority a period offour weeks in which to assess theenvironmental statement. If noobjections arise, then the munici-pality is entered into the officialEMAS registry and is granted theright to use the EMAS logo in itspublic relations. The revalidation is conductedaccording to the same scheme.

14 . External Assessment Conducted by an Environmental Verifier

INFORMATION:

EMAS LogosLogos in the Internet:How the individual versionscan be used is set down inArt. 8 of the EMAS regulations.

INFORMATION:

Costs Incurred by ValidationYou should be prepared to coverthe following costs: the environ-mental verifier's fee, the DAU fee,and the fee for registration withthe IHK. What the environmentalverifier charges generally varywith the size of the organisation,the number of employees and thethe size of the location. The latteris not a factor in the validation ofa planning process. The DAU alsosets its fees according to thenumber of employees (50 - 920EURO) and the registration feelies between 220 and 800 EURO.depending on the size of theorganisation.An environmental verifier chargesa daily fee of ca. 1.000 EUROplus expenses. Depending on the

size of the municipality and thenumber of employees in the par-ticipating specialised offices, youshould expect validation to costfrom 4.000 to 10.000 EURO plus expenses.

We recommend that when choos-ing an environmental verifier you ask other communities abouttheir experience and be sure toask a number of verifiers for theirprice offers. If a neighbouringcommunity has also applied forvalidation, then be sure to ask fora "two-for-one" offer and negoti-ate a reduction in fees. If the environmental verifiercomes from your region, it savesyou travel costs, plus which it isthe ecologically sounder choice.

Version 2 for validated information

Version 1 for a validated envi-ronmental management system

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How can we define characteristicsdistinguishing ECOLUP from otherinstruments for environmentallyfriendly community development?Are there similarities, synergies,advantages or disadvantages to thevarious instruments available? In the following, we present themost important instruments thatare similar to ECOLUP and com-pare them with ECOLUP.

Strategic EnvironmentalAssessment ("StrategischeUmweltprüfung", SUP) and ECOLUPBy July of 2004, EU directive2001/42/EG for the assessment ofthe environmental impact of cer-tain plans and programmes (so-called Plan-UP directive) must beintegrated into federal legislation.In Germany, the Building Code isto be amended toward this end.The planned amendments areintended to unify and strengthenby means of the strategic environ-mental assessment the proceduralsteps in the field of communalurban land use planning so as toincrease the level of environmentalprotection afforded. The SUP isclosely linked to the environmentalacceptability assessment("Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung",UVP), anchored in Germany by theUVP law (2000). In the following,we will limit ourselves the SUPand not go into greater detailabout the UVP, since the SUP is amore concrete successor to theUVP especially intended for appli-cation to planning concepts andprogrammes.At the heart of the SUP lies theenvironmental report, whichestablishes, describes and analysesthe environmental impact of, aswell as alternatives to, a plannedproject in the field of communalurban land use. The environmental

report is intended to contribute tothe assessment of the project, thustaking environmental concernsinto consideration more extensive-ly than has been the case. The SUPaims to prevent the approval ofprojects that do substantial harmto the environment. This is alsowhat ECOLUP seeks to do! However, can the voluntary EMASfor communal urban land useplanning replace the SUP, whichwill probably be obligatory for thisplanning as of July, 2004?Unfortunately not, due to the fol-lowing differences between thesesets of regulations: 1) The SUP is a reactive assess-

ment instrument that reviewsthe expected environmentalimpact of a project, whereasECOLUP is a project-orientedenvironmental managementinstrument that is intended tobring about continual improve-ment to environmental perfor-mance in urban land use plan-ning.

2) The SUP's environmental reportis drawn up in reference to asingle concrete project, whereasECOLUP's environmentalassessment is applicable to allplans within the context of amunicipality's urban land useplanning.

3) The SUP serves the purpose ofpreventing the negative impacta project would have on theenvironment; ECOLUP goesone step further in that theenvironmental performancewithin the field of communalurban land use planning is tobe improved continually. How-ever, the implementation ofboth an SUP and of ECOLUPdepends on approval from thetown council.

