Current Information on the Digitisation of Building Regulation Proceedings under the New Building Act, by Jana Hübschmanová and collective of authors of the Department of Digitisation and Information Systems of the Ministry of Regional Development
Digitalization of building regulation proceedings aims to simplify and accelerate the processes in the field of building permits. The main tools are the Builder’s Portal and the Information System for Building Regulation Proceedings. The tool for the digitisation of spatial planning is represented by the National Geoportal for Spatial Planning, however, this area is not the subject of this text. The Builder’s Portal is used for submitting applications for building plan permission, communication with the Building Authority and access to information on ongoing building proceedings. The building management information system integrates data and facilitates the work of Building Authorities and other authorities concerned. Digitisation will bring changes in the work of the authorities and will require increased efforts from them in the initial period. The Ministry will further develop the functionalities of the information systems and provide both technical and methodological support. The expected results of digitisation shall include simplification and speeding up of building regulation proceedings, increased transparency, increased work efficiency of the authorities and better accessibility of information for builders.
Unified Data Standard Model of the Spatial Development Principles, by Kateřina Vrbová
The article provides basic information about the prepared Unified Data Standard of the Spatial Development Principles, which was developed by the Ministry of Regional Development in cooperation with the Prague Institute of Planning and Development. The obligation to develop selected parts of the Spatial Development Principles in a unified standard, results from the Building Act. The details are set out in an Implementing Decree, which is planned to come into force on 1 July 2024 together with the new Building Act coming into effect.
ETL Tool for Checking Compliance with the Spatial Plan Standard, by Adam Balcar
The Building Act and its implementing regulations set out standardised parts of spatial planning documentation and requirements for their structure, graphical representation, exchangeable data format and metadata. At present, a detailed uniform standard is introduced only for spatial plans and in accordance with Section 21a(6) of Decree No. 500/2006 Coll., on spatial analytical documents, spatial planning documentation and the process of recording spatial planning activity. Their compliance with the uniform standard is documented by the developer by means of a document from an electronic check tool, which is briefly presented in the article. This tool allowing remote access has been made available by the Ministry of Regional Development free of charge.
Government approved Update No. 7 of the Spatial Development Policy of the Czech Republic, by Filip Novosád, Hana Máchová, Jakub Kotrla
The Government of the Czech Republic approved Update No. 7 of the Spatial Development Policy of the Czech Republic developed by the Ministry of Regional Development, by its Resolution No. 89 on 7 February 2024. This update cancelled the territorial protection of the Danube-Oder-Elbe water corridor.
Czech Spatial Planning in the Context of the European Union, Jan Maňas, Karel Maier
This article examines the dynamics and development of legislation in this area from the perspective of current challenges. Particular attention is paid to the capacity of spatial planning to integrate sectoral policies, to adapt to changing social and political conditions, and to involve citizens in the decision-making process.
The article also includes studies conducted within the European Union focusing on spatial planning, with an emphasis on the situation in the Czech Republic. The results of these studies are placed in the context of the development of Czech legislation, providing deeper insight into the current state and prospects of spatial planning in the Czech Republic.
Too narrow focus of spatial planning primarily on the physical environment arrangement limits its capacity to address current global challenges and the EU policies that reflect them. This limitation could be mitigated by its more effective linking and coordinating with regional policy. However, the new Building Act does not seem to achieve this objective included in the 2030 Strategic Framework.
The conclusions of the article offer a comprehensive view of both the current state and the perspectives of spatial planning in the Czech Republic in the context of European standards and trends. It discusses possible directions for further development of legislation and how these changes may affect the spatial planning practice and the environment in the Czech Republic as a whole. Overall, the article makes an important contribution to the discussion on spatial planning in the context of a modern and dynamic social environment.
Centenary of the Klíše Urban Borough, Tereza Šťastná
The article Century of the Klíše Urban Borough summarizes the history of the construction development of the above mentioned important part of Ústí nad Labem from its incorporation in the city for the following hundred years. The delimited area was approached comprehensively with its urban development treated within a brief social and historical context. The study traces the main milestones of the borough in the period from 1899 to 1999. It traces the preconditions of the urban borough founding and its turbulent transformation from a traditional rural village into a modern compact urban borough based on cartographic sources and the method of field survey.
