德國地方政府的行政區域重劃源自十九世紀末，甚至更早以前，不過，實施的範圍有限，而且主要集中在工業發達的魯爾區(Ruhrgebiet)。一直到 1960 年代因為社會變遷、經濟蓬勃發展，機動性的提高，人民對地方政府的要求不斷提高，而地方政府卻因為規模太小、行政能力薄弱，難以滿足人民的需求。而另一方面，由於地方自治的實質內容減少，地方自治的意義不斷被質疑，於是為了強化地方政府的治理能力、提升地方政府的行政能力和效率以及落實地方自治的精神，德國各邦政府從 1960..

The territorial reform in Germany at the local government level began in the end of the 19th century or even earlier. But the scale and the scope of its implementation was very limited and happened in the majority of cases in the Ruhr area. During the 1960s, the social situation had changed greatly, the economy boomed, and the mobility increased; the demand of people for local government had gradually enhanced on the one hand, but the real substance of self-administration had evidently reduced, so that the meaning of self- ad..