Large scale housing estates are important structural elements within East German and East European cities. While parked and moving car traffic was considered strongly in West Germany, in East German settlements particularly the social infrastructure and the public transport system was emphasised within the planning stages. The new demands of an increasingly motorised public are not done justice to within East German large scale housing estates. The rearrangement of the traffic situation is urgently needed. It is a prerequisite for further land use improvements. The existing traffic surfaces are generally sufficient for this purpose. These days, clearly more is demanded of open spaces than previously. There is a great wish for well managed vegetation, a planned park landscape which fulfils the need for order and cleanliness. An improved land use planning of open spaces is, apart from other measures, a prerequisite to secure the long term future of large scale housing estates and, perhaps, to reduce the emigration of the socially advantaged population segments.