Nevertheless, a community profitsfrom an SUP conducted within the

context of ECOLUP. Much of whatECOLUP accomplishes can bedrawn upon for an SUP, whichgreatly simplifies the SUP proce-dure. For example, the environ-mental goals that must be drawnup for the SUP environmentalreport are already present in theform of the environmental goalsestablished as a part of ECOLUP,making it unnecessary to work outgoals especially for the SUP. Youwill find further synergy effectslisted on the following table:

Environmental AcceptabilityAssessment within theFramework of NATURA 2000 andECOLUP

NATURA 2000 is a EuropeanUnion system of conservationareas that encompasses all areasthat are protected by the FFH andbird protection directives. NATURA2000 is intended to create a net-work of ecologically valuable areasin order to ensure the survival ofover 2000 types of habitats and700 plant and animal species inEurope. Before new projects or plans (fromregional development plans tosmall-scale development plans)may be undertaken in the vicinityof Natura 2000 areas, it must beestablished whether these activitieswould have a harmful influenceon a Natura 2000 area (FFH andbird protection areas). If an exami-nation of the plan or project con-cludes that no significant harm isto be expected, no further proce-dures are necessary. However, ifsignificant harm seems probable,an acceptability assessment inaccordance with §19a ff.BNatSchG (2003) in combinationwith article 6 of the FFH directivemust be conducted. An examina-tion according to the standards of

What Distinguishes ECOLUP from Other Instruments and Regulations?

15 ECOLUP Model Project

article 6, paragraph 2 to 4, FFHdirective is also binding for birdprotection areas. The acceptabilityassessment is conducted on thebasis of the environmental protec-tion goals that have been set forthe area. The significance of thepossible harm is as a rule measuredin terms of a decline in the naturalcondition of the area and the pos-sibility of a loss of surface area tothe habitat types or species habitatpresent. If the acceptability assess-ment establishes that the area'spresent condition is threatened, theapplicant must undertake all possi-ble measures to avoid or minimisethis harm. In addition, possiblealternatives, for example the pro-ject's implementation at another

location, must be taken into consi-deration. Like the SUP, the FFH acceptabilityassessment is a reactive assessmentinstrument intended to prevent aproject's harmful influence on pro-tected areas. ECOLUP, in contrast,aims as an environmentalmanagement system at continuallyimproving the environmental situ-ation, thus going beyond the pre-servation of given ecological ornatural conditions. A further diffe-rence lies in the FFH acceptabilityassessment's and ECOLUP's rangeof applicability. The FFH accepta-bility assessment must be conduc-ted for plans, projects or conceptsfor locations within or borderingon a FHH or bird protection area

that might cause substantial harmto the area. ECOLUP implementsan environmental assessment andan environmental managementsystem for the full scope of a com-munity's urban land use planning.Another difference is the areaaffected by the programs: the FFHdirective applies to areas thatmight include territory in a numberof municipalities, whereas ECOLUPcan only be applied within theadministrative framework of onecommunity.

European Water FrameworkDirective and ECOLUPIn comparison to the environmentalacceptability assessments depictedabove, the European water

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What Distinguishes ECOLUP from Other Instruments and Regulations?

15 ECOLUP-Model Project

ECOLUP's Synergy Effects for the SUP EMAS / ECOLUP

EMAS/ECOLUP Synergy SUP

Environmental goals for communalurban land use planning aredrawn up.

EMAS environmental goals canbe used for the SUP, thus simplifying its procedure.

Environmental goals form thebasis of the environmental report.

Measures are drawn up in theenvironmental programme inorder to achieve the environmentalgoals.

EMAS measures from the environmental programme can be used for the SUP as the(compensatory) measures itrequires.

Measures are drawn up to pre-vent, to decrease and as far aspossible to compensate substanti-al harm to the environment cau-sed by the plan's implementation.

An EMAS organisational structureis created that includes all envi-ronmentally relevant departmentsand office. ECOLUP recommendsthat an environmental team becreated.

An existing organisationalstructure in accordance withEMAS simplifies the implementation of the SUP.

