Retail Development and Impact Assessment in Czech Republic: Which Tools to Use?

The transformational period and especially the second half of the 1990s meant a dynamic expansion of Czech retailing and its spatial structure. The uncoordinated construction of the recently emerging large-scale retail outlet has raised a question whether their construction should be regulated. Due to the non-existent regulation of retail development on a national level, weak role of the local physical plans and feeble position of Building Offices compared with retailers and developers, no reference framework exists for retail development. In the light of these facts, it is obvious that a sensitive regulation tool is necessary for retail development. The paper discusses the results of a survey among Building Offices in the Czech Republic focused on the opinions on the need of the introduction of Retail Impact Assessment (RIA) study. More than half of the respondents oppose the RIA study and do not consider it necessary, mainly because they believe that the existing legislative and planning documentation is sufficient for the regulation of large-scale retail outlets. The results clearly show that the increase in the planning prestige and use of the existing regulation mechanisms within the physical plan are the priority for the Czech planning practice.     

Prospective Future Trends in Urban–Rural Relationships Within the Territorial Agenda of the EU: A Critical Analysis of Implementation with a Special Focus on the Example of the Czech Republic

In recent years, urban–rural relationships have attracted an increasing interest for more than just the issues they represent, i.e. the growing polarization of economic growth and the ever widening disparities between cities and the countryside. Another factor includes their conceptual context that concerns—above all—the implementation of the Territorial Agenda (TA) of the EU. This paper mainly focuses on identifying the solutions of urban–rural relationships under the umbrella of the TA EU within the practical context existing in the Czech Republic. The conclusions from this paper were used as the expert basis for primary research on this issue within the framework of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2009. The recommendations for policy-making at both the EU and the CR levels can be applied over the long-term horizon and should also be seen in the next programming period.     

Participation in the reuse of industrial heritage sites: the case of Oberschöneweide,Berlin

In recent years, the significance of the debate concerning the participation of local communities in the reuse and management of industrial heritage sites has grown considerably. However, the question of how participation takes place in practice has received little attention. This article shows how participation in the reuse of industrial heritage sites has functioned in the planning process in Berlin-Oberschöneweide. The article is theoretically grounded on debates on labour and community heritage. The field of planning, which is closely interwoven with that of heritage management, provides another important theoretical horizon. The qualitative investigation consisted of interviews with different actors. The findings show that Oberschöneweide’s industrial heritage site is important to the local community. Thus far, the community has been able to participate in the reuse and development process in a number of ways. In addition to the provisions made for community participation by the relevant authorities, and local initiatives have exerted an influence on the development of the area. Nevertheless, this participation has been limited and is in some respects problematic. Furthermore, the participation process referred not only to the industrial zone itself, but to the development of the district as a whole.     

WEST OF THE BEST: ROCK ART AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN THE DORO !NAWAS REGION OF NORTHWEST NAMIBIA

The Northwest of Namibia bears a concentration of rock art that is among the highest in the world. One of the centres is Twyfelfontein, a cluster of sites surrounding a waterhole at the eastern fringe of the Namib Desert, classified as the prime rock engraving site in southern Africa and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Recent prospections in the desert west of Twyfelfontein have resulted in the discovery of engravings and paintings that exceed those at the UNESCO site, both in quantity and quality. Our contribution to this volume in memory of Klavs Randsborg introduces this newly discovered archaeological landscape and discusses the connection between water ‐ a rare commodity in the desert environment ‐ and the rich array of rock art and other archaeological features found here.     

Leisure time preferences and health-risk behavior of teenagers in the post-communist Central European countries

In Central and Eastern Europe (CE), alcohol consumption, smoking, and substance use have become a substantial problem mainly among young people as well as changes of their leisure time occupations. The paper uses the binary logistic regression to measure the association between a certain type of leisure occupations and health-risk behaviors to show which activities are the most prone to health-risk behaviors. The analysis shows one prominent result – the strong relation between health-risk behavior of teenagers and going out in the evenings in the CE countries. There are, however, some specific protective factors of teenage risk behavior; these could be used to focus anti-risk behavior campaigns aimed at teenagers.