Within the interplay of demographic factors, characteristics of the housing stock, spatial parameters and the resulting conditions on the housing market in many municipalities a declining demand for single family homes built in the 1950s to 1970s goes along with an increasing supply in this segment of the housing market. At this, however, strong regional disparities can be observed. In this paper, a concept of indicators on the municipal level to estimate the situation of the 1950s to the 1970s single-family homes is presented. Based on the example of North Rhine-Westphalia in a first step regional spatial patterns are identified based on some of these indicators. The focus of the paper is on the subsequent synthesis of the indicators by means of a cluster analysis (two-step method). As a result, six clusters with similar developments and challenges regarding the 1950s to 1970s single-family-homes stocks are identified and the operative requirements for these clusters are discussed. From the methodological perspective the paper shows that the cluster analysis by the means of the two-step method is a promising alternative to the Ward method frequently adopted in spatial sciences.
Policy instruments are of central importance for the diffusion of renewable energy technologies. They can compensate for politically desired effects (e.g. reduction of emissions) which are not adequately addressed by the market. This relation can also be seen in the development of offshore wind energy in Germany. However, I argue in this paper that the policy instruments implemented during the initial phase of the development were not only unsuitable for diminishing obstacles but rather created conflicts which hampered the development of offshore wind energy. Especially the lack of spatial regulations in the beginning of the process promoted conflicts of use and environmental conflicts and led to an uncontrolled development which prevented an efficient grid connection. By modifying old or implementing new instruments political actors tried to improve the framing conditions for the development of offshore wind energy in Germany. Based on a document analysis and expert interviews, these regulatory efforts are analysed from an innovation perspective using the constellation analysis, which specifically takes the interaction of the various policy instruments and central socio-economic, technical and natural factors into account. This way it can be shown that it was only after a lengthy learning and negotiation process that suitable policy instruments were implemented that led to the development of overall suitable framework conditions for the development of offshore wind energy.
In the debate about recent trends in elderly migration in Germany a controversy arose about a possible change of patterns. With respect to former generations of retired persons many studies (in different countries) gave evidence of the fact that a change of residence in retirement in many instances was a ‘counterurbanisation’. On balance the elderly population left the central cities of agglomerations and went to the peripheral regions or more generally from urban to rural regions. At issue is now whether this pattern of retirement migration still exists or whether seniors nowadays move into the cities as well. In the media, in politics and in real estate business the suspected trend is often treated as a matter of fact, but empirical evidence is still rare. The study presented here investigates the suspected change towards reurbanisation in retirement migration with an analysis of aggregate data. The data base INKAR (indicators and maps of spacial and urban development) is used to examine developments from 1995 to 2012. The results show that there is indeed a structural transformation of elderly migration in Germany. The urban outmigration of seniors has decreased considerably and more and more big cities (especially in East Germany) turn up with a surplus of in-migration of older adults.
Recent research has found clear indications of regional differences in the personality traits of the population. Such regional differences may significantly contribute to explaining regional development. We provide an overview of regional differences in entrepreneurial personality traits among the population in Germany. There are a number of highly significant regional differences but the strength of the effects is relatively small. The empirical evidence suggests that the regional differences found are due to selective migration and also to socialization.
Resilience ranks high on the environmentally oriented research agenda on sustainable urban and regional development. The annual “Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation” has become a meeting point for academia and practice. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development uses the term in two of their 17 Sustainable Development Goals, i.e., in Goal No. 9 on infrastructure as a basis for economic development and No. 11 on cities and human settlements. Moreover, resilience has become a prominent topic in the New Urban Agenda. Against this background, the article provides an overview of recent discussion on resilience. It scrutinizes how the concept has been used by different researchers from diverse disciplines with special reference to urban, regional and environmental studies. A systematic literature review on resilience was carried out in order to shed light on recent developments of thought and practice. All in all, 650 articles were reviewed. Following an introduction into the topic and description of the applied methodological approach, different facets of the debate on resilience are presented, and conclusions are drawn. It can be seen that the discussion of resilience needs more specificity, transdisciplinary approaches, and regional contextualization, especially in urban and regional development studies in the countries of the global south.
