Industrial zones and their benefits for society

Abstract

Currently, we can see a rapid decline of agricultural land with new uses, especially for construction purposes. This negative trend is evident across Europe, the Czech Republic has the fastest loss of land in the EU. One reason for the significant loss of agricultural land is building industrial zones, which utilises of greenfield areas, and their occupying new areas of agricultural land, often the most the most fertile. The analysis deals with the occupied area (the area of a particular industrial zone), the percentage utilisation of that industrial zone, the number of employees in the industrial zone, and the land quality expressed by means of the agricultural land protection class. The results of the analysis show the low usability of industrial zones, the large occupation of the agricultural land, and the low benefits to the Czech state and Czech citizens. The results also show the poor land use policy in relation to the soil protection. This work is followed by the project Sustainable management of natural resources with an emphasis on non-production and production ability of the soil, the results of which will be included in legislation and be binding for spatial planning.