This paper examines the question of whether and how municipal landscape plans exert a positive influence on and/or correlate with selected aspects of the landscape. To this end, a representative sample of municipal landscape plans in Germany and a statistical-quantitative evaluation approach are used to uncover correlations between planning and landscape development. As a result, it can be  seen that municipalities which draw up a landscape plan have a higher proportion of natural areas and a lower hemeroby index, i.e. a lower level of human influence. The model also reveals a significant relationship between the quality of the landscape plan as well as its duration of impact and the density of landscape structural elements.

It is also determined that municipal landscape plans help protect grassland areas. The indicator-based method provides impulses for the international discussion on the evaluation of plans. Planners ordinarily assume that their plans will somehow be effective and have a positive impact on landscape development. Yet in only a few cases is there empirical evidence for such assumptions.