Editing Jena (section)

=== Cityscape ===
Most of the city consists of buildings from before World War II. The historic city centre is located inside the former wall (which is the area between Fürstengraben in the north, Löbdergraben in the east, Teichgraben in the south and Leutragraben in the west). There are only a few historic buildings in this area (e.g. at Oberlauengasse), due to the destruction during World War II and modernization projects in the following decades. The Eichplatz, a big sub-used square covering a large amount of the centre, has not been built on since the 1960s and the discussion about its future is still in process. The wall's defortification took place relatively early in the 18th century – and the first suburbs developed in front of the former city gates. In these areas, some historic building structures from the 18th and early 19th century remained in western Bachstraße and Wagnergasse, in northern Zwätzengasse and in southern Neugasse.

The later 19th and early 20th centuries brought a construction boom to Jena, with the city enlarged to the north and south along the Saale valley, to the west along ''Mühltal'' and on the Saale's east side in former Wenigenjena. Compared with the city centre, later substantial losses were much slighter in this areas. During the interwar period, the construction of flats stayed on a high level but suitable ground got less, so that new housing complexes were set up relatively far away from the centre – a problem that remained until today with long journeys and high rents as consequences. Today's Jena is not as compact as other cities in the region, and urban planning is still a challenge.

A peculiarity of Jena is the presence of a second old town centre with a market square, town hall, and castle in the former town of Lobeda, which is a district since 1946, located approximately {{convert|4|km|0|abbr=on}} to the south of Jena's centre.