Environmental data are collectedthrough co-operation betweenvarious authorities.

Environmental data includingreference figures and standardsare collected and calculated.

ECOLUP environmental data can be used for the SUP.

Environmental data, parts of whichmust be calculated, form the basisof the information in the SUP environmental report.

Monitoring the environmentalperformance is a precondition tothe introduction of environmentalmanagement according to EMAS,thus for ECOLUP as well.

ECOLUP monitoring can be used in determining environ-mental impact in accordancewith SUP, thus preventingredundancy.

The environmental impact ofplans and programmes must besupervised, to which end existingsupervisory mechanisms can beused (see EU directive2001/42/EG, article 10)

ECOLUP Model Projectwww.ecolup.info 107

framework directive demonstrates much greater similarity to ECOLUPdue to its management character. On the 22nd of December, 2000, theEuropean water framework directivecame into effect. Its goal is to re-place the former multiplicity ofwater directives with a modern,coherent European water code,thereby improving the condition ofthe aquatic ecosystem and the pre-sence of groundwater Keystonesare the evaluation of water condi-tions by means of biological andchemical test parameters as well asriver area management. The evalu-ation of the structure of bodies ofwater is as a part of this processan element of recording the biolo-gical condition of the surface ofbodies of water. River areamanagement is comprised of ananalysis and classification of theriver areas as well as the drawingup and implementation of pro-grammes of concerted measuresbased these finding in order toimprove the river area's condition. The directive calls for the drawing-up of river area plans applicableto the body of water from its sourceto its mouth. One aspect of thisprogress is the designation ofinflux areas on partial influxareas, as well as naming the admi-nistrative authorities or otherorganisations to be responsible forco-ordinating the planning andimplementation process. On thebasis of what kind of chemical andecological impact current condi-tions are having on water condi-tions as established by the riverarea plans, programmes of con-certed measures are to be drawnup in order to achieve the plan'senvironmental goals.

The similarities between theEuropean water framework directive and ECOLUP are:

■ the measurement if the impacthuman activities have on thecondition of bodies of waterand the depiction of the ecolo-gical and chemical water con-ditions (environmental assess-ment in ECOLUP)

■ the programmes of concertedmeasures (environmental pro-gramme and measures in ECO-LUP)

■ the revision of the programmesof concerted measures andriver area plans every six years(re-validation of the environ-mental management system inECOLUP every 3 years)

■ river area management (environmental managementfor communal urban land useplanning in ECOLUP)

■ the continuous improvement ofwater conditions (continuousimprovement of environmentalperformance in ECOLUP)

There is, however, a difference inthe areas of applicability. TheEuropean water framework directiverefers to the surface of bodies ofwater and ground water in theform of river areas and requiresthat obligatory river managementplans and programmes of concer-ted measures be applied to them.ECOLUP, in contrast, draws up anenvironmental managementsystem for communal urban landuse planing that can include riverareas among other things.

Local Agenda 21 and ECOLUPThe so-called Agenda 21 was passedat the 1992 UN Conference forEnvironment and Development(UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro as anaction programme calling for theintroduction of sustainable, envi-ronmentally appropriate develop-ment. In Chapter 28 of the actionprogramme, the world's communi-

ties are called upon to furtherdevelop the framework set byAgenda 21 at the local level. Fieldsimportant to the Local Agenda 21correspond to the following ECOLUP environmental aspects: ■ Excessive urban expansion ■ Public participation ■ Energy and climate■ Mobility■ WaterHowever, ECOLUP procedure is notcomparable to the instrumentsused in the Local Agenda 21 pro-cess. ECOLUP employs an environ-mental management system toconduct an environmental audit ofcommunal urban land use plan-ning. Local Agenda 21 projects arepartially political processes initia-ted by agenda groups and are notsubject to the EMAS guidelines orother binding procedures.Nonetheless, both instruments seekto achieve similar environmentalgoals. ECOLUP sets high environ-mental goals for the Agenda 21areas named above, thereby achiev-ing a wide-ranging contribution tosustainable development withincommunities. In this way, ECOLUPsupports the Local Agenda 21 byworking at the communal level bymeans of another instrument,namely EMAS. If Agenda repre-sentatives are included in the ECO-LUP environmental team, ECOLUPcan contribute to the integrationof Agenda goals into a bindingEMAS environmental programme.

