Architecture for Local Elections - Position of the Czech Chamber of Architects

The Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA), which is legally responsible for the quality of the built environment and the cultural landscape, is ready to provide state administration, local government, and the public with documentation and consultations concerning responsible management of entrusted territories, municipal assets, and all areas of issues related to local development. In connection with the upcoming municipal elections, the ČKA sees the need to offer questions related to the development of a quality environment to the programs of individual political parties, groups, or civic initiatives. Similar to four years ago, the ČKA presents several points that it considers significant in terms of municipal policy.

Conceptual Decision-Making about Territory, Strategic and Spatial Planning
For municipal self-governance, i.e., public administration, responsible care for entrusted territory, the administrative territory of the municipality, and entrusted municipal assets is absolutely fundamental. From this perspective, the spatial plan is a critically important document. The spatial plan must not merely be a formal document serving to settle individual requests, but should be understood as one of the most important foundations for responsible decision-making about the future of the municipality.
The preparation of a (new) spatial plan should be preceded by thorough discussion within the municipality, associated with the formulation of a strategic plan that establishes an overall vision for the further development of the municipality based on the maximum possible consensus of all those affected by events in the municipality. The strategic and subsequently spatial plan should be an agreement on a common future in the area. The strategic plan should not only formulate key themes and visions for the future direction of the municipality but should also include agreed priorities for development, including investment priorities and care for municipal assets. The strategic plan should also establish solutions for current problems of the municipality, such as issues of landscape drying, water management in urban and rural landscapes today. The strategic plan should feature a comprehensible text part and graphical representation.
The spatial plan establishes a clear concept and rules for the further development of both the built environment, settlements, and the surrounding landscape in which these settlements lie. Important locations and issues should be pre-validated by spatial studies, the outputs of which will be incorporated into the spatial plan. Great emphasis must be placed on the quality of public spaces, which is essential for the life of the municipality. The spatial plan must be a stable and comprehensible document that sets clear, pre-known, and equal rules for the development of the area. A regulatory plan should follow the spatial plan in significant (development) locations, which will deepen the rules for area development and simplify the subsequent building permits process. In less complicated areas, the regulatory plan can be replaced again by a spatial study.

Responsible Management of Municipal Assets, Focus on Specific Issues
Part of the strategic plan should include a map of municipal assets and strategies for their management. Public investments should be consulted with the city architect. A map of unused urban land and buildings should also be developed, along with permitting and supporting their alternative use, including short-term use. This should also include an evaluation of maintenance costs for communications, public spaces, and public transport operations – resulting in a basis for decision-making about the optimization of new developments or the necessity of area reconstruction.
The strategic plan will identify, with the help of quality experts in public participation, the main problems and themes for further area development (for example, the quality of public spaces, regeneration of residential areas, green infrastructure, revitalization of river environments, unused sites/brownfields, connections between settlements and landscapes, etc.). Solutions to these problems will then be prepared according to their priority, regardless of potential grants, so that sufficient time can be devoted to them. At the same time, the possibility of obtaining grant support for the implementation of these solutions will also be examined. Attention should also be given to participatory budgeting, allowing citizens to implement selected proposals and projects.

Selection of Public Procurement Processors Based on Quality, Not Lowest Price
Most municipalities still choose public procurement processors only based on price, regardless of quality. This is often justified by fear of accusations of subjective evaluation; any selection other than that based on the lowest price is frequently criminalized. The result is the selection of the cheapest processor without knowledge of what the result of their work will be. However, especially in projects, the decision also concerns the future construction costs and operating expenses, meaning an investment ten to a hundred times larger. This is similarly true for spatial plan processors. Without a comprehensive assessment of the suitability of selecting a processor, municipal finances are wasted.
The ČKA offers a methodology for selecting designers, prepared at the request of the Ministry for Regional Development in connection with the new law on public procurement. The ČKA has long promoted architectural competitions as the most suitable path for awarding public contracts for design work, allowing clients to choose from specific proposals. Through architectural competitions, numerous very high-quality buildings have already been created, regularly with greater public involvement. The statements from expert panels also serve as arguments for political representatives to defend their selection not of the cheapest solution but of the highest quality solution.
The number of architectural competitions has steadily increased over the past few years. The most frequent organizers of competitions, whose number has already reached around fifty per year, are primarily smaller and medium-sized towns, where the interest in quality living environments is immediate. Thus, from more specific proposals for the alteration of squares, parks, streets, public buildings, spatial plans, regulatory plans, and spatial studies, several dozens of towns and municipalities could already choose from.

City Architect - An Important Step Toward Responsible Area Development
In the Czech Republic, there are currently nearly one hundred towns and municipalities that have a city architect. For responsible area development, the city architect is indispensable: they prepare documentation for decision-making about the territory for self-governance, evaluate the current state of the territory and the proposed plans, consult and prepare positions on proposals in the area, participate in the commissioning and discussion of strategic and conceptual documents concerning the municipality's territory, defend the interests of the municipality in discussions of superior documentation of wider territories alongside representatives, initiate active steps by the municipality to improve the environment, pride, satisfaction, and cohesion of the residents (e.g., announcing architectural competitions, involving the public in formulating visions and strategies for the city's development...), and help to educate the public – especially children and youth – about the environment in which they live. The ČKA has long supported the establishment of the position of city architect and is ready to answer all related questions.