Within the interplay of demographic factors, characteristics of the housing stock, spatial parameters and the resulting conditions on the housing market in many municipalities a declining demand for single family homes built in the 1950s to 1970s goes along with an increasing supply in this segment of the housing market. At this, however, strong regional disparities can be observed. In this paper, a concept of indicators on the municipal level to estimate the situation of the 1950s to the 1970s single-family homes is presented. Based on the example of North Rhine-Westphalia in a first step regional spatial patterns are identified based on some of these indicators. The focus of the paper is on the subsequent synthesis of the indicators by means of a cluster analysis (two-step method). As a result, six clusters with similar developments and challenges regarding the 1950s to 1970s single-family-homes stocks are identified and the operative requirements for these clusters are discussed. From the methodological perspective the paper shows that the cluster analysis by the means of the two-step method is a promising alternative to the Ward method frequently adopted in spatial sciences.
Policy instruments are of central importance for the diffusion of renewable energy technologies. They can compensate for politically desired effects (e.g. reduction of emissions) which are not adequately addressed by the market. This relation can also be seen in the development of offshore wind energy in Germany. However, I argue in this paper that the policy instruments implemented during the initial phase of the development were not only unsuitable for diminishing obstacles but rather created conflicts which hampered the development of offshore wind energy. Especially the lack of spatial regulations in the beginning of the process promoted conflicts of use and environmental conflicts and led to an uncontrolled development which prevented an efficient grid connection. By modifying old or implementing new instruments political actors tried to improve the framing conditions for the development of offshore wind energy in Germany. Based on a document analysis and expert interviews, these regulatory efforts are analysed from an innovation perspective using the constellation analysis, which specifically takes the interaction of the various policy instruments and central socio-economic, technical and natural factors into account. This way it can be shown that it was only after a lengthy learning and negotiation process that suitable policy instruments were implemented that led to the development of overall suitable framework conditions for the development of offshore wind energy.
In the debate about recent trends in elderly migration in Germany a controversy arose about a possible change of patterns. With respect to former generations of retired persons many studies (in different countries) gave evidence of the fact that a change of residence in retirement in many instances was a ‘counterurbanisation’. On balance the elderly population left the central cities of agglomerations and went to the peripheral regions or more generally from urban to rural regions. At issue is now whether this pattern of retirement migration still exists or whether seniors nowadays move into the cities as well. In the media, in politics and in real estate business the suspected trend is often treated as a matter of fact, but empirical evidence is still rare. The study presented here investigates the suspected change towards reurbanisation in retirement migration with an analysis of aggregate data. The data base INKAR (indicators and maps of spacial and urban development) is used to examine developments from 1995 to 2012. The results show that there is indeed a structural transformation of elderly migration in Germany. The urban outmigration of seniors has decreased considerably and more and more big cities (especially in East Germany) turn up with a surplus of in-migration of older adults.
Recent research has found clear indications of regional differences in the personality traits of the population. Such regional differences may significantly contribute to explaining regional development. We provide an overview of regional differences in entrepreneurial personality traits among the population in Germany. There are a number of highly significant regional differences but the strength of the effects is relatively small. The empirical evidence suggests that the regional differences found are due to selective migration and also to socialization.
Resilience ranks high on the environmentally oriented research agenda on sustainable urban and regional development. The annual “Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation” has become a meeting point for academia and practice. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development uses the term in two of their 17 Sustainable Development Goals, i.e., in Goal No. 9 on infrastructure as a basis for economic development and No. 11 on cities and human settlements. Moreover, resilience has become a prominent topic in the New Urban Agenda. Against this background, the article provides an overview of recent discussion on resilience. It scrutinizes how the concept has been used by different researchers from diverse disciplines with special reference to urban, regional and environmental studies. A systematic literature review on resilience was carried out in order to shed light on recent developments of thought and practice. All in all, 650 articles were reviewed. Following an introduction into the topic and description of the applied methodological approach, different facets of the debate on resilience are presented, and conclusions are drawn. It can be seen that the discussion of resilience needs more specificity, transdisciplinary approaches, and regional contextualization, especially in urban and regional development studies in the countries of the global south.