The Regensburg model project | Umweltbundesamt

Background and Goals

The city of Regensburg has around 134,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in Bavaria. Regensburg has the greatest population growth among model projects - both in terms of its past population development and the forecasts up to 2025, which shown an anticipated 5.4% rise in the population.

Regensburg lies at the northernmost point on the Danube and at the mouths of the left-hand tributaries the Naab and the Regen. It is surrounded by the Winzerer Heights, outliers of the Bavarian Forest and the Ziegetsberg, which promotes the formation of inversions. Because of its location at the intersection of topographical zones, the city also has frequent fog and is susceptible to fine dust pollution, particularly in the winter months.

Unlike many other cities, Regensburg has a relatively compact and structured urban form and a homogeneous overall settlement structure. It is shaped by the historic old city, which has around 1,000 protected buildings. This is the only authentically preserved medieval city in Germany, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006.

The Regensburg old city is referred to as the "Stone city". Its dense historic building structure, with stone squares and alleys, few trees in public spaces and a high usage density (residential, shopping, business, tourism), heats up more quickly in summer than the surrounding land and acts as a heat store. Temperature differences within the urban area can be as much as 6°C.

The heat island phenomenon, which is more distinctive as climate change advances, implies a decline in thermal comfort, results in additional energy requirements and may bring about changed demands in terms of the design of open spaces. Because of its position on the Danube, Regensburg also has to adapt to more frequent sultry weather and flood risks.

Objectives: By linking two sub-projects run in parallel - one at a preparatory planning level and the other at a realization level - synergies between the strategic planning and operational activity levels have been utilised. At a preparatory level, a concept has been developed and tested for integration of a climate effect estimate and a climate adaptation strategy into the environmental test for the land use and integrated landscape plan. At the realisation planning level, climate adaptation strategies and measures will be developed especially for the collection of monuments and the "Regensburg old city" UNESCO World Heritage Site for updating the world heritage management plan.

Central project aims:

- Formulation and discussion of guidelines and modules for a climate change adaptation strategy in the city of Regensburg;

- Design of processes and methods for an environmental test with integrated climate effect estimate and climate adaptation strategy;

- Formulation of (transferable) guidelines for integration of a climate effect estimate and climate adaptation strategy into the environmental test;

- Design of the necessary content and scope of climatological analyses for the environmental test based on content from landscape planning and, if applicable, climate survey reports.

The following project modules will be used to involve and raise awareness among broad groups of players to promote intensive public participation:

- Target group specific survey of players,

- Moderated workshops for development of climate adaptation guidelines and measures in the UNESCO World Heritage Site,

- Development of a climate adaptation concept capable of gaining consensus, and

- Formulation of guidelines and design typologies for public and private green and open spaces.

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Participants