All rights reserved2023-08-112023-08-112019978-88-99243-93-7https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/546Planning for Transition – book of proceedings 31; 2In Germany the national goal of reducing land take is opposed to the increasing demand for new spaces for housing and commercial construction, especially in already concentrated urban regions. Many dominating regional centers are not able anymore to satisfy the settlement pressure within their own boundaries. So regional solutions are required. Regional planning is an important player concerning sustainable settlement concepts in Germany with almost fully developed tools to provide land reduced settlement structures. Within this paper success factors as well as obstacles for the realization of the vision of compact and environmentally sustainable settlement structures in urban regions are shown. On the one hand, it provides a presentation of the regional planning tools promoting this spatial vision. In the light of an implementation deficit of the regional requirements on local level caused by a lack of acceptance for compact and space-saving settlement structures, there is, on the other hand, a need for innovative approaches of informal cooperation, participation and awareness raising. For this purpose, two case examples from the German regions of Hannover and Stuttgart are presented.enopenAccessspace-saving settlement developmentparticipationprocess designArticle4400-4409