Implementing the energy transition often requires planning procedures that are typically time-consuming and complex in terms of content. Digitalization and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to accelerate these procedures in practice and support legally compliant decision-making in complex situations. Digital procedures eliminate the workload resulting from media breaks in the exchange of data and information between different public authorities and the project developer. The use of AI can also greatly facilitate the processing of large amounts of data and enable, for example, a very large number of comments or environmental data to be analyzed quickly and efficiently. These topics have now also found their way into practice: in addition to pilot projects currently underway, such as DiPlanung and WindGISKI, an AI-supported platform is to be established in 2025, which will initially be used to manage planning and approval procedures for the construction of the hydrogen core network and is planned to be expanded into a digital platform ecosystem for complex planning and approval procedures.

In recent years, the digitalization of planning procedures has been strengthened by amendments to the Building Code and the Spatial Planning Act, although legal developments in this area cannot yet be considered complete. There are currently no explicit legal guidelines for the use of AI in planning procedures, meaning that its application and legal framework require clarification. Against this background, the REdKIP project (Legal Framework for the Use of Digital Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Planning Procedures) aims to systematically examine the extent to which the use of digital technology and AI in planning procedures is currently provided for by law and to what extent it is possible to go further within the existing legal framework, taking into account European and international legal requirements. Furthermore, the legal boundaries within which further developments regarding digitalization and the use of AI in planning may take place in the future are to be outlined. This is to form the starting point for further work steps in the project to identify legal obstacles and options for change, as well as specific applications of AI in planning procedures.