International Changes and the Single European Market: Impacts on the Spatial Structure of Germany

The aim of this paper is to discuss the relationship and connections between international changes, the Single European Market and urban and regional developments in Germany. In the first part of the paper, the ongoing changes in the global political and economic system are described in broader terms, focusing on shifts in Europe. The assumptions of the Cecchini report, a discussion of its neoclassical orientation and critical comments on the likely outcomes of SEM are the subject of the second part of the paper. In the third section we present an overview of recent urban and regional developments in Germany including the effects of unification. The impacts of the SEM on the spatial structure of Germany are discussed in the fourth part of the paper. In the final section, a summarising view is offered and the question is raised of how planning and intervention opportunities are changing at the urban and regional level.