Regional Science in Germany — From the Beginnings to the Present —

When Karin Peschel approached me to ask if I would provide a talk on the development of regional science in Germany to mark the “silver anniversary” of the Institute of Regional Research here in Kiel, I accepted quite spontaneously and gladly. And I will make no secret of the fact that I consider myself honoured to have been asked. For although I was the founder of the institute two-and-a-half decades ago, in reality I had to renounce its directorship quite soon afterwards (1976), when I moved from the Baltic to take up an appointment in the Federal Chancellery in Bonn (1970 – 1973) and later the Federal Ministry of Education and Science, subsequently moving to Düsseldorf (1978) to head the North-Rhine Westphalian Science and Economics Ministries (till 1990).