Planning Archives - Page 2 of 4 - understand-culture

Technical University Munich

There is no mandatory length of a thesis. Most well-written master’s theses have between 50 and 80 pages, Bachelor’s theses typically have between 40 and 60 pages. However, depending on your topic and your writing style, more or fewer pages may be appropriate.

Be aware that your thesis will only be evaluated based on the written document and the defense. If you did some nice work (that you might have shown to your adviser at some point) and forget to add it to your written document, it cannot be evaluated.

6 surprising things forbidden in Germany

It’s no secret that Germans love rules. But some surprising things can get you into trouble here. Don’t worry – Rachel is here to keep you on the right side of the law!

YouTube comments:

“An important German law that most countries don’t have is Unterlassene Hilfeleistung or duty to rescue. If you see someone in trouble who needs help, you must, by law, try to help them. Example: If you see an accident on the roadside where someone is injured. You must stop, call an ambulance and apply first aid till help arrives. Just driving by is an offence.”

“That’s really true about the insults. A friend of mine had a rather aggressive elderly neighbor who lived below him. My buddy was only allowed to move around the apartment as quietly as possible or he would receive a hail of complaints. One day his parents were visiting and the neighbor rang the doorbell and complained about “noise”, yelled abusive words and made insulting gestures. His father filed a complaint (there were enough witnesses) and the neighbor ended up in court – as it turned out later, not for the first time. He had to pay €900. Since then, the neighbor never yelled again against him.”

“Most of these laws are actually quite useful even if they sound petty. Anyone who has tried calling the police in the UK complaining about noise and has been told you will have to contact the council will agree. There is a little known minor breach of the law (Ordungswidrigkeit) in Germany titled “Unnützes Hin- und Herfahren” (unnecessary driving around). You can be fined up to €100 if you are caught driving around for no apparent reason in a built-up area if this is disturbing people. It sounds ridiculous but it stops all those eejits who drive up and down the road with music blasting out of their cars.”

The Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen plan of attack used by the German armies at the outbreak of World War I. It was named after its developer, Count Alfred von Schlieffen (1833–1913), former chief of the German general staff.

To meet the possibility of Germany’s facing a war against France in the west and Russia in the east, Schlieffen proposed that, instead of aiming the first strike against Russia, Germany should aim a rapid, decisive blow with a large force at France’s flank through Belgium, then sweep around and crush the French armies against a smaller German force in the south.

Part 1

Part 2

How Germany lost control of Covid

In mid-2020, Germany was hailed the world’s shining star of coronavirus containment. Now, while countries like the UK and Israel are going back to normalcy, Germany has been under some form of lockdown for over six months. How did Germany, a country known for its efficiency, love of planning and rationality lose control of its COVID-19 response?

Covid: German success thusfar

April 2020 – A look at why Germany has been so successful in dealing with the pandemic, and has been able to keep its coronavirus death rate so low, compared to other nations, with Jens Spahn, Germany’s health minister.

The world is reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, and some countries are reeling more than others. But Germany seems to be taking the epidemic in its stride with a high number of cases but a low number of deaths, thanks to a number of factors.

In Europe, while Italy and Spain are the worst hit countries with over 100,000 cases each, as of Friday, Germany has recorded 84,794 confirmed cases but has witnessed just 1,107 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The low mortality rate in Germany, at just over 1%, is far below its neighboring European countries, and this has been put down to Germany’s decision to implement widespread testing of people suspected of having the virus, as opposed to Italy or the U.K.’s decision to only test symptomatic cases.

Planning process in Germany

Perhaps one of the most striking differences between planning in the US and Germany is the structure of the planning systems, and in particular the manner in which the various levels of government interact.

In Germany, planning occurs within a decentralizeddecision-making structure and a strong legal framework, something associated with the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of 1949.

Involved in the process are the federal government (Bund ), the 16 state governments (Laender), the 114 planning regions and the approximately 14,000 municipalities (BBR, 2000). In recent years, the European Union (EU) has also played an increasing (albeit non-binding) role.

Although planning is a shared task among all levels of government, the federal govern ment does not create or implement plans, but rather sets the overall framework and policy structure to ensure basic consistency for state, regional and local planning, while states, regions and municipalities are the actual planning bodies.

The framework distinguishes between Bauleitplanung, or local land use planning, and Raumordnung, or spatial planning. These are organized by two federal acts:

First, the Baugesetzbuch (Federal Building Code) requires lower levels of government to make plans that are vertically and horizontally consistent and standardizes the level of expertise, rules and symbols utilized in compiling plans (this is additionally supplemented by the Planzeichenverordnung, or Plan Symbols Ordi-nance).

Second, spatial planning is guided by the Bundes-Raumordnungsgesetz (Federal Spatial Planning Act). This act outlines broad guidelines to be met at the Land level, and deﬁnes the relationship between the Länder and the federal government. Much federal activity is spent advising lower tiers of government on the interpretation of the regulatory framework.

The three stages of Germany’s emergency gas plan

Reuters. June 2022. Germany triggered stage one of its emergency gas plan in March after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked an energy crisis in Europe, but the German gas market regulator said on Tuesday it was not yet time to move to the highest stage.

Germany steps up emergency cash plans to cope in blackout

German authorities are stepping up preparations for emergency cash deliveries in case of a blackout to keep the economy running, four people involved said, as the nation braces for possible power cuts arising from the war in Ukraine.

The plans include the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, hoarding extra billions to cope with a surge in demand, and possible limits on withdrawals, one of the people said.

Germany’s emergency gas plan explained

The cut in Russian gas supplies has Germany enacting the second phase of their gas emergency plan. What do these plans entail?

On 23 June, Germany triggered the second stage of their emergency gas plan in response to the cut in Russian gas supplies since 14 June and the high price levels. A gas crisis team, which was already set up when the first emergency level was declared in late March, meets daily to monitor and assess the situation.

While the security of supply is currently still guaranteed, “the situation is tense”, according to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. If the Russian gas supply remains low, it will complicate achieving storage level targets by winter. Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck called the current situation “serious”, referring to gas as a “scarce commodity”.

Perfectionism in 3 Minutes

When you think of the word perfectionism, you might think of those you know (or maybe yourself) who are anal, OCD, and hard to work with. Perfectionism is when you aren’t satisfied until every little detail is up to your standard of “perfect.”

The problem with this is that perfection is subjective, and our subjective judgment changes from day to day. So while something in your eyes may be perfect today, tomorrow you opinion could completely change.

YouTube comments:

“I have perfectionism and one thing I go through is if I get hit on my arm I have to hit my other arm the exact same spot and it is very annoying.”

“Perfect is the enemy of the good” – I think it’s the enemy of great and downright awesome too. I often wonder how many amazing things we never got to see because it’s creator could only see the ways in which it missed the mark. I keep this in mind a lot.