Spatial planning and sustainable development of agricultural landscape, by Vladimír Mackovič
Our society claims allegiance to sustainable development of territories. Spatial development is expected to contribute to this by both proposing efficient use and making the spatial arrangement. Territories in which agricultural land prevails are usually called agricultural landscape. It is important to realize that more than a half of the territory of the Czech Republic consists of agricultural land resources, with efficient use and spatial arrangement as important as elsewhere. However, the use of agricultural land is specified by the owner or tenant, and the arrangement of agricultural land resources is governed by land regulations. What is then left for spatial planning? This is what our article considers. The opening part clarifies the author’s attitudes to the notion of spatial planning and agricultural land from the viewpoint of their potential links; the analytical part summarizes the range of tools of spatial development as related to the attributes of agricultural land; the proposition part presents a suggestion for the possible use of potential links between spatial planning and agricultural land to ensure sustainable development; and the concluding chapter is in the form of answers to questions about agricultural land, spatial planning and the relationship between these domains.
Public interests in spatial planning, by Martin Tunka
When documents of spatial planning are prepared and subsequently applied in construction proceedings, various interests come into conflict; it is inevitable that plans in these documents will involve private land, restrict possible changes in use and/or devalue the environment in which they are located. Arguments in defence of planning documentation usually refer to the needs of development (of the municipality, region, country, society etc.), public benefit, interest in best possible territorial use and other public interests. It is not unusual for participants in spatial planning to interpret public interest in accordance with their own reasoning, interests, education and experience. However, public interest must not be understood arbitrarily, because documents of spatial planning are not mere abstractions about spatial development. They result in certain restrictions, some are obligatory for the decision-making of the Building Offices, others make the basis for expropriation or proprietary rights restriction. This article aims to provide basic information on the importance and options of protection of public interests and proprietary rights in spatial planning.
Dresden as a Smart City laboratory, by Lukáš Novotný
Taking the city of Dresden as its example, this article refers to the uniqueness of the concept of integrated urban planning in the new states of Germany, with a strong participation accent. The article is theoretically based on the terms strategic planning, creative milieu, participation accent and Smart City. Several historical and socio-demographical specifics are presented as important determinants for future urban planning. Another chapter is focused on The Future of Dresden 2025+, a strategic plan that enumerates challenges for the years to come and tools with which to address them. The main part of the article provides an analytical description of the activities of Smart City and the MAtchUP project, particularly in the quarter of Johannstadt, which was chosen for application of these tools. The priorities determined by MAtchUP are mobility, power industry and civic society.
Remarks and reflections from workshops on landscape studies for administrational districts of municipalities with extended powers, by Vladimír Mackovič
Although a discussion about landscape planning has been in progress for several years, the component approach to landscape still prevails in the Czech Republic. Departments usually pursue their own components of landscape (e.g. water management, forestry and so on). Only two branches are expected to work with the ‘whole landscape’: the Ministry of the Environment, whose operations are largely directed by the Nature and Landscape Protection Act, although practice shows that the agenda is dominated by special protection of nature, and the Ministry for Regional Development, whose relation to landscape protection is based on the Act on Town and Country Planning and the Building Code (Building Act). In this case, the dominating agenda is linked to the latter part of the title, which mainly addresses spatial preparation for construction. The other departments proceed from component legislation and therefore are not forced to take a holistic approach to landscape.