What Distinguishes ECOLUP from Other Instruments and Regulations?

15 ECOLUP-Model Project

Literature and LinksOn the SUPhttp://www.uvp.de/welcome.html?http://www.uvp.de/veroeff/zusf.15.htmhttp://www.umweltbundesamt.at/umwelt/uvpsupemas0/sup/http://www.bmu.de/files/sup_richtlinie.pdfhttp://bundesrecht.juris.de/bundesrecht/uvpg/index.html

On NATURA 2000http://www.bfn.de/03/0303.htm http://www.bfn.de/03/030304.htmhttp://www.mlur.brandenburg.de/n/n_siche2.htm

On the European WaterFramework Directivehttp://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/de/archive/2000/l_32720001222de.htmlhttp://europa.eu.int/comm/envi-ronment/pubs/nature.htmhttp://www.umweltbundesamt.de

16. ECOLUP: Three Years ofProject Experience

Since 1998 communities havebeen able to introduce an environ-mental management system inaccordance with the EMAS directiveinto any number of their functionsand services. To date, cities andmunicipalities in Germany havesecured the validation of around77 local government buildings,fleets of vehicles, city greenhouses,bathing facilities, schools or communal service providers suchas departments of public works.

To date, planning processes havefound only superficial considera-tion - if any at all - in this pro-cess.

As a part of the ECOLUP LIFE pro-ject, the EMAS system was appliedfor the first time in a thoroughfashion to the planning processesin communal urban land use plan-ning. This is a field with undenia-bly high relevance to the environ-ment. Naturally, not all questionsthat arose could be answered withinthe context of a model project.Indeed, it is imperative that othercommunities participate in ECO-LUP in order to make its imple-mentation of EMAS even moreefficient and to raise the benefitsfor the environment and for thecommunity. However, ECOLUP hasprovided us with valuable resultsthat can be achieved in other communities, as well.

The fundamental purpose of theentire procedure is to a great ex-tent to promote environmental ed-ucation. It makes the environmen-tal impact of planning processesmore transparent and includes inthe environmental team importantrepresentatives of the community'sstructure and its citizens who can

disseminate the knowledge theygain through their participation.As a part of this process, all possi-ble environmental goals and measures for each relevant environmental aspect are discussedin detail and with passion. The factthat the specialised departmentsand offices, representatives of eco-nomic interest groups and of pri-vate nature conservation all parti-cipate in it "spice up" the processand contribute to the formulationof more ambitious goals and measures. External expert speakersor representatives of other commu-nities can provide impetus andrecommendations for goals andmeasures that have not yet beenundertaken.

ECOLUP makes the environmentalbenefits, to date scarcely discussedand believed to be unquantifiable,involved in the field of communalland use planning the central topicof interest.Thus, they can be given a moreimportant position in the processof interest-weighing. The estima-tion of environmental impact alre-ady required by law (BauGB § 1a)is expanded upon through the callfor additional environmental per-formance, made measurable andthus becomes subject to influence.

Environmentally friendly citydevelopment can be made measu-rable through the use of referencefigures. This is the most importantprerequisite to the monitoring pro-cess. It also allows communities torecognise harmful developments inthe environment early on and tomanage them through targetedmeasures.

The management system helps toensure that all specialised officesincluded in the project and the

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ECOLUP Model Projectwww.ecolup.info 109

regional authorities are betterinformed about it. Administrativeprocedures can also be made moreefficient through the clear regula-tion of competencies, communica-tion and documentation. In addi-tion, better information and moreeffective staff integration has apositive effect on the quality ofplanning and of administrativeprocedure.

The EMAS structure and its pre-determined elements such as theenvironmental assessment, theenvironmental goals and pro-gramme and the yearly internalaudit provide the community withsupport for the application andobservation of new EU directiveslike the Strategic EnvironmentalAssessment ("StrategischeUmweltprüfung", SUP), the EUWater Framework Directive or theFauna-Flora Habitat Directive(NATURA 2000). The EMAS frame-work is able to integrate otherinstruments such as the LocalAgenda 21 and to take advantageof synergies that come about as aresult.

