Zhodnocení projektu a další rozvoj Dolní oblasti Vítkovice

Abstract

The thesis contains description and analysis of the ways and results of how (and up to which level successfully) the Lower Vitkovice Area was included in the strategic development of Ostrava city. We describe in details the historical consequences and economic data of the overall history of Vitkovice Ironworks. In more details, we talk about the period between 1989 and 2009, and the way how the government owned enterprise, at the time the most dominant employer in the region, has been transformed into several, completely separated, private companies. We also closely look at the influence of structural economy changes within the industry, their influence on development of unemployment, importance of the region, its economic and social potential and other possible ways of development of the city. To have a better overview and comparison, we use a couple of examples of former industrial cities and regions in Europe, that went in the last decades through the more or less similar process – from an intense expansion of the industry in late 19th century and the multiple growth from a smaller town into a regional center with a substantial influence. Lower Vitkovice Area, that became in the last 100 years a dominant of the city, is having a history of 170 years of coal and steel production. After the final closure in 1998 and a period of searching for a new use of the complex, the new face of the former factory is the one of cultural and educational center that tries to attract its visitors by new and innovative ways it can show today. The skyline of the former mine and iron factory has become a typical view of the city. It is not only more and more attractive place to spend a free time, to visit a cultural event, or attend a non-typical school class. It also started to be a place of interest and potential investment for a private sector. At the same time, thanks to the well preserved industrial parts of the area, the city got a unique and very attractive point of interest that can in the future significantly influence its further development and regional importance.