Czech Chamber of Architects criticizes the overregulation of urban plans

In the spatial planning of cities and municipalities, regulations that do not belong in this type of documentation are increasingly appearing, subsequently limiting the construction of houses and other buildings. The Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA) strives to create quality spatial plans that limit future development as little as possible while setting individual criteria aimed at the best possible use of the land.

REGULATIONS OFTEN UNNECESSARILY LIMIT CONSTRUCTION
When applying for a construction permit, investors encounter improperly processed regulations in spatial plans that restrict their building intentions. The most common among them include the establishment of street and building lines, the orientation of the house, and sometimes even requirements for defining the shape and slope of roofs, the placement of garages, construction materials, color of buildings, or the floor plan of the house. Such details do not belong in the spatial plan, thus shifting it more toward a regulatory plan. "Regulations may, among other things, limit the construction of energy-efficient buildings that require specific house orientation," says architect Josef Smola.

SPATIAL PLANS SHOULD NOT PREVENT NATURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERRITORY
The purpose of spatial planning is to limit as little as possible and to prevent obstruction of the natural development of the territory. In specific cases, it should appropriately strengthen by establishing reasonable criteria. "Such criteria and regulatory conditions should not only have a limiting purpose. On the contrary, they should awaken the ability to find new solutions, initiate the emergence of such solutions, and lead to responsible care for the environment," says ČKA secretary Jiří Plos. The task of the spatial plan is to set principles for functional, spatial, and area utilization of the entire territory, rather than regulating individual plots and deciding on specific building intentions.

REASONS FOR OVERREGULATION
The content and degree of detail of spatial plans are influenced by various causes. Both new legal regulations, judicial decision-making practices, and adapting professional practices. "We must defend against the detail and overregulation of spatial plans. However, the appeal should not only be directed at designers but also at lawmakers and state administration bodies," defends authorized architects Milan Košař, chairman of the working group for urbanism and spatial planning at ČKA. Municipalities often impose demands on project developers leading to the incorporation of unreasonable regulatory conditions into the spatial plan. Often, such procedures are pressured by the relevant state administration authorities, thus resorting to a non-conflictual approach. Instead of seeking an individual assignment for the best solution for their territory, they succumb to external pressures or merely copy into the assignment for the designer the formulations contained in laws and decrees.

NEW SPATIAL PLANS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY 2015
Currently, a large number of spatial plans are being developed at millions of crowns because, based on the provisions in the building law from 2006, all municipalities must submit a new spatial plan by 2015.
Unnecessary details of spatial plans are criticized not only by ČKA but also appear, for example, in the methodological recommendations of the Department of Spatial Planning of the Ministry of Regional Development from 2009. It recommends that details which, according to currently valid legal regulations, do not belong in the spatial plan, should "not be taken from existing spatial planning documentation, even if in some cases the original spatial planning documentation (often unlawfully) contained by virtue of opinions from involved authorities, proposals from designers, or demands from municipalities." According to Milan Košař, however, it is possible to create a quality spatial plan within the current legislation without undesirable degrees of overregulation and without details more suited to regulatory plans. Many such plans have already been created. However, a high professional level of the spatial plan developer and their cooperation with the client, preferably already during the assignment phase, is a prerequisite.

ČKA HAS DRAFTED STANDARDS FOR PERFORMANCE AND CONTENT OF SPATIAL PLANS
The Czech Chamber of Architects has also requested a statement regarding the issue of overregulation of spatial plans from the Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic, to which it also sent a proposal for standards for spatial planning, including the expected content of spatial plans for each size category of settlements for feedback.