Klíše Urban Borough is located at the foot of Střížov, Holoměřice and Ovčí hills, to the north-west it passes into a valley running along the Klíše Brook up to the borders of the Bukov Urban Borough. This borough is rich in many architectural styles from Heimatstil through functionalism, and socialist realism to modernist buildings from the end of the 20th century. It is fully equipped with civic amenities with a well-defined space for both individual and residential development as well as public space. It combines several categories of housing, making it a vibrant and functional urban part. Its boundary is hardly traceable thanks to its natural merging with the city. The study addresses the issue of where exactly this boundary is located and how it was evolving based on the historical road system. It further seeks answers to issues concerning the contemporary dispute over the name of the borough or the unclear surviving cartographic resources. The whole research is supported by the study of scientific literature, source heuristics, the method of oral history, the method of historical research of all available cartographic resources from the eldest to the most recent, and the method of comparison.
How to Approach the Spatial Planning Reform? by Ondřej Zabloudil
The article represents the key points of the spatial planning reform proposal, the predecessor of which was the project “Analysis, Reform Draft and its legislative concept for the Reform of the Building Act in the Field of Spatial Planning” developed by the Deloitte team in 2020 and 2021 for the Ministry of Regional evelopment, including recommendations on how to remove the deficiencies of the current spatial planning system.
Digital Technical Maps of Regions as a Part of Digitisation of Building Regulation Proceedings and Spatial Planning, by Romana Vačkářová
Digital technical maps of regions become an interesting source of information useful for spatial planning activities, as well as for the needs of preparing, permitting and implementing building construction, as well as for providing information on the environment and data on physical infrastructure. The Czech Republic introduced digital technical maps into its legislation in 2020, appointing their administrator, the range of obligatory entities and persons, as well as the deadline for regions to launch digital technical maps. As the deadline for the launch of the digital technical maps of the regions, as one of the parts of the digitisation of building regulation proceeding concept and spatial planning, is inevitably approaching, it would be useful to become more familiar with this map concept, to explain the basic principles of its management and updating and to demonstrate the possibilities of its use.
Vysočina Region Simplified the Discussion of Spatial Plans and their Amendments, by Petr Jirásek
The Vysočina Region is becoming a pioneer in the field of spatial planning in terms of digitisation and public participation. Introducing its innovative web application "Discussion of Spatial Plans", the Vysočina Region enables all interested parties to easily and conveniently access information and actively participate in the process of creating and discussing spatial plans and their amendments.
Spatial Planning Standardisation. Survey
In January 2024, the editors of the journal approached about a dozen respondents from among spatial planners, academics and regional planning authorities with several questions about their opinions on standardisation. Seven respondents’ answers, which are listed below, were received by the editorial deadline in March 2024. Respondents generally related the questions only to the spatial plans’ standardization, which is currently the most advanced and with which they interact most often. However, the questions were meant more broadly, allowing for comments on the spatial planning standardisation in general, which some respondents also took advantage of. The survey was conducted at a time when the ETL tool for checking the spatial plan was not yet freely available to municipal planners and designers; so at the time of the survey, the ETL tool data checks were carried out by regional office staff or by the staff of the Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic.
Standardization of Spatial Plans Differently, by Jiří Čtyroký
The Czech Republic is currently gradually introducing a standard for the content and data processing of spatial plans. The article analyses the basis on which the standardisation process has to be based and confronts it with current practice. It shows what features a data standard of a spatial use plan should have for effective use in public administration information systems and how it should be better adapted. Particular attention is paid to the possibility of creating a uniform standard in the conditions of spatial plans of different size categories of municipalities and cities.
Digitisation at the level of Swedish Spatial Planning, by Irena Klingorová
Digitisation, in other words, the conversion of information into a computer-readable format, is a process that should contribute, among other things, to simplifying, facilitating and unifying information flows and related processes. In the fields of spatial planning and construction industry, this means particularly the simplification of the entire planning and construction processes. From the point of view of the Swedish National Council for Housing, Building and Planning, digitisation is nowadays a necessary step to facilitate and unify all planning and construction processes, while ensuring that civil engineering data is up-to-date, accurate and comparable throughout Sweden. These prerequisites contribute substantially to increased housing development intensity as well as long-term sustainable social development.
