As one Berlin planner put it: "A city is not a pie chart of solid blocks. It is an aurora. The Arcobaleno Zonenplan is simply the first legal framework to admit that." Disclaimer: This article discusses an emerging theoretical concept. For official zoning regulations in your municipality, consult your local Bauamt (building department).

A resident in a predominantly residential area (violet) under the Rainbow Plan should never have to travel more than 500 metres to find a "yellow" zone (a grocery store) or a "blue" zone (a repair shop). While no German city has adopted a full Arcobaleno Zonenplan , elements of it are visible in Berlin’s Mischgebiet (mixed-use areas). Urban planners at the Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung have experimented with "overlay zones" that resemble the rainbow model. For instance, the Holzmarkt area near Ostbahnhof operates as a de facto rainbow zone: a cultural venue (red), a co-working space (orange), a nightclub (magenta), a kindergarten (yellow), and a riverside park (green) all exist on the same plot without hierarchical zoning. Criticism and Challenges Critics argue that the Rainbow Plan is utopian and legally fragile. German zoning law ( BauGB ) traditionally relies on the principle of Rücksichtnahme (consideration) but assumes that incompatible uses (e.g., a heavy metal factory next to a silent library) should be separated, not mixed.

In the rigid world of German Bebauungsplan (land-use plans), where every parcel of land is typically assigned a single, fixed colour—red for mixed-use, blue for industrial, green for parks—a new theoretical model is emerging: the Arcobaleno Zonenplan (Rainbow Zoning Plan).