Kulturlandschaften und Kommunale Planungshoheit

The work examines the legal possibilities and limits of effectively protecting cultural landscapes within the tension between municipal planning autonomy and the expansion of renewable energy (wind and solar power) in Germany, with a focus on Bavaria. It starts from the question of whether cultural landscapes, under current law, possess a sufficiently consolidated level of protection to assert themselves against competing land-use decisions.
The study follows a doctrinal legal approach with references to historical geography. It first defines various protected interests in terms of cultural landscapes and assigns specific protection mandates to each. The analysis focuses in particular on spatial planning law, regional planning law, as well as nature conservation and heritage protection law. The scope of protection ranges from area-based protection to forms of managed identity protection.
It then examines how these protection mandates can be implemented through concrete legal instruments. The findings reveal a heterogeneous and fragmented structure with limited enforceability, although instruments such as priority areas and landscape protection areas prove to be relevant mechanisms.
In a third step, the tension with municipal planning autonomy is analyzed. Due to the statutory privileging of renewable energy, cultural landscape concerns are often pushed aside in planning decisions, although there remain selective opportunities for enforcement.
The study contributes to a systematic doctrinal analysis of cultural landscape protection and, using the Donaumoos as a case study, highlights practical lines of conflict and potential avenues for reform.