Introduction

Germany's urban structure evolved from the historical circumstances prevailing after the Second World War when the country was divided into four Occupation Zones: French, British, American and Soviet. After 1945, there followed four years of rule by the allied forces; a coming to terms with the destruction of large parts of the housing stock and the urgent need to house an enormous number of refugees from areas which formerly belonged to Germany in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Russia. In 1949, the three Western Occupation Zones became West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), with about 50 million inhabitants, and the Soviet Zone became East Germany (German Democratic Republic), with 17.3 million inhabitants.

The emphasis in this chapter is on the period following 1949 when the two German states were founded and subsequently developed quite differently until the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. Initial consideration is given to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) founded on the territories of the three Western allies. Later sections of the chapter focus on East Germany, and analyse a reunified Germany, before conclusions are drawn.

By both name and constitution, the Federal Republic of Germany is a federal political system in which the federal level does not have the administrative power to govern the ‘Lander’ (states), communes or cities which have self-determination. The cities and communes have the sole right to administer urban planning within their boundaries but in the context of laws issued at the federal and state levels. In many policy areas, the different administrative levels are intertwined, not least through a highly complicated system of financial redistribution.

West Germany: urban reconstruction and the integration of refugees (1945–64)

In 1939, the population of Germany as a whole was 69.3 million (Statistisches Bundesamt, 1957, 13) but this fell to 65.1 million by October 1946, of whom 17.3 million lived in the Soviet Zone (IDW, 2011, 7; Deutscher Statetag, 1949, 55). After the Second World War, more than 3 million dwellings are estimated to have been destroyed, 25 per cent of the pre-war stock. By 1946, Germany had only 8.5 million dwellings at an average density of six persons per room. Estimates of the deficit of dwellings ranged from 4.8 to 5.9 million in 1950 (Schulz, 1994, 39–40).