Students of landscape architecture at the Faculty of Horticulture, Mendel University in Brno (MENDELU), are developing climate change adaptation strategies for areas affected by drought and floods as part of courses taught at the Institute of Landscape Planning. Adaptation is particularly crucial for landscapes around the town of Jeseník, the South Moravian village of Kostice, the heavily visited tourist destination of Lednice, and the Přítluky flood retention polder, which manages overflow from the Nové Mlýny reservoir.
Five teams of master’s students in the Landscape Architecture program have completed strategic landscape plans for the flood-prone area surrounding Jeseník. These projects were developed in the Landscape Planning Studio (Institute of Landscape Planning). The proposed measures aim to increase the territory’s resilience to the adverse effects of climate change, introduce new functional land-use schemes, and support water retention directly at the point of precipitation to allow for significant infiltration into the soil.
In contrast, the South Moravian village of Kostice suffers from drought. The students’ objective in this area was to propose as many landscape features as possible to retain water throughout the year and make it available during dry and extremely hot periods. The students’ work will be presented to the public through exhibition openings in both areas: on June 3, 2025, in Kostice and on June 18, 2025, in Jeseník.
Bachelor’s students of landscape architecture also tackled adaptation measures in the Workshop course (Institute of Landscape Planning), focusing on the adjacent areas of Lednice and Břeclav – Charvátská Nová Ves. In connection with the newly established Soutok Protected Landscape Area (CHKO Soutok), they proposed measures to preserve the natural and cultural-historical values of the area, support biodiversity, and enhance landscape connectivity. Special attention was given to the management of the “Slovácké meadows,” which can play a key role in maintaining the ecological health of this valuable landscape. The resulting landscape studies will be presented during the CHKO Soutok Day on June 21, 2025, in the Castle Park in Lednice (organized by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic – AOPK ČR).
The Institute of Landscape Planning also hosted 23 students from 12 countries, together with lecturers from their home universities (Hochschule Anhalt, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, BOKU Wien, SPU Nitra, and the Technical University in Zvolen) as part of the international summer school Next Landscape: Strategies for Climate-Proof Floodplains. For the Přítluky polder area, they designed strategies and concepts primarily focused on flood protection, as well as on enhancing recreational use, preserving valuable remnants of floodplain forests, and protecting other landscape values. The strategic visions and concepts will also be presented—together with the Workshop outcomes—during CHKO Soutok Day on June 21, 2025, in the Castle Park in Lednice.
Contacts:
Prepared by:
Barbora Dohnalová, Institute of Landscape Planning, Faculty of Horticulture, MENDELU