The districts and district-free cities in Thuringia face the challenge of adapting their own political and professional design and reaction patterns to dynamic transformation processes in the living situations and needs of the population. This involves the management of cementation and partial exacerbation of social problems. Against this background, municipalities increasingly need support for the integration of particularly vulnerable populations and in the fight against poverty as a result of educational disadvantage, social exclusion and long-term unemployment. Sustainable planning processes that are oriented to the actual needs of the population take a key position. The Institute for Municipal Planning and Development supports the districts and district-free cities in the further development of viable and individual concepts of integrated, i.e. cross-divisional, interrelated planning processes and in the development of short-, medium- and long-term management measures. In direct cooperation with professional and political actors on site, the Institute for Municipal Planning and Development accompanies municipal planning and control processes and the work with the basic indicators on the living conditions of the population. For this purpose, specific training courses for the qualification of specialist personnel and the strengthening of inter- and intra-communal network structures are offered. Together with the Thuringian municipalities, individual strategies for networked planning and coordinated offers are developed on this basis depending on local needs. Cooperation contributes to the strengthening of municipalities in the management of municipal services of general interest, especially in the social sector. Due to the continuous scientific and professional support, previously saturated areas of responsibility can be brought together in the long term to form a holistic network of coordinated and tailored services based on the needs of the population.