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Description
The climate change impact is constantly more visible in Prague, be it in the increase of extreme hydrometeorological events, heat island effect, increased number of floods or change of soil moisture. Prague’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (2016) prioritizes sensitive development of natural landscape through the establishment and management of periurban parks. It’s a nature-based solution supporting natural protection incorporating adaptation measures such as – flood protection and control, floodplain redevelopment, management of surface water discharge or reduction of solar radiation.
The planned Periurban Park Confluence is one of these solutions, first of its kind in Prague and the Czech Republic. This 1,300 ha floodplain of the riparian corridor around the confluence of the Berounka and Vltava rivers in Prague suffers from administrative and property fragmentation. There is a high risk that ongoing insensitive and uncoordinated interventions will lead to irreversible damage to the landscape and the environment.
As part of the efforts to establish and institutionalize the Park, it’s necessary to conceptualize it – agree on its vision, strategic framework and concrete measures. The project output is the development of zoning study and conceptual documents to support the redevelopment of the floodplains, development and management of the park, covered by a backbone document - Masterplan. Considering there is limited experience with periurban parks in the Czechia, the project partnership with university in Oslo (AHO) and federation EUROPARC will enable transfer of know-how and best practice. The citizens of Prague and the metropolitan area are the main beneficiaries of this project, benefiting from the increased resistance of Prague to climate change impact.
Summary of project results
A healthy periurban landscape will play a key role in the future sustainability of cities and their climate change adaptation. It will offer opportunities for recreation, important habitats for plants and animals and, if adequately managed, can serve as an important green element for adjacent built-up areas. However, the suburban landscape is neglected and becoming an endangered element in the Czech Republic. It therefore needs special attention and care. Our project concerns the periurban landscape at the confluence of the Berounka and Vltava rivers. The river floodplain connects 11 municipalities and 5 districts of the capital city. The area is fragmented, contains various conflicts of interest and risks irreversible damage to the landscape due to overexploitation. The area lacks a shared vision to ensure the protection and development of the landscape as a whole and there are no documents that clearly explainis the needs of landscape and the possible future of the area. To ensure the protection and revitalisation of the river floodplain we want to establish a periurban park, a tool to coordinate local projects in the area. It will ensure the implementation of a shared vision, implement natural measures to slow water runoff, prevent soil erosion and enhance the ecological stability and resilience of the landscape. In the project, we aimed to get a Guide Plan that will include conceptual preparation of the periurban park Confluence, a landscape revitalization plan and selected pilot projects.
It is a compilation of mapping and written documents, which includes workbooks and drawings to analyze and solve the territory. The Guide Plan also includes a Landscape Revitalization Proposal along watercourses and specific pilot projects. The proposal addresses specific actions for river floodplain revitalization, identifies project standards, and enhances ecosystem services, biodiversity, and blue-green infrastructure development. The pilot projects present the Guide plan aproach through the model solutions. The Guide Plan is a valuable document to clearly communicate the project idea. It is indispensable for the establishment of the periurban park. We organized many working meetings and thanks to the excellent clarity of the documents, the Periurban Park Confluence is accepted by all the stakeholders in the area.
We have got the Guide Plan to implement the periurban park as a tool to climate change adaptation. We have provided a clear vision, conceptual framework for development and stewardship of the confluence area. We have specific guidance on how to get there. We have worked out the Prague''s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2020-2024, the Prague''s Climate Plan 2030 and the Strategic plan of the Capital City of Prague. In our project we actively support the natural environment and implement nature based solution measures. We strengthen ecosystem services and the ecological balance of the landscape. We have actively worked with stakeholders and we are approaching towards a social agreement. In the Guide Plan we bring the procedure that can serve as a model for establishing a periurban park in any other places in the Czech Republic.
We have also developed an application that presents the area and its history: https://soutok.pictory.cz/
Summary of bilateral results
The management and development of large units of periurban landscape is a process with which we do not have enough experience in the Czech Republic. That is why we asked the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) to share their expertise. We worked with K. Helms, ex-president of the landscape association IFLA EUROPE, who deals with the issue of landscapes and climate adaptation at AHO. She participated in the preparation of the landscape and urban planning competition and consulted on the refinement of the competition outcomes. She had a key influence on the assignment of the main project output - Guide Plan and contributed to the high professional level of the International Landscape Conference in Prague.