Managing spatial development of human society is one of the key activities that ensure its long term sustainability. Development, if not properly coordinated, leads to various problems. The most visible of all is urban sprawl, which inevitably leads to raising dependence of people on individual automotive transportation, increased fosil fuel consumption, increased monetary costs, worsening of accessibility of social infrastructure, atomization of society and subsequet problems with public space.
The task for sustainable spatial management therefore is to find long term solutions for fulfilling the needs and wishes of society that are both affordable and environmentally friendly. This indeed requires forecasting how the needs of society as well as the environment in which they are going to be realized. That need than requires scientific research on spatial development of society and research and development of the necessary tools for doing so.
Potential applications of the research:
The results of the research of the team can be and are used both in public and private sectors. Different levels of public administration use the team‘s research results in their everyday practice as basis for their decision making and for monitoring of sustainable development. Cooperating research teams may use our deep embeddeness in the planning system of the Czech Republic, experiences with practical projects in spatial planning and theoretical knowledge.
Keywords:
Sustainable development, suburbanization, energy security, environmental protection, landscape protection