Über die geographische Bedeutung des Grundeigentums

Abstract. Real estate has so far been a very marginal field of research in geography and had been integrated in the study of the cultural landscape; sometimes it was defined as integrated terms like «territoriale Herrschaft» or «Betriebsverhältnisse». The modern approach investigating the dynamics of space, seeks to find out the agents responsible for the processes. Thus landownership becomes a methodological tool (this dynamic approach has been discussed in another paper by the same author). Above all regional planning demands a systematic explanation of the relations between real estate and land use. Geographers from Canada, Central Europe and Scandinavia, for example, have already dealt with this aspect. The paper also studies the position of landownership in the spatial System in the light of new modeis. The Statements above point to the landowners' responsibility for land use decisions. In Switzerland, the notion of «property» has of recent become a subject of critical discussion, especially in connection with the revision of the Constitution. This discussion is based on the needs of planning, the protection of the environment, and land use justice. As well as the land use policy of larger landowners it can benefit from the scientific experience of geographers who have studied the spatial aspects of real estate.