Kategorien der Raumordnung und ihr inhärentes Verständnis von Infrastrukturen

The Federal Republic of Germany is growing and shrinking simultaneously, a demographic trend that can be expected to escalate in the years to come. It directly affects the provision of basic infrastructural services: whereas the supply of public infrastructure is generally considered secure in regions of high population growth, regions with declining populations are already experiencing the widespread dismantling of schools, medical services, public transport, and local amenities. In its final consequence, this “demographic de-infrastructuring” of entire regions places the social, economic, and territorial cohesion of the Federal Republic as a whole at risk. The solution to this demographic challenge cannot lie in the elimination and dismantling of technical and social infrastructures, but rather in a more flexible understanding of welfare state infrastructures as well as more flexible administrative instruments guaranteeing all citizens equal opportunities for social participation.