德国中小城镇在国土开发中扮演的重要角色

与大多数欧洲城市相比,德国的城镇体系属于均衡发展的典范。地区的高度自治、联邦体制以及强有力的州政府使德国在两千多年的城市发展历程中,逐渐形成了大中小城市遍布全国的空间形态。这些城市都具有相似的生活质量、便捷的交通和便利的服务。基于对中小城镇的概括定义,本文将首先简要介绍城市均衡发展的历史渊源及小城镇在德国的重要作用,并举例分析一些进行中的都市化过程,随后将选取纽伦堡城市区域作为中小城镇的成功案例重点介绍,最后简要说明支持城镇发展的联邦政策规划。

The Vital Role of Small and Medium-sized Cities and Towns for Territorial Development in Germany

Compared with many other western countries in Europe, the urban system of Germany is well balanced. Benefiting from more than 2 000 years of city development and strong local autonomy, as well as from federalism and powerful state governments, small, medium and large cities are evenly distributed all over the country, all offering quite equal living conditions and easy access to public infrastructure and services. Following a concise definition of small and medium-sized cities and towns, this paper sketches the historical rationale of balanced urban development and the function of medium-sized cities and small towns in Germany. It illustrates some implication of ongoing metropolisation processes for these cities and presents the city region of Nuremberg as a pertinent example of a region with many successful medium-sized cities and small towns. At the end the paper gives a brief overview of federal policies and programmes to support the development of cities and towns.