Brownfields: Recycling of Urban Space (Czech Republic)

OP/Ed Article

The trend of favouring less expensive and less complicated greenfield developments causes constant growth of cities and suburban areas. On the other hand, the inner cities are affected by underused areas left after old outdated premises. Though, in the recent years, the historic cores of the Slovak cities have undergone renewal efforts and the various commercial activities and urban life have returned back, there are residing or former industrial areas from the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Their original location was peripheral but during the time, with the spatial expansion of cities, they became the part of the innercity. There are several arguments for recycling of such areas. Firstly, the ecological reasons have to be mentioned. If the total land stock is constant, it is necessary, like any other non-renewable resource, to spare and after loosing the original usage, it should be “recycled”.

Revitalisation of brownfields contributes to the increase of the attractiveness of the city, aesthetic and functional quality of the urban spaces. In practice, the revitalisation and functional conversion is rarely primarily motivated by the ecological goal of avoiding suburbanisation. The strategies of developers are rather based on utilising their main advantage, namely the favourable location, in the proximity to the city centre.

Increasing prices of properties in the city centre are followed by the increasing interest for this spatial reserve. At the same time, there is the disadvantage of additional costs for restructuring and demolitions, compared with greenfield location. In the developer’s efforts to utilise the lucrative lots as much as possible, some less profitable, however not obsolete functions might be displaced. This problem could be illustrated by the intention of using the lots under the bus station or the river port in Bratislava for other development project.

Moreover, the old industrial areas often host valuable historical buildings or whole structures that would disappear if completely replaced by the new structures. Without active intervention of the municipality or state, many of such areas are almost unusable and stay outside the interest of investors or may be subject of land speculation.

The public body may consider stimulation such as tax deductions, partial construction of the infrastructure, consultation and project support. In more complex projects, the most suitable solution is to establish a long-term cooperation of the private and public sector in the form of Joint Venture or local development agency. This cooperation forms have been successfully applied by the revitalisation of brownfield, particularly in Great Britain (London Docklands, Glasgow). In Slovakia, the state no specific measure to applied to brownfield redevelopment. The situation is more favourable even in the Czech Republic that initiated the preparation of the National Strategy for Brownfield Regeneration.

Author: Jaroslav Coplák, PhD., Project team Ecocity