Bild: Detlef Herz

German-Polish Cooperation

Thanks to the capital region’s location, it is apparent that there are varied structural relationships between Berlin-Brandenburg and western Polish voivodeships which make spatial-planning cooperation necessary.

Joint Future Concept for the German-Polish Border Region

BB-L Interconnection: Vision for a Joint Interaction Area

Szczecin Metropolitan Region

Region-focused Territorial Impact Assessment of the Eastern Railway – Route 203

Joint Future Concept for the German-Polish Border Region

The German-Polish Spatial Planning Committee has compiled the “Joint Future Concept for the German-Polish Border Region – Vision 2030”, which was approved by the German-Polish Government Commission for Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation in 2018. This concept is designed to improve marketing of the overall area and of individual projects, support an internal sense of identity, coordinate funding strategies beyond 2020 more effectively and increase international competitiveness. The concept is focused on the following five fields of activity:

Using the advantages of the polycentric settlement structure
Improving transport connections
Investing in people
Promoting sustainable growth
Securing the foundation for a high quality of life

Bild: Ausschuss für Raumordnung der Deutsch-Polnischen Regierungskommission

The Spatial Planning Department Berlin-Brandenburg is providing assistance in the realisation of the future concept by supervising space-related projects. Further activities with spatial repercussions are also coordinated in terms of the future concept.

Gemeinsames Zukunftskonzept für den deutsch-polnischen Verflechtungsraum (PDF; 3,4 MB)

BB-L Interconnection: Vision for a Joint Interaction Area

Together with the Marshal’s Office of the Lubusz Voivodeship (Department of Geodesy, Real Estate Management and Spatial Planning) and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (Department of Regional Planning), the Joint Spatial Planning Department Berlin-Brandenburg is implementing a cooperation project in the field of spatial and regional development in the period 04/2024 to 03/2027 to intensify the administrative cooperation and interaction between East Brandenburg and the Lubuskie Voivodeship called ‘BB-L Interconnection. Vision for a Joint Interaction Area’.

Bild: Marschallamt der Wojewodschaft Lubuskie

The Brandenburg-Lubusz region faces common challenges of structural and demographic change. The spatial effects of these will be analysed as part of the project and solutions will then be developed in a participatory manner in order to strengthen the socio-economic resilience of the region and support the harmonisation of living conditions.

The project focuses on the following areas:

Intensification of administrative cooperation in the field of spatial and regional development, creation and consolidation of joint cooperation structures, transfer of knowledge and exchange of experience
Analysis of regional socio-economic structures and challenges in the form of a territorial diagnosis
Preparation of two expert reports on the polycentric settlement structure and use of renewables
Development of a joint vision for the future of the Brandenburg-Lubusz interaction area including recommendations for action
Reinforcing the identity as a joint interaction area

The spatial focus of the project is on the funding area of the INTERREG VI A cooperation programme Brandenburg-Poland, which also corresponds to the area of the Euroregions Pro Europa Viadrina and Spree-Neiße-Bober. Neighbouring parts of the German-Polish interaction area and developments along supra-regional axes will be included in the project as required. Conceptually, the project closes a gap, as regional concepts for spatial and regional development already exist for other cross-border regions of the German-Polish interaction area (Saxony-Lower Silesia, Szczecin Metropolitan Region).

The project is funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the INTERREG VI A Brandenburg-Poland 2021-2027 cooperation programme. It has a total budget of €1.02 million.

Szczecin Metropolitan Region

As the largest city on the German-Polish border with metropolitan characteristics, Szczecin also has an impact on the peripheral areas of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region. In order to support the development opportunities in north-eastern Brandenburg and in the Berlin-Szczecin region, the „Development concept for the cross-border metropolitan region of Szczecin“ identified opportunities for optimising services of general interest, improving infrastructural connections to Berlin and Szczecin and other areas and developing the joint metropolitan region as a whole in 2015.

It became clear that statistical data in particular is not sufficiently available for further work in the recommended fields of action in the above-mentioned concept. With the aim of counteracting this deficiency, the Regional Spatial Planning Office of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship initiated the Interreg A project „Model of cross-border monitoring – innovative data collection measures in the Szczecin Metropolitan Region“ (project no.: INT179).

Under the lead partnership of the above-mentioned offices, the Joint State Planning Department Berlin-Brandenburg, the Gartz (Oder) Office, the State Chancellery of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Association of Polish Municipalities of the Euroregion Pomerania, the Szczecin Metropolitan Area Association and the Marshal’s Office of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship worked together on this project from 2020 to the end of 2022, alongside a number of associated partners. The aim was to present a model methodology for the collection, harmonisation and management of data and to define the data providers and their users in the metropolitan region.

Bild: Regionales Raumplanungsbüro der Woje-wodschaft Westpommern

Network cooperation was intensified in a cross-border context by ensuring the participation of as many interest groups as possible from Poland and Germany. The topics addressed in the project were: Tourism, regional transport and mobility, effective co-operation networks, urban-rural partnership, smart development and future industries.

An overview of the data requirements and the institutions to be involved is provided in the needs and network analysis. The project is co-financed by the EU from the Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Entwicklungskonzept der grenzüberschreitenden Metropolregion Szczecin

Dokument: 3 MB – Stand: 8.06.2015

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Projekt Interreg V A INT179: Modell eines grenzüberschreitenden Monitorings – innovative Maßnahmen der Datenerhebung in der Metropolregion Stettin – Bedarfs- und Netzwerkanalyse

Dokument: 600 kB – Stand: Februar 2021

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Region-focused Territorial Impact Assessment of the Eastern Railway – Route 203

In close cooperation with the Marshal’s Office of the Lubuskie Voivodeship, the Joint Spatial Planning Department Berlin-Brandenburg contributed to the pilot scheme of the Territorial Agenda 2030 ‘Understanding how sectoral policies influence spatial (im)balances’, which was organised by the Polish Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy. The Region-focused Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) was used to determine the spatial-structural consequences of sectoral policies.

Bild: Instytut Rozwoju Terytorialnego Wrocław (Institut für Territorialentwicklung)

The two-track extension and electrification of the cross-border railway link (Ostbahn/line 203) between Berlin and Gorzów Wielkopolski was chosen as a case study. Supported by adapted methods of Territorial Impact Assessment, the potential spatial impact was analysed at two supra-regional conferences (in Seelow and Gorzów Wlkp.) and two regional workshops (in Trebnitz near Müncheberg and Kostrzyn nad Odrą) with the active participation of German and Polish stakeholders.

The main results of the impact assessment are significantly improved cross-border accessibility to places of work and residence (commuters), settlement centres (service and retail facilities) and recreational areas by public transport. This has positive effects on the climate as well as stimulating settlement development along the stops, fundamentally improving the locational conditions for the development of trade and industry and increasing day tourism in the catchment area of the Ostbahn and route 203.

A detailed overview of the project with a description of the implementation, methodology and results is provided in the final report in German and Polish as well as an English summary.

The project was funded by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) as part of the ‘Demonstration Projects of Spatial Planning’ (MORO) programme.