Chair of Landscape Planning, Landscape Ecology and Environmental Engineering

In Germany, landscape planning always takes place at several levels, from state to municipal level. Various instruments are available for this purpose (landscape programme, landscape framework plan, landscape plan, green space plan). The instruments in the broader sense (LBP, PEP, SEA, EIA and FFH-VP) help to present and assess the environmental impacts of specific planning, as well as to develop objectives and address environmental consequences. These instruments must be continuously supplemented, reviewed and improved in accordance with the latest requirements (e.g. EU requirements).

Landscape planning fulfils the legal mandate to represent the interests of nature and landscape. In order to adequately capture the complexity of the natural balance in analysis and the planning based on it, the different environmental media are distinguished into protected goods. The assessment methods and their handling in the planning landscape make up a large part of the work in the projects. In this context, the protected asset of the historical cultural landscape fulfils a special identification and documentation function for people and a special site function for flora and fauna. Therefore, along with the work on protected assets in general, research into the protected asset of the historic cultural landscape can be seen as a further focus within the Institute.

The promotion and expansion of renewable energies is currently being strongly propagated and favoured nationally and internationally by supportive laws and other government measures, at the federal level in particular by the Renewable Energies Act (EEG) and related support programmes. In Bavaria, a bundle of measures called "Bavarian Energy Concept - Innovative Energy" was launched to support a rapid transition to renewable energies. However, the expansion of renewable energies is sometimes accompanied by considerable interference with nature and landscape. The Institute of Landscape Architecture is concerned with these effects at the level of forward-looking planning, in which e.g. locations for wind turbines, open-space photovoltaic plants, etc. are determined. Taking nature and landscape into account at an early stage can help to avoid conflicts in advance or to identify sites that can be compromised. The Institute for Landscape Architecture has already addressed this topic in the context of several research projects.

The close connection to the University of applied sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf gives our institute the opportunity to directly incorporate the experience of the professors into the research. The requirements for the education of landscape architects in the various core subjects ought to be recorded, adapted and, above all, qualitatively improved.

Public relations work is an important instrument for communicating the tasks, goals and contents of Landscape Architecture or Landscape Planning and Nature Conservation. The expanded opportunities for citizens and associations to participate in planning processes also strengthen the importance of public relations and communication. Public relations work has a variety of methods and means: from "classic" print media, events, workshops, internet appearances to the use of digital media in planning (e.g. the interactive landscape plan). Public relations in Landscape Architecture is a research area with a high development potential and special external impact.