DiPlanung: Nationwide Digital Planning and Permitting Processes

Power lines, railways, residential area – the need for infrastructure in Germany is great. The processes involved often take a long time. Federal jurisdictions, varying sector-specific laws, and paper-based procedures frequently delay projects by years. To resolve this bureaucratic bottleneck, the federal government adopted the Pact for Accelerating Planning, Approval, and Implementation in November 2023, comprising around 100 measures.

DiPlanung is a central technical implementation tool for the digitalization goals agreed upon in the pact. The platform streamlines planning and approval procedures end-to-end – from urban land-use planning and regional planning to final planning approval. Ongoing procedures and all associated documents are publicly accessible. Citizens can participate without registering and submit comments digitally.

]init[ is developing key components of this solution in collaboration with other partners on behalf of the Authority for Urban Development and Housing of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (BSW).

From Hamburg to a nationwide platform

Our collaboration with BSW on DiPlanung dates back to 2017. At that time, the project began as a digitization initiative for managing urban and landscape planning processes. Together with the Hamburg authorities, we developed the DiPlan Cockpit – a digital assistant that centrally manages urban land-use planning, zoning, and landscape planning procedures.

The Cockpit went live: existing procedures were migrated, and new ones were launched. Starting in mid-2022, it was implemented as an EfA solution under the Online Access Act. Thus, the Hamburg Cockpit became the blueprint for an application that can be reused nationwide.

At the end of 2024, another contract was added: further development in the context of accelerating planning. The goal is a platform that, beyond urban land-use planning, also maps approval procedures for infrastructure projects – from hydrogen pipelines to wind turbines.

A product family for all planning methods

The planning process has a modular structure and is implemented by several project partners. Together, these components form an end-to-end digital process chain – from the initiation of planning to the final decision.

Our development team is responsible for DiPlanCockpit – the control center for administrative staff. In the BASIS version, they create planning procedures and make planning documents available in compliance with XPlanung. The PRO version maps a fully digitized process chain in accordance with OZG 2.0 – from the initiation of planning to the entry into force of the plan. The result is a tool that combines efficiency with legal certainty.

In addition to DiPlanCockpit, ]init[ is also responsible for the development of DiPlanPotenziale. This component systematically records municipal residential and commercial potential areas and makes them available in a structured format for urban land-use planning. This makes land reserves visible at an early stage – serving as a data-driven foundation for well-informed planning decisions.

The technical foundation for all modules is the XPlanung data standard, which is mandatory nationwide. It ensures structured, machine-readable planning data and uniform communication between participating systems.

Managing complexity, fostering collaboration

Planning is a highly complex undertaking: multiple project partners develop modules and interfaces in parallel. Requirements stem from various legal fields – urban land-use planning, regional planning, and planning approval. Added to this are federal coordination processes and political time pressures.

In this environment, we take on tasks that go beyond mere software development. Our software architects provide cross-functional advice on the platform’s overall architecture. Our DevOps team manages the central operations and deployment process. In quality and test management, our test engineers have established binding standards in collaboration with all service providers – from requirements gathering through to release. For each delivery, they create a test report with a risk assessment and deployment recommendation.

In a project with seven partners and complex responsibilities, our project and stakeholder management is put to the test: proactive consulting, clear processes, and the willingness to take on responsibility even where roles are not clearly defined.

Outlook: Scaling and Expanding

DiPlanung is currently in use in seven federal states under the Administrative Agreement on Cooperation in Digitalization in the Field of Planning and Construction (VDiPB). Over 1,000 administrators have registered. Discussions regarding its implementation are underway in other federal states.

2025 marked the transition from urban land-use planning to infrastructure acceleration. As part of a federal-state cooperation project between the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and State Modernization (BMDS), the components of DiPlanung were further developed and expanded to include new services. The result: planning approval procedures for the construction of pipelines for the hydrogen core network can be carried out digitally, seamlessly, and uniformly across the country. Since November 2025, the platform has been available to authorities and project developers for productive pilot use. Additional use cases are planned—such as power lines, gas pipelines, district heating, rail, and wind power. At the same time, a federal governance framework for joint further development is being established.

We are also testing the use of AI technology. The federal government’s AI component to support planning and approval processes has been developed and integrated into DiPlanung. Its productive use is currently being coordinated. The goal is to further expand DiPlanung as a central platform to make planning procedures significantly simpler in the long term.