Preface – Introduction 1 Sebastian Lentz With "Restructuring Eastern Germany" ? ve spatial research institutes have - troduced the ? rst volume of the German Annual for Spatial Research and Policy. Four of these institutes belong to the Leibniz Association: The Academy for Spatial Research and Planning (ARL) in Hannover, the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) in Leipzig, the Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development (IÖR) in Dresden and the Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (IRS) in Erkner, near Berlin. The ? fth institute is the Federal Of? ce for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) in Bonn, a large partner of great importance. These research institutes have founded this new scienti? c series with the goal of providing international colleagues with information on an annual basis concerning problems and research results within this current and socially relevant issue in Germany. The combined presentation of issues addressed in articles from these individual institutes is an example of how complementary the respective research approaches and abilities are. This kind of year-book therefore documents a network which has existed for several years between the institutes in the form of mutual information and trusting research cooperation. After the political union of both German states the structural equalisation of l- ing conditions was an enormous challenge for the entire German populace and for all of the functional systems within this new and larger country.