Hamburg and Berlin to co-operate on digital planning and building

"Planning and building involves many complex processes in which precisely developed software can save valuable time. We are bundling experience and know-how from two federal states with Berlin to get construction projects and especially urgently-needed new housing construction off the ground quickly," Thomas noted. The first project, managed by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing in Hamburg, should speed up the complex procedures involved in drafting development plans and is expected to launch soon. BPlan-Cockpit software is to be developed to guide clerks through the digital workflow.

The collaboration on the software is in line with the European Commission's goal of European digital sovereignty. Accordingly, public administrations can carry out  their sovereign tasks and activities in the digital sector autonomously, self-determinedly, independently and securely. The "one for all" principle under which one federal state develops programmes for use by other states should boost efficiency. The Online Access Act (OZG) aims to link up the powers of the German government, the states and the municipalities to accelerate digitalisation in urban administration across Germany. That requires the involvement of even more, diverse stakeholders who will jointly develop and maintain specialised software in future.
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