Brownfields in the Czech Republic 1989–2009: The long path to integrated land management

Abstract

It has been precisely two decades since the political transition in central Europe, which left post-socialist cities, and the Czech cities in particular, with a massive legacy of brownfields in key urban locations. This paper describes the causes and nature of this urban challenge, the growing awareness of brownfields as a problem, and the gradual emergence of the policies, institutions and understandings that allowed brownfields to begin to be brought back into substantial use. This broad historical picture is supplemented with a more detailed description of two current pressing issues (national level brownfield leadership and inventory). The paper concludes with a discussion of the broader lessons of these two decades for other places and other complex urban issues requiring broad integrative changes.