Urban development concept (STEK)

In recent years, urban development in Erlangen has been driven primarily by sectoral and sub-area concepts and the implementation of individual projects. In addition, groundbreaking principles have already been adopted by the city council, such as the declaration of a climate emergency in 2019 and the subsequent Climate Awakening roadmap.

However, apart from the 2003 land use plan, there is currently no city-wide orientation framework including guidelines for development. The fact that there is a need for this is shown on the one hand by the increasing competition and scarcity of space that has existed for years. At the same time, demand remains high, particularly for residential and commercial space. The STEK is intended to provide answers to questions of land development.

On the other hand, individual urban development projects have come under public criticism and were ultimately stopped by referendum. Examples include the realization of the State Garden Show (2017) and the preparatory studies for a development area Erlangen West III (2018). One of the reasons given for the rejection of individual projects was the lack of an overall concept.

Most recently, the need for an urban development concept also became apparent with regard to commercial development. In particular, the opportunities for manufacturing and skilled trades are limited by the current lack of available space. It is a political goal to expand Erlangen as a business location and to promote the development of new commercial areas in a balanced manner. The STEK is intended to answer questions and formulate future prospects for this focus of action, among other things.

The process is not starting from scratch. A large number of concepts and studies on various specialist topics and sub-areas of the city are available for Erlangen. The three urban renewal areas that are currently being worked on and supported by urban development programs should be mentioned as sub-area concepts: City Center, Erlangen Southeast and Büchenbach North.

The existing concepts are coherent in themselves. However, conflicts of objectives cannot be ruled out if the concepts overlap. As part of the STEK process, they must therefore be considered in a holistic and city-wide context and the interactions, including between the city as a whole and the urban renewal areas, must be worked out. As a city-wide development strategy, the STEK is intended to link the diverse requirements with one another and at the same time find solutions to conflicting objectives, both spatially and technically. It therefore forms a bracket around the existing objectives and measures.

The STEK is an informal planning instrument. Due to its objectives and function, it is also used, among other things, to prepare the preparation of the new land use plan (FNP). This is a formal planning instrument for urban land use planning and is therefore binding for the city. It was last approved for the city as a whole in 2003 and has been regularly updated since then by amending sub-areas. A land use plan is used for long-term, strategic planning of the use of land in a municipality. In order to ensure orderly and sustainable urban development, it determines which areas of the urban area are to be developed as residential, commercial or green space, among other things.

The city administration is working with an external planning office to create the STEK. The process will start in spring 2025 and will take around three and a half to four years to complete.

Based on the existing concepts and documents, the focus at the beginning of the process will be on overlaying, discussing and examining the objectives formulated therein. Our contractor will also supplement the findings with its own stocktaking. This process will be accompanied by various participation formats. The urban community can actively support the relevant topics for the future of Erlangen. More detailed information on the individual dates and opportunities for participation will follow on this website as the process progresses (updated on an ongoing basis). The aim of the analysis phase is to define key areas for action and spatial focus areas and to identify Erlangen's strengths and weaknesses.

In the subsequent conceptualization phase, the aim is to use the findings of the analysis to look ahead to the future of Erlangen together with all stakeholders in urban society. The aim is to create a future perspective and a spatial development concept. The overarching orientation framework is to be formulated and objectives, strategies and measures for the individual fields of action and spatial focus areas are to be defined.

At the end of the process, the focus will be on developing an implementation strategy in order to start the implementation phase smoothly once the concept has been completed. One anchor point will be the redrafting of the land use plan.

In April 2024, the basic decision was made to develop the urban development concept. The administration was commissioned to initiate all necessary steps. In June 2024, a Europe-wide tender was launched for the commissioning of the external planning office. The award procedure was completed at the beginning of March 2025. This was followed by the commissioning of the planning offices forward Planung und Forschung (Berlin) and berchtoldkrass space&options (Karlsruhe).

The project kick-off with the offices took place at the end of March 2025.

The information and participation of all stakeholders and urban society is an essential and fundamental element in the development of the STEK. The aim is to shape the future of Erlangen together with and for the citizens and the city! The process should be transparent and accessible at all times. The project team will keep you up to date at all times so that you can get involved in the project at any time:

For this purpose, a project-accompanying website has been set up as a central platform for exchange with the public: https://www.erlangen-weiterdenken.de/ The site provides continuous information about the STEK process, the project status and important milestones. Various online formats are also offered to enable active and uncomplicated participation. In addition, the usual communication channels (including the newspaper and the city of Erlangen's social media channels) will provide regular information about the project.

During the course of the process, you will have various opportunities to get actively involved. In addition to the online formats, there will also be on-site formats. These will be announced in good time. Due to the city-wide scope of the project, particular emphasis will be placed on the diversity of the offerings. All parts of the city and districts will be involved, as will the various population groups. We want to involve as much of the urban community as possible in the process and encourage them to participate in the development of the city!