Meilenstein auf dem Weg zu einer Transformationsplanung? Die Umsetzung der Flächenziele nach Windenergieflächenbedarfsgesetz in der Praxis der Regionalplanung

The new Wind Energy Area Requirements Act (WindBG) of the German federal government provides state-specific land use goals for wind areas, sets deadlines for achieving the goals and establishes sanctions in the case that the required areas are not made available in a timely manner. Spatial planning is clearly being made responsible for the energy transition and thus for an important aspect of the transformation towards climate neutrality. The changed legal framework, with its land use goals defined outside of formal spatial development plans, represents a significant change for spatial planning. This paper analyses the implementation of the Wind Energy Area Requirements Act with the help of a qualitative expert survey and a document analysis and presents a discussion in the field of planning theory. The study shows that the temporal and area-related goals of the Act have been implemented stringently in the federal states and planning regions, at least to date. At the same time, the process appears to be agonistic in scalar terms because conflicts can arise in the planning regions against the background of the clear objectives of the federal government. The steering approach of the Act raises the question of whether external and “top-down” sectoral targets should also be set for other fields of action of the sustainability transformation in future – and what consequences this has for the self-image of spatial planning as integrating, coordinating and weighing up planning.