Floodplains belong to these natural areas in Central Europe which - depending on the formative power of flowing water - possess a high natural potential for the regulation of water and matter flows and holds a high variety of biodiversity. Large floodplains, riparian forests and urban development share a long common history in Central Europe. Numerous, sharply varying historical views exist on how to distinguish European floodplains. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to examine landscape-relevant indicators such as flood-plain loam expansion, groundwater level, topography and land use (change) to get an idea how useful they are for characterising current floodplain functionality in urban areas and to 'flesh them out' for a case study.