SUMMARYThe goals expressed in theBundesraumordnungsgesetz(Federal Law for Spatial Order) are almost ‘Leerformeln’, too abstract to serve as an orientation for rational decisions in regional policy. Therefore the goals have to be made operational, and at the same time, the objects of regional policy, the criteria for their evaluation, and their quantitative regional aspects (categories of regions) have to be worked out within a consistent system. In the view of lacking preconditions for this task it is proposed to draw orientation from specific problems by fixing unwanted situations. Their summary within a catalogue of negative situations marks the goals of regional policy by their reciprocal values. This approach will incrementally lead towards a complete conc