Changes of the business environment in the sector of construction for residential purposes – a case study of the Czech Republic

Abstract

The transformation of Czech economy after 1989 brought many substantial changes. Gradually, new organizational, institutional and legal frameworks were shaped for the operation of a market mechanism. Similar to a number of other branches, the construction industry transformed significantly. The first half of the 1990 was marked by the restructuring, privatization and subsequent internationalization, which continued in the second half of the decade. Opening of the market towards the west, and the internationalization have brought many innovations. They can be seen for example in the application of new technologies or the implementation of modern building materials. A typical example of these innovations is the boom in construction of low-energy houses. The paper also deals with the gradual change in the residential construction, characterized by the gradual departure from state directives in residential construction, to institutional support of entrepreneurship, to highly integrated residential development.This paper was elaborated under the project GA AV ČR IAA301670901 „Časoprostorová organizace denních urbánních systémů: analýza a hodnocení vybraných procesů“ and project IGA UP PrF_2011_006 „Krajina jako geosystém: změny v časové a prostorové struktuře a jejich hlavní mechanismy“ funded by the Faculty of Science, Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Innovation-Based Rural Development Regional Differentiation of the Dwellings Construction in the Czech Republic During the Transition Period

“…The economic boom of the late 1990s also resulted in an upturn in the mortgage market and construction industry, which led to an increase in the intensity of the dwellings construction. Residential development even intensified atthe beginning of the first decade of the 21st century, but not with the same intensity in all regions of the Czech Republic (Šimáĉek & Szczyrba 2012). Fig.…”

“…The area with the traditionally most intense dwellings construction in the Czech Republic is the Prague metropolitan region,which extends beyond the administrative borders of Prague and extends quite significantly into the Central Bohemian Region. Šimáĉek and Szczyrba (2012) In terms of the dwellings construction in family houses, the Central Bohemian Region has more than one fifth of the total aggregate of the Czech Republic, which is primarily due to suburbanisation trends in the Prague metropolitan region. A similar situation developed in the South Moravian Region, where, with the exception ofthe hinterland of the City of Brno, a more significant development of new buildings has occurred in the southwest part of the region, especially near Znojmo.…”

“…Before 1989, theCentral Authority for the construction industry was the Ministry of Construction, which established state enterprises according to branches, and so, for example, Pozemní stavby (Civil Engineering) wasestablished for the construction of dwellings, Stavby silnic a železnic (Construction of Roads and Railways) for transportation projects,Metrostav for the construction of the underground, etc. (Šimáĉek,Szczyrba 2012).…”

“…considered this area the "primary market of residential construction" since about two fifths of the completed dwellings built after 2000 in the entireCzech Republic are concentrated in it. After 1989, it was especially the hinterland of the Capital, Prague, which, because of suburbanisation, became an important area with intense residential construction (see e.g Ouředníĉek 2007;Sýkora& Posová 2007;Ouředníĉek et al 2011;Šimáĉek & Szczyrba 2012)…”