Olomouc Urban Development Plan
Urban and territorial planning lay foundations of sustainable development of a given municipality or territory in order to satisfy the needs of the current generation while preserving the life conditions of the future ones. Bodies and institutions in charge of the planning coordinate demand for changes exerted by the public and private sector and protect public interests in accordance with applicable law. Major tools of the urban planning are, above all, planning supporting fundamentals and documents. As for the fundamentals, they encompass various analytical models examining the conditions and development of a given municipality or territory, and territorial planning studies that verify possibilities and conditions of the changes in a given territory in terms of its use or layout, including placement of buildings. The urban planning documents, compiled by a territorial planning office, encompass territorial plans and regulatory plans. The former set forth a general concept of territorial development and preservation of a municipality. It may specify certain areas or corridors, where possibilities of changes of their use may be verified by a planning study or regulatory plan. The latter lay down specific terms and conditions of use of land, layout and placement of buildings. They are binding for the urban planning decision-making process.
Over several past years, the City of Olomouc had updated its Urban Development Plan. The whole process was completed in September 2014 and the updated Plan became effective as from 30 September 2014. It can be found at the urban planning website (available only in the Czech language), including an easy-to-use map application and other related information. The previous City of Olomouc’s Urban Master Plan was approved by the City Assembly on 29 October 1998 and has been changed many times since then. As the new Building Act effective as of 1 January 2007 has limited the validity of certain urban plans, the City of Olomouc prepared a new one.
Olomouc City and Olomoucko Micro-Region Strategic Development Plan
The City of Olomouc compiled the Olomouc City and Olomoucko Micro-Region Strategic Development Plan in 2000 and has been regularly updating it since. Two larger updates took place in the meantime, in 2005 and 2007. Due to the strategic plan-making process, the city possesses a document that gives comprehensive information on crucial development areas, including specific objectives and suggests ways these may be achieved. The resulting Strategic plan is a powerful tool supporting the city’s strategic goals, with some objectives spilling into the territory of neighbouring municipalities.
The Integrated Urban Development Plans (IPRM) and Integrated Territorial Development Plan (IPRÚ) were put together as part of the Regional Operational Programme of the Central Moravia Cohesion Region (ROP SM) and the Integrated Operational Programme (IOP).
Regional Innovation Strategy and Strategy for Smart Specialisation
Supporting the innovation processes by establishing links between private business and academy is perceived by the City as one of crucial activities that fuel the economic development. Therefore the City has directly participated in preparing the Regional Innovation Strategy of the Olomouc Region (RIS OK 2011) focused on enhancing the competitiveness of the local economy and creating high value jobs through continuous creating opportunities for innovation business and excellence research in the Region. The City representatives also took part in preparing a regional part of the Czech Republic’s Strategy for Smart Specialization (RIS3) for 2014–2020 with the aim of channelling funds efficiently to activities that can boost innovation in the Region. Local entrepreneurs vitally participated in putting the Strategy together.
ITI Strategy – Olomouc Conurbation Integrated Territorial Investments
The Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs) are a powerful instrument that facilitates funding from multiple operation programmes and helps find integrated solutions to territorial needs of metropolitan conurbations with the strongest growth potential. The Olomouc conurbation is one of the seven so-called ITI communities singled out by the Czech government as major national growth poles. It includes three cities – Olomouc, Prostějov and Přerov – and its population is 474,000. The three cities have entered into a memorandum on cooperation and common policies on issues connected with preparing and drawing EU grants in the programming period 2014–2020 with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of the conurbation by a joint effort to promote economic development and quality of living. Numerous regional entities participated in preparing the ITI strategy, setting up purposeful objectives in priority areas such as achieving the balance between support and demand in the labour market, creating favourable conditions for the development of a knowledge economy, developing the infrastructure and improving the environment.