This article presents an open space concept of areas that are kept permanently free from buildings, technical infrastructure, and soil sealing. In the European Alps, space is scarce because of the topography; conflicts often arise between competing land uses such as permanent settlements and commercial activity. However, the presence of open spaces is important for carbon sequestration and the prevention of natural hazards, especially given climate change. A GIS-based analysis was conducted to identify an alpine-wide inventory of large-scale near-natural areas, or simply stated, open spaces. The method used identified the degree of infrastructure development for natural landscape units. Within the Alpine Convention perimeter, near-natural areas (with a degree of infrastructural development of up to 20%) account for a share of 51.5%. Only 14.5% of those areas are highly protected and are mostly located in high altitudes of over 1500 m or 2000 m above sea level. We advocate that the remaining Alpine open spaces must be preserved through the delimitation of more effective protection mechanisms, and green corridors should be safeguarded through spatial planning. To enhance the ecological connectivity of open spaces, there is the need for tailored spatial and sectoral planning strategies to prevent further landscape fragmentation and to coordinate new forms of land use for renewable energy production.

In the federal state of Bavaria, there is currently intensive discussion on how land consumption for settlement and transport purposes can be reduced in the long term. In order to provide a solid scientific basis for steering instruments in urban and regional development, the official land use monitoring should be improved by including also the qualitative and structural dimension of land consumption in addition to existing official statistics and their main indicator ‘settlement and traffic area’. For this purpose, the paper presentsmethodological extensions, which show small-scale analyses of urban sprawl, open space structure, soil sealing and ecosystem services using the example of the district of Rhön-Grabfeld. These methodological extensions are discussed in the context of the relevant debates on the causes and steering of land consumption as well as on current requirements for land use monitoring, emphasising their importance for the monitoring of legal guidelines and political objectives on sustainable land use.

Die Fachzeitschrift "Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft" (früher "Mitteilungen der k.k. Geographischen Gesellschaft in Wien") • ist das wichtigste regelmäßig erscheinende Organ der "Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft", erscheint seit 1857 und ist die älteste noch existierende Fachzeitschrift geographischen Inhaltes im deutschen Sprachraum, • vermittelt neue Erkenntnisse aus allen Bereichen der Geographie, Kartographie und verwandter Raumwissenschaften, • informiert über Fachfragen in Forschung und Lehre, nationale und internationale geographische Aktivitäten, sowie Personalia, • erscheint im Umfang von mindestens 400 Druckseiten (mit Kartenbeilagen) im Jahr

The aim of this paper is to analyse the accessibility of outpatient care services in Lower Franconia, Germany, taking into account the spatially differentiated population structure for the year 2017 as well as the expected demographic development until 2025. The accessibility was modelled both raster-based and vector-based in a GIS software. Moreover, demographic developments in the age group “80 years and older” are also incorporated. The results of the raster-based travel time modelling show relatively good accessibility in the study area except from a few peripheral areas. Catchment areas for outpatient care services were calculated using vector-based travel time modelling, drawing on travel flat rates according to SGB V and SGB XI as well as staff costs as calculation bases for threshold values. In parts of Lower Franconia there is no sufficient cost coverage. With regard to the population development outlined above and insufficient coverage of travel costs by flat-rate travel allowances in low mountain ranges and away from urban agglomerations, a transition to a flexible travel compensation for nursing services and an increase in nursing staff is recommended.