In Slovakia it is typicaly exclusivelly the public authorities who is involved in design and construction or renewal of the urban public spaces. At the same time the urban sprawl and uncontroled development became a vital issue of local democracy. There is very little legal space and tradition for public to get involved and to influence the urban development related matters.

Goal of the Project

Goal of the project to promote good practice of public participation and local partnerships building in the sustainable urban development and in the design and reconstruction of public spaces.

Objectives

The first key objectvive of the project is to demonstrate the sense and applicability of the public participation and partnership building on urban development projects on the concrete example of a large public area - park Lanice in the city of Zvolen ("It can work" showcase).

The second key objective is to develop a comprehensive information set focused on positive as well as negative approaches in urban development and to present the relevance of public involvement in urban development matters.

Activities

I. Pilot project - City park Lanice in Zvolen

First group of activities will be focused on the model area of the city park Lanice in Zvolen. Park Lanice is the area with high environmental and recreational potential in close neighborhood of the city. In 2009, the municipality is planning to execute the architectonical competition of the proposals, which will be the background for further shape and use of the park. By introducing the public participation in Terms of Reference of the official architectonical competition, the project will achieve a precedence enabling the use of this model in other projects of similar purpose and scale.

II. Analysis and presentation

Second group of activities will concentrate on analysis and presentation of good as well as inadequate practice in the urban development. In the concrete this will include collection of data, elaboration of comprehensive presentations and presenting these cases via number of workshops and seminars across the country, web-page and other information tools.

Duration

15 months, April 2009 - June 2010

Project partners

City of Zvolen

Technical University of Zvolen

Assosiation Slatinka