However, the quality of environ-mental management and its bene-fit for the environment depends, asalways, on the good will of thosecurrently in political office. EMASdoes not specify any environmen-tal goals of its own, but ratheraccepts the goals the organisationsets and assesses their implementa-tion. The environmental program-mes drawn up by the environmen-tal teams are merely drafts orrecommendations that becomebinding only after they have beenpassed by the town council. Onlyafter the environmental policy andthe programme have been integratedinto the daily practice of municipalpolitics and have shaped town

council decisions can the concretebenefit to the environment gainedthrough the implementation of theenvironmental programme be esti-mated.

The continual improvement to thecondition of the environment isfelt only in the long term in mostof the relevant environmentalaspects. During the ECOLUP pro-ject, we discovered that the field ofcommunal urban land use plan-ning sometimes does not go farenough to protect the environ-ment, due to the fact that urbanland use planning has very fewopportunities to influence particu-lar aspects such as energy ortransportation. "Urban develop-ment" as an object of environmen-tal management would open awider scope of action towards thecodification of goals and measures.The procedures for implementingan EMS described in this guidancecan be applied to all planning pro-cesses within the context of urbandevelopment.

"What does the whole thing costand what economic benefits canwe expect?" - this is the questionthat political decision makers asktime and again. In contrast toenvironmental management incommercial firms or for admini-stration buildings, no exact figurescan be presented in terms of reducedwater, energy or office equipmentuse to make the argument for costsavings. How can improvements tothe quality of the environment bemonetarised into cents and euros?A municipality using environmen-tal management in its urban landuse planning will most likely notachieve higher prices for its build-ing sites, nor will it become moreattractive for firms looking for anew location.

Especially in economically difficulttimes, it is not a simple task toconvince a town council of thebenefits of environmental manage-ment while arguing from the eco-nomic perspective. Deregulation ofhow local governments can adjustand alter structures at higher levelsof administration, plus points forapplications to funding program-mes, etc. would serve to make thebenefits EMAS brings to commu-nities, and therefore to their moti-vation to become active, even greater. In this respect, it is up tothe national and European autho-rities responsible for the EMASprogramme to provide incentivesthat would give a municipalitywith EMAS validation furtheradvantages over other communities.

16. ECOLUP: Three Years of Project Experience

16 ECOLUP-Model Project

110 Contacts and Information www.ecolup.info

Contacts and Information

17 ECOLUP Model Projekt

Contacts for Similar TopicAreas:

AK Stadtentwicklung im DVAG www.geographie.de/dvag/ak-stadtplanung/

Akademie für Natur undUmweltschutz Baden-Württemberg www.uvm.baden-wuerttemberg.de/akademie

ARL - Akademie fürRaumforschung undLandesplanung www.arl-net.de/ie/index.html

BMBF Nachhaltige Stadtteile www.oeko.de/service/cities/index.html

BMBF Ideenwettbewerb "Stadt2030" www.stadt2030.de/index.shtml

Bodensee Agenda 21 derInternationalen Bodensee-Konferenz www.regio-bodensee.net/agenda/

BofaWeb BodenschutzFachinformationen im World-Wide Web www.uvm.baden-wuerttemberg.de/bofaweb/xindex.html

Bund DeutscherLandschaftsArchitekten (BDLA) www.bdla.de/main.htm

Bund für Umwelt undNaturschutz Deutschland (BUND) www.bund.net

Bundesamt für Bauwesen und

Some of the Authorities in Baden-Württemberg with Powers of Certification:

Raumordnung (BBR)Flächennutzungsmonitoring www.bbr.bund.de/index.html?/raumordnung/siedlung/flaechenmoni-toring.htm

Deutscher Verband fürWohnungswesen, Städtebau undRaumordnung e.V. www.deutscher-verband.org/sei-ten/startseite/dv_aktuell.html

