The ELLA project is the transnational co-operation of nearly all regional spatial planning authorities in the Elbe basin. This partnership between national and regional partners that are responsible for spatial planning, water management and agriculture, realises almost full spatial coverage of the catchment area of the Elbe and even neighbouring regions. Flood prevention and common management approaches have to be improved in particular regarding long term spatial planning. The promotion of integrated water management and implementation in regional planning: ·Transnational development and regional implementation of a common spatial planning strategy. ·Evaluation and improvement of spatial planning settings, instruments and policies. ·Improvements of several regional and local land use plans in flood prone areas. The prevention of floods: ·Risk analysis and mapping, basic realisation steps for retention measures, impact analysis. ·Retaining measures for rainwater in the fields of regional planning, agriculture, forestry etc. ·Solutions for downstream - upstream burden balancing to speed up the realisation of measures. ·Risk maps, agreement on retention measures, land use options (e.g. agriculture, forestry). ·Production of transnational strategic planning maps for the entire river basin. ·Exemplary improved regional plans, regional strategies etc. following the transnational needs. ·An efficient transregional network of authorities regarding spatial planning and flood management. ·A transnational strategy for burden sharing incentives (compensation funds, negotiations). Achievements: The ELLA project has achieved the following results: - Hazard maps for most of the Elbe and many tributaries (“Elbe Atlas”), - The transnational ELLA Strategy for spatial planning and water management in the Elbe river basin, - A joint declaration on implementation of the strategy and further co-operation of the project partners, - Flood management systems and maps, - A travelling exhibition (3 months running along the Elbe river), - Regional and local planning documents following the joint strategy.