Wohin des Weges?

Where are we heading? Regional development in large-scale protected areas. When ‘large-scale protected areas’ were established in Germany, three categories of protected areas were set up: national parks, biosphere reserves and nature parks, each of which in principle pursue different primary objectives. In recent years, however, some overlapping of focuses seems to have emerged – particularly against the background of regional development, which can be understood in a variety of ways. Focusing on the states Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, this investigation addresses topical issues at the interface between large-scale protected areas and regional development – thus: ‘Where are we heading? Regional development in largescale protected areas’.