Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany Working Party on Urban Statistics 09. / 10.12. 99 Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany Klaus Trutzel - Statistical Bureau of the City of Nuremberg, Germany - c/o Stadt Nürnberg 130, D-90317 Nürnberg, Tel. +49 911 231 2840, Fax ~ 2844, e-mail Klaus_Trutzel@sta.stadt.nuernberg.de

Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany Contents 1. Historical and Political Background 2. Co-operation in Municipal Statistics 3. Projects 3.1 Sub-City Monitoring 3.2 Sales Organisation for Stat. Data on Sub-City Level 3.3 Statistical Yearbook of German Municipalities and the Inter-urban Data Warehouse „ICOSTAT“ 3.4 Urban Audit and Other Projects

1. Historical and Political Background Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany 1. Historical and Political Background In Germany local self-government has a long tradition. According to the constitution, municipalities are guaranteed the competence for all affairs of the local community, unless this competence is, for specific matters, attributed to the state by law. Almost all municipalities with a population of over 50,000, but certainly all municipalities of over 100,000 have an administrative unit responsible for official statistics ( Municipal Statistical Bureau ). Municipal statistical bureaux were established after 1850, mostly around 1900, when cities grew fast. Inter-city co-operation of municipal statisticians started in 1879.

2. Co-operation in Municipal Statistics Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany 2. Co-operation in Municipal Statistics Products Tools Methods

Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany Verband Deutscher Städtestatistiker - Association of Municipal Statisticians

Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany KOSIS-Verbund -- KOSIS-Union Union for the Development of the Municipal Statistical Information System  For further information see “http//:www.KOSIS.de”

Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany VDSt, KOSIS-Union and KOSTAT-DST in their Organisational Context

3.1 Sub-City Monitoring - IRB Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany 3.1 Sub-City Monitoring - IRB

3.2 Sales Organisation for Stat. Data on Sub-City Level Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany 3.2 Sales Organisation for Stat. Data on Sub-City Level  Potential users of data on the sub-city level of more than one city are facing two problems: the problem of completeness, i. e. how to get data from all the cities required the problem of correctness and comparability, i. e. how to ensure data quality.  These problems are now to be solved with the authority of the Union of German Municipalities – DST – and the practical support of the Union of German Municipal Statisticians – VDSt – in the newly established KOSTAT-DST GmbH.

Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany  In the first step, a very short list of about 10 variables on population and households were collected for regional units with a population of about 2,000 each. It is nearly complete for all cities above 100,000.  Data collection is repeated annually.  In future data collection will be extended to cities above 50,000, and more variables will be added.  A contract between KOSTAT-DST and each city leaves the copy right for the data with each individual city and guarantees the cities their share in the company’s revenue.

Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany 3.3 Statistical Yearbook of German Municipalities and the Inter-City Data Warehouse „ICOSTAT“ Data collection for comparative city statistics in a common yearbook goes back more than 100 years. Internet techniques and the municipal statistical information system (data warehouse) can now be combined to adjust accessibility of the data collected to modern standards. In November 1999 the Statistics Committee of the Union of German Municipalities - DST - agreed to establish an inter-city statistical data warehouse ICOSTAT, accessible via the home page of DST “www.KommOn.de”. Other comparative urban statistics, e.g. the Large Cities Quarterly Statistics, will be included step by step.

Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany ICOSTAT continued The DST Statistics Committee will appoint persons responsible for defined fields of statistics (section managers). The Union of Municipal Statisticians will propose these persons and organise groups of specialists to support them. Dissemination of the data will be left to KOSTAT-DST GmbH. The Section Managers will secure data quality and completeness, derive indicators co-ordinate supply and demand for data and indicators report to the Statistics Committee of the Union of German Municipalities.

Fachliche Zentralstellen Interkommunales Data Warehouse ICOSTAT Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany Supplier User Staatl. Statistik / datenliefernde Dritte Deutscher Städtetag – Internet – Provider ICOSTAT- Data Warehouse Techn. Betreuung VDSt-Fachbereiche Beratung / Abstimmung der Zentralstelle Hamburg München Köln Frankfurt Essen Dortmund Stuttgart Bremen Duisburg Hannover Dresden Leipzig Berlin Nürnberg Fachliche Zentralstellen (Abschnittsbearbeiter) Stat.Ausschuß DST Vermarktungsorganisation Vertrieb an Dritte Interkommunales Data Warehouse ICOSTAT

3.4 Urban Audit and Other Projects Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany 3.4 Urban Audit and Other Projects In Germany, Difu was National Correspondent in the pilot phase of the Urban Audit. The 9 cities involved established a KOSIS-group, managed by the Statistical Bureau of the City of Nuremberg, and made an agreement of co-operation with the institute. This KOSIS-association organised data collection and tried to solve the methodological, organisational and technical problems that the project caused in Germany. As the project did not allow for a combined plausibility check on the national level, all data of the cities were captured again in a standardísed format. This file will permit evaluations also on the national level, especially when data will have been incorporated in ICOSTAT.

Comparative Urban Statistics in Germany Urban Audit continued The German cities support the goals of the Urban Audit and wish to continue this project. But in future, the cities want to contribute to the Urban Audit as partners and not just as objects of observation. City networks like NORDSTAT and KOSIS could co-ordinate the cities’ contributions on the national level. In future, German data for the Urban Audit should - in principle - be extracted from ICOSTAT, the inter-city statistical data warehouse. This way, the data base would be the same for urban planning, urban policy and urban development on all levels of government, from the municipal level up to the European level.