Deutscher Verein fürVermessungswesen (DVW) www.dvw.de

Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik(Difu) www.difu.de

Deutsches Seminar für Städtebau und Wirtschaft(DSSW) www.dssw.de/seiten/startseite/startseite.asp

ecobudget - Environmental Budgeting (ICLEI) www.ecobudget.com

European Academy of the Urban Environment -Europaeische Akademie fuer staedtische Umwelt www.eaue.de/winuwd/default.htm

European Land and Soil Alliance (ELSA) e.V.www.bodenbuendnis.org/

Forum Stadtökologie www.difu.de/stadtoekologie/

Fraunhofer-Informationszentrum Raum und BauIRBwww.irb.fhg.de/

ILS - Institut für Landes- undStadtentwicklungsforschung des Landes NRW www.ils.nrw.de/

Model Projects with Similar Topic Areas:

ICLEI - International Council for LocalEnvironmental Initiativeswww.iclei.org

Informationskreis für Raumplanung (IfR) www.ifr-ev.de/ifr.htm

Institut für kommunale Wirtschaft undUmweltplanung (IKU) www.iku.fh-wiesbaden.de/index.html

Institut für Stadt- und Regionalplanung (ISR) http://isr.gp.tu-berlin.de/

Institut für ökologische Raumentwicklung (IÖR) www.ioer.de/homepage.html

Internationale Bodenseekonferenz (IBK) www.regio-bodensee.net/

Ruhr-Uni-Bochum Fachgebiet Umwelttechnik +Ökologie im Bauwesen www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/ecology/frame.htm

SEMPA - Suburban Environmental ManagementParticipatory Approachwww.sempa.ie

SRL - Vereinigung für Stadt-, Regional- undLandesplanung e.V.www.srl.de

TU Berlin - Instituts für Management in derUmweltplanung (IMUP)www.tu-berlin.de/fb7/imup/

Umweltbundesamt: Fachbereich I - Umweltplanungund Umweltstrategienwww.umweltbundesamt.de/uba-info/d-fach1.htm

Uni Kaiserslautern - FachgebietRegionalentwicklung und Raumordnungwww.uni-kl.de/FG-RuR/

WerkstattStadt ausgewählte Städtebauprojekte

www.werkstatt-stadt.de/

Internetportal für nachhaltige Gemeindeprojekte inVorarlbergwww.unternehmen-v.at

ISW Institut für Städtebau und Wohnungswesen,Münchenwww.isw.de

IWU- Institut Wohnen und Umweltwww.iwu.de

KIS 0.2 Kommunales Informationssystem www.stadtmanagement.de/index2.htm

Landschaftsplanung.NET Das Online-Portal für dieLandschaftsplanung www.lapla-net.de

Lehrstuhl für Bodenordnung und LandentwicklungTU-Muenchenwww.landentwicklung-muenchen.de

Municipia Plattform für Stadt- undRegionalentwicklungwww.municipia.at

Nachbar Natur - Ökologische Konzepte für Städteund Dörferwww.nachbar-natur.de

neuLand: nachhaltige Landnutzung www.neuland-regionalentwicklung.de/Landnutzung/landnutzung.html

Portal für kommunale Forschung und Praxis www.kommunalweb.de

Raumplanung Schweiz - Terminewww.planning.ch/agenda_g.php

Raumplanung Universität Dortmundwww.raumplanung.uni-dortmund.de

Contacts for Similar Topic Areas:

Contacts and Informationwww.ecolup.info 111

Contacts and Information

17ECOLUP Model Projekt

Literature www.ecolup.info 112

Literature:

You will find the large literaturelist on the ECOLUP CD-ROM thatyou can order at the LakeConstance Foundation (www.eco-lup.info).The literature list includes thepublications used to write thisguidance and has been expandedto include suggestions for furtherreading. At the end of Chapters7.3 through 7.8 you will findadditional sources directly relatedto the topics of the respectivechapters.

