From November 2017 to April 2018, the city of Brno was involved in an international research project under the title Spatial Dynamics and Strategic Planning in Metropolitan Areas, known under the acronym SPIMA. Ten different European metropolitan areas were included in the project (Oslo, Brno, Brussels, Lille, Lyon, Zurich, Prague, Vienna, Terrassa and Turin).
The project focused on the quest for the best solutions in planning and managing metropolitan areas. In the course of the project, an expert research team also visited Brno and its hinterland. Team was familiarised with the set of problems of strategic and spatial planning and metropolitan cooperation. The team found out that for the time being, the collaboration still runs on a voluntary basis (only with some stakeholders), being motivated primarily thanks to the ITI tool and external funding. Experts noticed that strategic and spatial planning did not have much interconnection within the Brno Metropolitan Area, and saw some frightening cases of unregulated construction of houses in the surroundings of Brno.
Through its involvement in the SPIMA project, the city of Brno has gained new knowledge in the management of its metropolitan area through experiences and solutions of other cities, which it intends to incorporate into its development in the future. The further co-operation with other cities was an added value of involvement in the project.
The following key issues of territorial development at the metropolitan level were defined during the preparation of the project:
- strategic location;
- “urban sprawl”;
- development areas;
- infrastructure; and
- finance/taxes and participation of the stakeholders.
The city of Brno defined the key challenges and key needs that will be accentuated within the project. These are specifically:
- creating a compact and sustainable urban model, which will include decentralisation of services while intensifying urban functions;
- promotion of mobility (people and resources) in the metropolitan area;
- development of infrastructure;
- solving the problems of socially excluded localities and localities with special needs;
- interlinking of the processes of territorial and strategic planning;
- finding a solution to the funding of integrated projects;
- setting up a functional cooperation between different levels of governance;
- integration of the issues of sectoral policies in the metropolitan area, creation of functional synergies; and
- enhance the attractiveness of the Brno Metropolitan Area for investors.
