Japan is currently facing the problem of a shrinking society characterised by the low birthrate, the ageing, the declining population and the change of household structures. The new challenges arising from the climate change cannot be also overlooked. In this lecture, we will focus on Germany, which faces similar challenges to Japan. In contrast to the UK and France, where there was a concentration of urbanisation in London and Paris, the urbanisation has been progressed in Germany by maintaining a polycentric structure, and the cities are now developing an urban planning programme in collaboration with the federal and state governments in order to ensure the future development potential of the city. The aim of this lecture is to clarify the characteristics of German cities using this programme as a guide, and to gain implications for regional revitalisation in Japan.