An Interview with Jiří Burian, the Mayor of Sedlčany
Mr Burian came to the Sedlčany region in the 1980’s, to work as Head of the Building Office. In February 1990 he won the citizens’ trust, becoming the town’s Mayor. Having been re-elected in autumn later that year he surrounded himself with people of the same ambition as his: to uphold the town’s prosperity. More or less the same team won the two successive elections, so that continual materialization of mutual ideas was possible. Such continuity is reflected through factual results and, also, can be seen on the look of the town.
The Brno Faculty of Architecture Today, by Josef Chybík and Jan Koutný
The ongoing process of economic universality, cultural interference, and our country’s integration into international and European structures (such as NATO membership and EU candidacy), is highly relevant to the milieu of universities. Regarding this, the conclusions of the European Education Ministers’ meeting in Bologna, held in June 1999, were of eminent importance. It was in this Italian town, proud to host the oldest university dating back to the 12th century, where twenty-nine European ministers of education signed a treaty, known today throughout the academic world as the Bologna Declaration. The significance of education and schooling cooperation for the development and vigour of democratic societies is declared therein. If the participating countries fulfil its tasks, the following objectives are to be achieved within the next decade:
• international and inter-continental capability to compete
• free mobility of students, teachers, and scholars
• employment accessibility to graduates
To achieve these targets, the following tools are obligatory:
• an European credit system
• structuralized (multi-level) study programmes
• teaching quality evaluation, study programmes accreditation
• recognition of academic degrees
• lifelong learning
• supranational learning
Spatial Demands of Road Transportation, by Stanislav Prokeš
Increasingly, all kinds of transportation have their say in physical planning, accordingly to the actual stage of their continuous development. The demand for transport of persons and goods is growing, as is the number of vehicles. This does not mean, however, that transportation may enforce any spatial demands whatsoever, in any of its directions or areas of influence. It is to be said that transportation has reached a stage of a qualitative and quantitative breaking point at which its needs cannot any longer be satisfied through traditional methods of immense demands for space and investments. Transportation is, in its way, an element which, may cause heavy damages.
Polemics over the Bill of the Building Act, by Josef Markvart
Polemic opinions are usually answered through the journals they are published in. Nevertheless, my replying to such opinions in Urban Planning and Spatial Development has its reasons. First, being aimed at urban planning specialists, this journal may offer a more constructive debate than public press. Second, in the 3/2001 issue the Bill was published in its final wording. The readers can therefore follow the references and form their own opinions on critical articles published elsewhere. The articles I want to make my comments on are Spoiled Bill of the Building Act, by Jan Zeman, published in Ekonom, 13/2001, and On Mapping Social Conflicts over Landscape Usage, published in the web-zine Neviditelný pes on 11 August 2001.