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 territorial development of the city of Brno during the 19th–21st centuries meant not only the growth of built-up areas (residential, industrial, commercial), but also the absorbing of segments of the ancient rural agricultural landscape. Within the current borders of the city of Brno, a number of green areas have been preserved, which have spontaneously developed from the original agricultural landscape, without being the result of urban planning. In half of the cases (17 out of a total of 34), they have still preserved the traditional small-scale division of land. Among the 10 medium-sized Moravian cities (between 30,000 and 400,000 inhabitants) in the historical region of Moravia in the east of the Czech Republic, the presence of 34 remnants of the ancient rural landscape in the city of Brno is quite exceptional (in Ostrava only 1; in other cities 0). The subject of the research is the inventory of such segments within the city borders and an attempt to explain their location in the city, state, focusing on the role of natural factors, land ownership and personal and recreational interests of residents. Segments of the ancient rural cultural landscape were identified by comparing the current landscape on aerial photographs with the landscape image on cadastral maps from the 1820s–1830s. Additional data on their natural and cultural properties were obtained through archival and field research. The segments were classified according to their degree of preservation and forms of threat. The results show that the remains of the ancient rural cultural landscape in the city of Brno have generally been preserved in locations that, due to the slope of the slopes, unsuitable building subsoil and poor soil, but locally on warm southern slopes, were not suitable for construction for the time being. Urban gardening contributes to their preservation and these areas are part of the city’s greenery. However, urban gardening also contributes to the destruction of these remnants. In 17 cases, the land was completely re-divided, built up with recreational facilities and overgrown with trees due to poor care. Another 17 locations are threatened by this process due to ignorance of their historical value, although this is essentially a positive development in terms of benefits for the city’s residents—land users. Although the Master Plan of the city of Brno foresees the existence of garden colonies in the future, it does not address the importance of the best-preserved segments as historical heritage. Community agriculture can play a positive role in maintaining segments of rural heritage within the city.