Urban Water Management in Line with the Principles of Sustainable Development, by Jiří Vítek
In recent years, the approach to urban water management in economically developed countries was changing. The change in the approach to storm water has been brought about by a number of incentives which cannot be tackled by conventional drainage methods. The most effective method, doing justice to its name storm water management, is a decentralized drainage system based on the principles of sustainable development. The aim of this approach is to restore the natural water cycle by storm water retention in the area of its origin, using nature-like methods. The author, who deals with this issue on daily basis as a civil engineer and designer, seeks to answer questions which have so far been seldom discussed in our society. What is storm water management? Why is it beneficial? What is the difference between conventional drainage and storm water management? How should storm water management be implemented? What is necessary in order to introduce storm water management in the society so that it becomes inherent in the conduct and minds of people, becoming beneficial for them and for the environment, once and for all?
A Contribution to the Assessment of Development Traits of Czech Republic's Communities, by Jan Bína
The new 183/2006 Building Act of the Czech Republic introduces documents named Spatial Development Policy (for the national level) and Spatial Development Principles (for the level of Regions) into the practice of spatial planning. Among other contents, both will define the development areas and development axes. The present article is one of a variety of tools and attitudes to be used for the delimitation of such territorial areas.
Kyjovské Slovácko v pohybu, a Local Action Group, by Anna Čarková
The civic association Kyjovské Slovácko v pohybu is one of the 48 Local Action Groups, whose LEADER strategic plan was chosen for the support from the 2007–2013 Country Development Programme in the Czech Republic. The association was founded in April 2002 by a group of people inspired by the idea of LEADER programmes of regional development, a method based on local consultancy among businesses and the representatives of the public and private sectors. In the LEADER programme, such group is named Local Action Group. After receiving subsidy for the implementation of the LEADER+ strategy in 2004–2007, the Local Action Group of Kyjovské Slovácko v pohybu will be able to keep developing the region of the town of Kyjov through supported programmes in 2007–2013.
The Impact of the Terrain upon the Urban Development of Znojmo, by Eva Fialová
Located close to the Austrian border, the town of Znojmo lies on the river Dyje, in touch with the eastern border of the Podyjí/Thayatal National Park. The Dyje valley, in an agriculturally exploited country which elsewhere is rather slowly changing, makes a significant dynamic element in the location of the town. The geomorphology of the territory of Znojmo’s origin was decisive for the shape of its medieval centre. The configuration of the terrain in the south-west outskirts where the deep and abrupt valleys of the Dyje and the Gránický brook meet, and the shallower valley of the brook of Léska in the north-east, had created favourable conditions for the defence of the town and a unique framework of natural preconditions for a settlement of extraordinary urban characteristics.