The land use plan as a preparatory urban land-use plan is an important planning instrument for the city, as the binding urban land-use plans (development plans) are developed from it. It must be based on the requirements of the higher-level state development and regional planning.

As part of the development of a land use plan, citizens, authorities, specialist offices and neighboring municipalities are involved in several stages.

The task of land use planning is to bring together the objectives of urban development, particularly with regard to

• the designation of building areas, for example for residential and commercial use
• the provision of the urban area with facilities for public use (e.g. schools and churches),
• the most important traffic routes,
• various types of green spaces (such as allotments, parks and cemeteries) and
• areas for agriculture and woodland.

The land use plan has no direct legal effect on citizens. It serves as an assessment basis for subsequent concrete planning.

It consists of the plan drawing and an explanatory report with thematic maps.