Documents

The Ostrava City Strategic Development Plan 2017–2023

One of the main goals of the Ostrava City Strategic Development Plan 2017–2023 is “Bringing the City Closer to Nature”. As part of this goal, Ostrava’s revitalized green areas will be expanded (min. 80 ha of parks and urban greenery by 2023).

Other changes planned for implementation by 2023 include:

• Cultivated urban parks and green areas for leisure, sports and recreational use.
• Ostrava will be better prepared for climate change due to improvements in public spaces, more water features and elements supporting biodiversity.
• An increase in the area of functional, high-quality and well-maintained greenery.
• Regeneration of brownfields and post-industrial sites, incl. temporary alterations. Major progress on the clearance (cleanup) of ecological burdens from past industrial activity.

The City´s land Use and Zoning Plan and The Greenery Development Plan

Principles of sustainable territorial development are implemented via the City’s Land Use and Zoning Plan (LUZP) and other relevant strategic documents (such as the Greenery Development Plan). The percentage of sealed surface has not been calculated yet.

Climate Change Adaptation Strategy

The LUZP is regularly updated in response to the changing situation and future outlook. The Plan (and its updates) are based on demographic and economic forecasting data. As part of the City’s response to climate change, a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy has been drawn up; this document includes measures addressing land use, including the development of green infrastructure – e.g. by creating new green areas (according to priorities based on the vulnerability of specific locations) or by linking and integrating current green areas.

The Territorial Ecostability Systems

Green areas create compact and unified entities (in the case of larger green areas, parks). Plans for new greenery always take into consideration the proposed Territorial Ecostability System (TES, part of the City’s Land Use and Zoning Plan); the purpose of the TES is to link and integrate areas of higher ecological stability. Plantings of linear greenery are also planned in order to create links between green areas.

The Territorial Ecostability Systems (TES) delineates individual biocentres linked by biocorridors. Recently the Plan was partially implemented on the basis of the TES set out in Ostrava’s LUZP; previously missing biocentres and biocorridors (which form the spatial basis of the TES) were added.

Biocentres are not only existing green areas (parks and other large areas of greenery); they also include areas where the creation of new green spaces would increase the biodiversity (and thus also the ecostability) of the system. Similarly, biocorridors are not merely existing strips of greenery along watercourses or existing rows of trees (linear greenery. As part of the implementation of the Plan, biocentres were created on brownfield sites and former mining/industrial waste sites; these biocentres were then connected by linear greenery to create the city’s ‘green skeleton’. There are no economic tools to support green roofs, vertical gardens, etc… implemented. Citizens have been involved into green area planning during LUZP elaboration and and ad hoc for the particular parks.