State green zone

Map of the state green zone. Source: Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, Regional Spatial Planning, Spatial Planning and Building Law Department (VIIa)

As a country green zone in parts are in Vorarlberg ( Austria about local) contiguous, protected and reserved open spaces in the bottom of the lower Alpine Rhine Valley (Austrian side) and the Walgau called, was the main purpose in it and there is a sprawl to avoid.

The state green zone is intended to keep planning leeway ( spatial planning ) open to future generations .

purpose

The Austrian part of the lower Alpine Rhine Valley and the Walgau cover around 20 percent of the area of Vorarlberg. Since 1977, these open spaces have:

a functioning natural balance and landscape,
the recreational areas and
securing the spatial prerequisites for efficient agriculture

also be guaranteed in the future.

No purpose of the state green zone according to the will of the legislator at the time was the creation of a nature reserve . In the meantime, some of these have established themselves in the state's green zone (e.g. the Lauteracher Ried European Protected Area with 4.47 km² or the Bangs – Matschels European Protected Area with 5.8 km²).

Legal basis

The legal basis for the creation of these open spaces, which together form the state green zone, has been changed more than 30 times since 1977 (as of 2018):

Ordinance of the state government on the definition of supra-local open spaces in the valley floor of the Rhine Valley

and the almost identical (not changed quite so often)

Ordinance of the state government on the definition of supra-local open spaces in the valley floor of the Walgau.

Both ordinances were again enacted on the basis of Section 7 (1) of the Vorarlberg Spatial Planning Act.

Scope and area distribution

Of 96 Vorarlberg municipalities (area 2603 km²), 30 municipalities (around 31%) are covered by the state green zone (= 5.25% of the entire Vorarlberg area). The state green zone covers around 113 km² in the Rhine Valley and around 24 km² in the Walgau, a total of around 137 km² (1977: 136.94 km²; 2018: 136.05 km²). In the Rhine Valley alone, the state green zone thus comprises around 46% of the valley area, around half of which is used intensively for agriculture, around 10% are extensively used litter meadows .

The state green zone in the Rhine Valley and Walgau consists of (as of 2017)

52.1 km² (38.30%) open space agriculture (FL),
46.7 km² (34.33%) open space free area (FF),
20.7 km² (15.21%) forest area,
7.1 km² (5.22%) water area
4.15 km² (3.05%) traffic area
3.3 km² (2.43%) open space special area "open space-oriented"
0.97 km² (0.71%) reserved area
0.39 km² (0.29%) open space special area "business-oriented"
0.36 km² (0.27%) open space special area "sports facility-oriented"
0.26 km² (0.18%) exceptions
0.02 km² (0.01%) others.

Since the ordinances were issued in 1977, the number of inhabitants in Vorarlberg has increased from around 270,000 to 390,000 people (2017) (+ 44.48%). Around 80 percent of the total population of Vorarlberg live in the Austrian part of the Alpine Rhine Valley and in the Walgau. The pressure and desire on the state green zone to detach plots of land to create living space and business areas is therefore steadily increasing, while the preservation of the local recreation areas and leisure facilities as well as further agricultural use to secure supplies are on the other hand.

Prohibitions

The effect of the ordinances with regard to the supra-local open spaces in the valley floor of the Rhine Valley and the Walgau is primarily that the affected communities are prevented from dedicating construction areas or areas to be built independently and without the prior consent of the state government and thus under certain circumstances to sprawl on the valley floor of the Rhine valley and the Walgau to carry on.

