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Dossier

The Munich
High-Rise Study 2023.

The updated High-Rise Study is Munich's central urban-planning instrument for assessing tall buildings. It defines where and under which quality standards the city may build upwards. This dossier summarises origin, content, current version and first practical experience — as of April 2026.

At a glance

Key facts.

The Munich City Council adopted the study on 28 June 2023 and refined its wording in February 2025. It is now the binding framework for all high-rise projects in the city administration.

01

Adoption

Council resolution of 28 June 2023 on the application of the updated study. Technical draft by 03 Architekten, accompanied by the broad participation process „Hoch hinaus?" 2020–2021.

02

February 2025 update

Editorial adjustments in chapter 06, implementing the 28 June 2023 resolution. The study's structure and content remain unchanged.

03

No blanket height limit

The study does not impose a general 60-metre ceiling. It works with five height tiers whose admissible overshoot depends on the urban context.

Timeline

From draft to instrument.

The update took five years. The process was intensive, participatory — and has now been confirmed in court.

05 Feb 2020
Stage

Draft presented to the City Council

Office 03 Architekten · Updated draft

First formal presentation of the revised study. Trigger for the public debate on height development, site criteria and quality requirements.

— Dec 2020 – Oct 2021 Participation
Stage

Digital series „Hoch hinaus?"

Public participation · Online format

An extensive participation process with residents, professionals and city society. Results fed into the revision of the study.

28 Jun 2023
Decision

Council resolution on application

Full session of the City Council

The High-Rise Study in the April 2023 version shall be applied as the urban-planning framework for all future high-rise projects.

— Feb 2025
Update

Editorial changes, chapter 06

Update implementing the 28 June 2023 resolution

Fine-grained editorial refinements. The underlying system of height tiers and quality criteria is unchanged.

19 Jan 2026
Case law

Bavarian VGH confirms course

Bavarian Administrative Court of Appeal · Case 4 CE 25.2059

The „HochhausSTOP" citizens' petition against the application of the study at the Paketpost site is finally ruled inadmissible. The study holds up in legal practice.

Content

Two system pillars.

The study combines a spatial guidance plan with a qualitative criteria catalogue. Siting and quality are treated separately — but are inseparable.

A

Height tier plan

For the entire city, the study assigns five height tiers. They define by how much a project may overshoot the eaves height of its surroundings — depending on urban context, topography and city-planning significance. A blanket height ceiling is explicitly not provided.

B

Quality criteria catalogue

From building type 3 onwards, a binding catalogue applies with four top-level categories: urban design, architecture, societal added value, and climate & sustainability. It is the real innovation of the update and serves as the „yardstick" for approvability.

Urban design

Integration into silhouette, street network, sight lines and neighbourhood structure. Density with measure.

Architecture

Design quality, ground-floor zones, materiality. International competitions as the default.

Societal added value

Mixed use, subsidised housing, public space, access to shared infrastructure.

Climate & sustainability

Embodied carbon, circular economy, microclimate, lifecycle energy balance.

Procedure

Preliminary talks and feasibility study before initiating the zoning procedure. Site suitability and height-tier justification are tested in planning.

Current version

After the participation process, sustainability/climate and sight axes were deepened. The Feb. 2025 version is the authoritative one today.

Practical application

Test case: PaketPost site.

The PaketPost site is the first major project at which the study was legally tested — and which it has passed.

26 Nov 2025

Statute resolution

The full council adopts the development plan with green-space ordinance. Core: two 155 m towers by Herzog & de Meuron, around 1,200 apartments, more than 3,000 jobs, 8,500 m² of greenery, retail, culture, social uses and a care facility.

19 Jan 2026

BayVGH 4 CE 25.2059

The Bavarian Administrative Court of Appeal rules the „HochhausSTOP" citizens' petition finally inadmissible. Reason: the question was too indefinite — signatories could not tell to which specific measures the city would be bound in case of success.

20 Jan 2026

Coming into force

The city announces in its daily bulletin: once the pending supplementary negotiations on subsidised housing (SoBoN) are completed, the development plan and land-use plan amendment can be published in the official gazette and take effect.

Status April 2026

Current status

Planning law is effectively in place, the last procedural hurdles have fallen. A project start is legally possible within 2026. The study is thus confirmed both politically and in case law.

Our take.

The study is a step forward — but not the endpoint. It is the framework in which Munich's high-rise debate will now move. Whether the framework holds will be decided in each individual application.

We welcome the clear system of height tiers and quality criteria, the integration of climate and sightline considerations and, not least, the judicial confirmation of the procedural logic in January 2026. What remains critical: the study does not in itself create more affordable housing — as long as the quality catalogue is not also used as a lever for binding social quotas and leaner procedures in actual approvals.

Criticism comes mainly from the Münchner Forum and initiatives such as Moloch München, who call for stricter ecological and social criteria and more binding height limits. We share the interest in honest, fact-based debate — but we trust in the quality of implementation, not in blanket prohibitions.

„The study is the tool. Whether Munich builds with it or brakes with it depends on political consistency in every single procedure." hochhinaus.bayern, April 2026
Sources & further reading

For reference.

Primary sources and reporting on which this dossier is based.

High-Rise Study 2023 (full version)

Revised draft as of April 2023, document of the City of Munich (PDF, German).

Open PDF

City portal: high-rises in Munich

Official page of the City of Munich on the High-Rise Study, with the Feb. 2025 version.

Open page

PaketPost site (city portal)

Background, the Herzog & de Meuron masterplan draft and development-plan status.

Open page

BayVGH 4 CE 25.2059

Decision of 19 January 2026 on the „HochhausSTOP" citizens' petition (brief).

Open article

Join the conversation.

The High-Rise Study is not the end of the debate — it is its starting point. Bring your perspective to one of our events or reach out directly.

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