The Role of Urban Gardening in the Maintenance of Rural Landscape Heritage in a Large City: Case Study of Brno Metropolitan Area, Czech Republic

The industrial city of Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic (402,739 permanent residents as of 31 December 2024) and the core of the country’s third largest metropolitan area, following Prague and the industrial region of Ostrava. Brno has had a metropolitan character since the High Middle Ages, and experienced extraordinary development during the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 19th century. From a medieval core of just over 1 km², the city expanded in multiple stages to its current area of nearly 230 km². During this expansion, Brno absorbed smaller towns as well as numerous rural municipalities. As a result, large tracts of forest and agricultural land became part of the city. Land adjacent to the historic core was often converted, while the central parts of the incorporated villages retained a relatively rural appearance. Former agricultural plots in these areas were gradually transformed into residential quarters, consisting of villas or apartment buildings. Under state socialism, large housing estates of prefabricated blocks were constructed on the city’s inner periphery. At the same time, farmland was nationalised and consolidated into large-scale cooperative fields. This pattern persisted even after the political changes of 1989. Nevertheless, within the administrative boundaries of Brno, remnants of very old rural landscapes survived, often preserving the parcel structure of medieval small-scale agriculture. These areas are today largely maintained by gardening associations and individual gardeners. Between 2016 and 2020, these remnants were inventoried and classified. A total of 34 sites of varying size were identified. Based on their state of preservation, they were divided into two groups: (1) relatively well-preserved and (2) heavily degraded, through comparison with the situation around 1830, when detailed cadastral mapping was conducted. Well-preserved segments of the pre-industrial landscape were analysed and evaluated in GIS. Their survival has been influenced by natural factors (geological substrate, slope, exposure, elevation, topoclimatic conditions, soil quality), location (distance from the city centre, proximity to forests), land ownership (private, municipal, state), as well as the personal and recreational interests of residents. Interestingly, more remnants of the old landscape have been preserved inside Brno than in its rural surroundings, largely due to the role of urban gardening. Finally, the study assesses the prospects for the continued existence of these landscape relics. From the perspective of city administration and developers, they represent land reserves for other uses. Brno also hosts numerous modern allotment colonies, established either on former agricultural land or on abandoned and degraded sites (e.g. quarries, devastated or reclaimed areas) to meet the recreational needs of the urban population.