| Altstadt | old down town district |
| Bebauungsplan | master plan |
| CS | contaminated site |
| Flächennutzungsplan | regional plan |
| FRG | Federal Republic of Germany |
| GDR | German Democratic Republic |
| Land | a German state (singular) |
| Länder | the German states (plural) |
| new Länder | the states which make up the former German Democratic Republic |
| old Länder | the states which make up the former Federal Republic of Germany |
| PPP | polluter-pays principle |
| Treuhandanstalt | federal privatization agency set up after reunification |