HOW TO IMPROVE LANDSCAPE AND ENVIRONMENT IN CZECH REPUBLIC WITH ASSISTANCE OF PARTICIPATORY PLANNING

‘Improving landscape’ or ‘care for the environment’ is a very broad concept – of course in the connection with grant programs. This paper (in connection with gardening and landscape architecture) deals with regeneration of green that can be addressed in the open countryside and also in urban spaces.
The national and European possibilities of financing improving landscape in the Czech Republic can be used for example by municipalities, cities, regions, non-profit organizations, schools, individuals. Klápštóvá and Svobodová (in Meier, 2012) write that scope, content and volume of grant programs are changing in a relatively short time period. Examples of actual grant programs in the field of improving landscape in the case of local action group MAS Via Rustica – concrete example of the microregion Stražiště area – are The Operational Programme Environment, Regional Operational Programme NUTS II South-East, The Vysočina Fund, Program of care for landscape, Program for Rural Development, Support of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and the foundations’ grant support. Currently, the preparation for the programming period after 2013 is being completed.
At this time the development of so called participatory (community) planning is evident in the Czech Republic. Currently, the calls for grants accent public participation as a condition for support and the applicants (municipalities, non-profit organizations, schools, private entrepreneur) begin to trust the system. This is mainly the foundations and their grant support that wants to improve relations in community and then people’s relationship to the environment. This article attempts in an example of case studies to confirm the hypothesis that participation of public (in any form) is positively reflected on the quality of public spaces and any other improving of landscape.
The author of this paper describes own experience of landscape design and with public participation in the process of improving the environment. Results are based not only on the basis of education in the field of landscape architecture, but also in sociology and psychology.
Case studies show that the greater public involvement in landscape improvement leads to more care about the environment. This stems from a sense of ownership and responsibility, which are created in people during participation in the process. Success of common planning or realization depends on a lot of aspects, for example organization, financial page, local public’s mentality, habits and relationships.