Due to their absolute size or complexity, many urban development, functional and social problems can only be tackled by the state as a whole.

The federal government and the federal states accept this responsibility and support the cities and municipalities with a differentiated range of funding within the framework of urban development funding.

On the basis of the administrative agreement between the federal government and the federal states, the funding guidelines of the federal states regulate the eligibility of measures and projects, funding priorities and more detailed selection criteria. The administrative agreement and funding guidelines thus control the programmatic objectives of urban development funding.

Only towns and municipalities can apply for funding. In certain cases, municipalities have the option of passing on the funding they receive to associations, initiatives, institutions or individuals.

Urban development funding in Thuringia is financially supported by federal and state programs and supplemented by state programs. This makes it possible to implement significant urban development measures in rural areas outside of the federal and state programs and EU funding. This is important because Thuringia is a rural state.

The main purpose of urban development funding is

• the elimination of urban development deficiencies
• strengthening inner-city development
• reducing land consumption for settlement and transportation purposes
• the elimination of social problems
• securing and strengthening public services of general interest, especially in sparsely populated rural areas.