35 Years of Experience in Sustainable Urban Development
Martin Sauter is the newly appointed environmental officer of Bad Saulgau, a town of around 20,000 residents, and he approaches his role with passion and energy. Yet he doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel – he can build on the work of his predecessors. “I’ve only been working for the town of Bad Saulgau since November 2025,” he explains, “but I can rely on the qualified groundwork laid by my former colleagues Thomas Lehenherr and Jens Wehner. Over the past 35 years, a five-pillar biodiversity concept (only available in German) was not only developed for our municipality, but also fully implemented. That set a future-proof approach to urban development in motion.”
The five pillars in Bad Saulgau are:
- Establishing nature trails and hiking paths
- Advancing the renaturation of waterways
- Creating biotopes and wetlands
- Converting uniform turf into species-rich green spaces within residential areas
- Opening a nature theme park
Further information and in-depth insights are available on the website of the town of Bad Saulgau (in German).
Green Infrastructure: Tasks for Landscape and Outdoor Construction
But how can landscape gardeners support the implementation of this concept? Martin Sauter explains: “Traditional GaLaBau business owners need to let go of their old mindset. They have to be open to new approaches. Working with representatives of the town of Bad Saulgau isn’t about taming or shaping nature, but about giving nature room to develop freely.”
Terms like land desealing and urban greening are key buzzwords here. Landscape gardeners working in this field are closely supported by municipal staff and, at times, by commissioned scientists. Forward-looking rainwater management is equally central to this work – the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) covers this topic in English through its reporting on the sponge city concept, an approach that treats rainwater as a local resource rather than something to dispose of, helping cities become more resilient to extreme weather.
New Fields of Work in Urban Ecology for Landscape Gardeners
“Sustainable urban development can also lead to new contracts for GaLaBau businesses,” Martin Sauter emphasizes in closing. “In Bad Saulgau, for example, there are plans to make green roofs mandatory for flat-roofed buildings under future development plans. Naturally, qualified companies will then be needed to carry out this greening work properly.” If you’d like to dive deeper into the topic of climate adaptation in urban areas, we also recommend our interview with expert Claudia von Freyberg – click here to go straight to the article.
