Just do not think about anything, no one. The solitude and tranquility of a forest walk can help clear your mind, give your thoughts a new direction. Only that with the alleged loneliness in the reality obviously not so far ago, at least not in Germany. One comes to this conclusion, if one looks at the research work, which a team around Martin Behnisch of the Leibnitz Institute for ecological spatial development in Dresden has just published in the journal "Landscape and Urban Planning".
The scientists had evaluated a record of the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy. This includes all buildings in the country - whether residential house, factory building, gazebo or sheepfold. All buildings with more than ten square meters of floor space were considered. It turned out that no matter where you are in Germany - the next house is with a probability of 99 percent at most 1.5 kilometers away. Something - or someone - is always there.
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Usually, says co-author Diego Rybski of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), you always think in the categories of city and country. But there is another dimension: the network of buildings, of which the country is almost unnoticed. Of course, these buildings are not always inhabited or used by people - maybe that is at least a small consolation for all peace seekers.
Because another aspect of the work is little reassuring for those who want to experience loneliness. The researchers also provide information on where the largest undeveloped areas in the country are located. "Contrary to our expectations, the largest open spaces can not be found in nature reserves," says researcher Rybski. "Instead, it turned out that remaining or former military training areas have the least built-up area."
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The evaluation of the data showed that the so-called poles of inaccessibility in Germany are located on the following areas:
- Training area Bergen in Lower Saxony,
- Training area Baumholder in Rhineland-Palatinate,
- former military training area Kyritz-Ruppiner Heide in Brandenburg,
- Training area Hohenfels in Bavaria as well
- Military training area Oberlausitz in Saxony.
But even in this case the unreachability is not too far away. Even at the military site in Bergen in Lower Saxony, the distance to the nearest building is no more than six kilometers. The other four areas are even less than five kilometers.
The results showed how urgent it was "to do more in Germany for land protection and also for the unsealing of soils," said researcher Behnisch. Although the number of newly used for construction projects recently decreased slightly, the country is still a long way from a turnaround.