Pursuant to Section 2 (1) of the ordinances regarding the supra-local open spaces in the valley floor of the Rhine Valley and the Walgau, the protected areas may only be included in the zoning plans as

Open spaces (Section 16 of the Spatial Planning Act),
Traffic areas (Section 17 of the Spatial Planning Act) or
Reserved areas (Section 18 of the Spatial Planning Act) for buildings or facilities the construction of which is permitted in the special areas (Section 16 (3) of the Spatial Planning Act),

to be expelled.

literature

Office of the Vorarlberg State Government: Forty Years of the State Green Zone, annual journal of the Spatial Planning and Building Law Department in the Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, Bregenz 2017.
M. Berchtold-Ogris, G. Gnigler, H. Troll: Alemannen und Brachvögel: Conflicts of use in the green zone of the lower Rhine valley , preparatory work for landscape planning measures in the connected green zone area between Lauterach, Dornbirn and Lustenau , Vienna 1989, student project at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Office of the Vorarlberg State Government: Forty Years of the State Green Zone, annual journal of the Spatial Planning and Building Law Department in the Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, Bregenz 2017, p. 18.
↑ Office of the Vorarlberg State Government: Forty Years of the State Green Zone, annual journal of the Spatial Planning and Building Law Department in the Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, Bregenz 2017, pp. 2 and 18.
↑ § 1 of the regulation LGBl. No. 8/1977 and the regulation LGBl. No. 9/1977.
↑ LGBl. No. 8/1977.
↑ LGBl. No. 9/1977.
↑ LGBl. No. 15/1973.
↑ See: Graphic representation of the office of the Vorarlberg state government on a scale of 1: 20,000 from April 22, 1977, Zl. VIe-854.6 and graphic representation of the office of the Vorarlberg state government on a scale of 1: 20,000 from April 22, 1977, Zl. VI- 854.8 .
↑ ^a ^b Office of the Vorarlberg State Government: Forty Years of the State Green Zone, annual journal of the Spatial Planning and Building Law Department in the Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, Bregenz 2017, p. 3.
↑ ^a ^b Vorarlberger Naturschutzrat (ed.): History of nature conservation in Vorarlberg - A consideration from an ecological point of view , p. 46.
↑ Audio tracks through Vorarlberg's green zone , orf.at of April 23, 2018.
↑ These are divided into: building area core area (BK) according to § 14 Paragraph 2 Spatial Planning Act (RPG), building area residential area (BW) according to § 14 Paragraph 3 RPG, building area mixed area (BM) according to § 14 Paragraph 4 RPG and construction area operating area (BB) according to § 14 Paragraph 5 and 6 RPG.
↑ E.g. sports facilities, leisure facilities, facilities for energy and water supply, sewage and waste recycling, special uses close to agriculture / business-like uses.

[AVLR2-1] Office of the Vorarlberg State Government: Forty Years of the State Green Zone, annual journal of the Spatial Planning and Building Law Department in the Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, Bregenz 2017, p. 18.

[2] Office of the Vorarlberg State Government: Forty Years of the State Green Zone, annual journal of the Spatial Planning and Building Law Department in the Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, Bregenz 2017, pp. 2 and 18.

[3] § 1 of the regulation LGBl. No. 8/1977 and the regulation LGBl. No. 9/1977.

[4] LGBl. No. 8/1977.

[5] LGBl. No. 9/1977.

[6] LGBl. No. 15/1973.

[7] See: Graphic representation of the office of the Vorarlberg state government on a scale of 1: 20,000 from April 22, 1977, Zl. VIe-854.6 and graphic representation of the office of the Vorarlberg state government on a scale of 1: 20,000 from April 22, 1977, Zl. VI- 854.8 .

[AVLR-8] Office of the Vorarlberg State Government: Forty Years of the State Green Zone, annual journal of the Spatial Planning and Building Law Department in the Office of the Vorarlberg State Government, Bregenz 2017, p. 3.

[NSR-9] Vorarlberger Naturschutzrat (ed.): History of nature conservation in Vorarlberg - A consideration from an ecological point of view , p. 46.

[10] Audio tracks through Vorarlberg's green zone , orf.at of April 23, 2018.

[11] These are divided into: building area core area (BK) according to § 14 Paragraph 2 Spatial Planning Act (RPG), building area residential area (BW) according to § 14 Paragraph 3 RPG, building area mixed area (BM) according to § 14 Paragraph 4 RPG and construction area operating area (BB) according to § 14 Paragraph 5 and 6 RPG.

[12] E.g. sports facilities, leisure facilities, facilities for energy and water supply, sewage and waste recycling, special uses close to agriculture / business-like uses.