Urbanization in protected landscape areas in the czech republic and its influence on the architectural and urban value of settlements

Abstract

The thesis deals with urbanization tendencies and trends in protected landscape areas in the Czech Republic. During the research there were eight selected PLAs that were under investigation and evaluated. Their selection was based on the manner and the degree of their collision with the national development priorities defined in the Territorial Development Policy of the Czech Republic. Then, in these areas, the baseline of socio-demographic characteristics (the increase of the number of houses and the number of population) was evaluated and compared with the national reference values. Another considered aspect was the architectural and urban conservation and the quality of settlements, located in the protected landscape areas concerned. The results of the research show that the basic urbanization feature typical for all Protected Landscape Areas is live development reflecting the development priorities of the Czech Republic by changing its intensity but always attains at least average national values even in the case of areas belonging to the excluded localities. A different situation is in the population increase. There the development in the monitored areas does not fully address the national reference trends. Compared to the number of houses, the number of residents is significantly lower. We can say therefore that the settlements in the Protected Landscape Areas in terms of the number of the building stock grow faster than the rest of the country. At the same time it seems that these buildings are constantly inhabited by less and less inhabitants. This can be explained by the use of these houses primarily for individual recreation. Nevertheless, this live development does not lower the architectural and urban quality of settlements. The character is in all protected landscape areas balanced regardless the location of the protected landscape area within the Czech Republic. All evaluated PLAs achieve in this respect very good results. It can be stated that increased protection of the nature and landscape has also a positive impact on the quality of settlements.