Geographia Technica, Vol 9, Issue no. 1/2014, pp. 66-77

PERCEPTION OF URBAN RENEWAL: REFLEXIONS AND COHERENCES OF SOCIO-SPATIAL PATTERNS (BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC)

Josef KUNC, Josef NAVRÁTIL, Petr TONEV, Bohumil FRANTÁL, Petr KLUSÁČEK, Stanislav MARTINÁT, Marek HAVLÍČEK, Jakub ČERNÍK

ABSTRACT: Transformations of economy and society, which had begun in the Eastern and Central European countries in the 1990ies, have also occasioned a profound change of the urban environment. Extensive de-industrialization led not only to the rise of neglected and abandoned objects and industrial estates, but also to an increase of technical, environmental, and above all social deprivations and risks. Brno, a monocentric city, has been very important already in the pre-industrial era. Its abandoned production plants and attendant social and other problems are located mostly in the immediate vicinity of its historical centre (transitional zone or the inner city) which further increases citizens' negative perceptions of these phenomena. On the other hand, abandoned lots adjacent to the city centre often have the greatest potential for new construction. Grounded in theory and research of socio-spatial perception of the local populace, this study presents the revitalization possibilities and risks of exactly this kind of space, which can be viewed as both the largest development area in the city and simultaneously as an area which is abandoned and neglected, with a host of social, technical and other problems.


Keywords: urban environment, revitalization, perception, Brno, Czech Republic.

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