Literature

18ECOLUP-Modellprojekt

ECOLUP Model Projectwww.ecolup.info 113

Project Coordination:Bodensee-StiftungMarion HammerlParadiesstraße 13D-78462 KonstanzTel.: +49 (0)7531-90980Fax: +49 (0)7531-909877Email: marion.hammerl@bodensee-stiftung.orgwww.ecolup.infowww.bodensee-stiftung.org

Expert ConsultantsNürtingen UniversityInstitut for Applied Research (IAF)Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang EvertsSchelmenwasen 4-8D-72622 NürtingenTel.: +49 (0)7022-404204Fax: +49 (0)7022-404166Email: wolfgang.everts@t-online.dewww.fh-nuertingen.de/iaf

ECOLUP Partner Communities:City of Constance (D)Amt für Stadtplanung und UmweltMartin WichmannUntere Laube 24D-78462 KonstanzTel.: +49-(0)7531-900-556Fax: +49-(0)7531-900526 Email: WichmannM@stadt.konstanz.dewww.konstanz.de

City of Überlingen (D)StadtplanungsamtThomas NökenBahnhofstr. 4D-88662 ÜberlingenTel.: +49-(0)7551-990Fax: +49-(0)7551-991325Email: t.noeken@ueberlingen.dewww.ueberlingen.de

Office of the City of Dornbirn (A)Stadtentwicklung und VerkehrStefan BurtscherRathausplatz 2A-6850 Dornbirn

Tel.: +43-(0)5572-3065105Fax: +43-(0)5572-3061008 Email: stefan.burtscher@dornbirn.atwww.dornbirn.at

Municipality of Wolfurt (A)Bürgermeister Erwin MohrSchulstraße 1A-6922 WolfurtTel.: +43-(0)5574-6840Fax: +43-(0)5574-684020Email: erwin.mohr@wolfurt.atwww.wolfurt.at

Further ECOLUP Supporters:

EU-LIFE-Programm EuropäischeKommission, Generaldirektion Umwelthttp://europa.eu.int/comm/environ-ment/index_de.htm

Ministerium für Umwelt undVerkehr Baden-Württembergwww.uvm.baden-wuerttemberg.de/

Land Vorarlbergwww.vorarlberg.at

Umweltbundesamtwww.umweltbundesamt.de

Landratsamt Bodenseekreiswww.bodenseekreis.de

Deutsche Umwelthilfewww.duh.de

Global Nature Fund /Living Lakeswww.globalnature.org

Stiftung LandesbankBaden-Württembergwww.lbbw.de

T-Mobilewww.t-mobile.deLever Fabergé Deutschland,Hamburg www.lever-faberge.de

ECOLUP Advisory BoardHolger Robrecht, ICLEI –International Council for LocalEnvironmental Initiatives- Freiburg

Prof. Michael Krautzberger,Bundesministerium für Verkehr,Bauen und Wohnen, AbteilungBauwesen und Städtebau, Berlin

Eckhard Bergmann, Bundesamt fürBauwesen und Raumordnung,Referat I 5 –Verkehr und Umwelt,Bonn

Wulf Hülsmann,Umweltbundesamt, Berlin

Dr. Stefan Köhler, RegionalverbandBodensee-Oberschwaben,Verbandsdirektor, Ravensburg

Prof. Dr. Christian Jacoby,Universität der BundeswehrMünchen, Institut fürVerkehrswesen und Raumplanung/ UVP-Gesellschaft e.V., Neubiberg

Dr. Brigitte Dahlbender, B.U.N.D.Landesverband Baden-Württemberg, Ulm

Dr. Franz Hämmerle, Amt derVorarlberger Landesregierung,Leiter der Raumplanungsabteilung,A - Bregenz

Wolfgang Hennegriff, Ministeriumfür Umwelt und Verkehr Baden-Württemberg, Referat Boden,Stuttgart

Dr. Ursula Platzer-Schneider,ÖsterreichischesBundesministerium für Land- undForstwirtschaft, Umwelt undWasserwirtschaft, A - Wien

ECOLUP – Project Team

19 ECOLUP Model Project

ECOLUP would like to thank its supporters… and its Partnercommunities…

EU-LIFE-Programm Europäische Kommission,Generaldirektion Umwelt