Prospective synergistic planning of development options in regiopols for the example of the agglomeration area of Rostock PROSPER-RO

How large cities and their surrounding areas can develop together has increasingly become a key question for the future viability of regions. This applies especially to rather small cities (also known as ‘regiopoles’) located outside of large economic regions with a more agrarian hinterland. Precisely these regions must secure their locations for business and industry across sectors through attractive conditions for businesses and quality of life as well as function as a motor for economic and socio-economic development for surrounding areas.

These regions often offer a high level of near-natural cultural landscapes with socially relevant ecosystem services. It is therefore crucial for the future of these regions to consistently consider trade-offs between economic and socio-economic interests and to consider the preservation of near-natural landscapes and their functions and additionally, to create a knowledge base for the purpose of such considerations.

The project PROSPER-RO investigates how land as a resource and infrastructural development can be planned together in the regiopole of Rostock. The overall objective is to strengthen the overarching cooperation across regions and stakeholders. In particular, a GIS-based expert support system and a uniform assessment standard for land as a resource are to be created. Both should serve as tools for more efficient and sustainable planning in land and water development.

In this project, IÖW develops a uniform monetary assessment standard for important area functions based on the ecosystem services approach. In cooperation with partners, relevant ecosystem services will be identified and quantified based on indicators. On the one hand, this monetary assessment relies on cost- and price-based assessment approaches. On the other hand, cultural ecosystem services are measured in a choice experiment.

The project is one of twelve collaborative projects in the BMBF funding initiative ‘Stadt-Land-Plus’.