Dolní Morava is a small, long-forgotten village in the Czech-Polish borderland with approximately three hundred inhabitants with permanent residence. The Kralický Sněžník area, in which the village is located, is a National Nature Reserve. The ski slopes in the village have been in operation since the mid-1970s, after 2002 a significant development started after the new ski centre owner (Jiří Rulíšek, director of the IMOS development company in Brno) decided to invest in the area (to this day it is over a milliard Czech crowns [ca 38.8 million euros], partly subsidized from The European Union and the Pardubice Region). In the first decade of the 21st century, most of the land was bought up. In recent years, not only slopes have expanded, but also the associated infrastructure such as accommodation capacities and summer attractions were built. The biggest crowd-puller is the unique Sky Walk designed by the architect Zdeněk Fránek, nearly 300,000 visitors came to see it during the first year (after the opening in December 2015). Thanks to the touristic and economic success of the Sky Walk, Zdeněk Fránek got further commissions to design similar towers in Central European mountains.

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The tourist industry is undoubtedly a new stimulus for Dolní Morava, but not everyone can or want to profit from it. The village is not prepared for such crowds, on some days cars were parking everywhere (in meadows, in front of private houses, etc.), many family houses turned into apartments – this led to a situation in which people do not know their neighbours, real estate prices have grown considerably and some locals cannot afford to live in their hometown. How can the municipality, under existing conditions (current master plan, private ownership of land), regulate construction in its territory? What can it demand from private investors and what should it do by itself? What pressures does the mayor have to face?

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Architect Zdeněk Fránek, the author of the Sky Walk, rejected the offer to the discussion, we discussed the case with Richard Novák, architect and mayor of Dolní Morava.

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Richard Novák graduated from Architecture and Civil Engineering at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at CTU in Prague. He comes from Dolní Morava, and he has been vice-mayor since 2010, since May 2014 he is the mayor. During his architecture studies,  he worked in the studio In.Spira in Prague, later he returned to Dolní Morava. Besides his political career, he cooperated with architect Luboš Mutňanský. Since 2014, he is fully engaged with work for the village and practise architecture marginally, yet there are a couple of his projects built in Dolní Morava, e.g. bar with a facility in the ski resort Větrný vrch.

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— “There are two different groups of people, really: those who are actually interested in fostering tourism here, because they are making a living of it, and then there are naturally those who have never benefited out of it and don’t want to; they tolerate it to a certain extent, but when it’s exaggerated, then they obviously have an issue with it, especially since it doesn’t bring them any profit.”

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— “The idea that the investor should give something back to the municipality for being able to build… That is a tricky question. Of course, nowadays we are more aware of the development, but back then when the investments starter, it was rather perceived as something was finally happening here and we should be glad for that because otherwise, it would be a God-forsaken place.”

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Stanislav Biler studied Sociology and International Relations and European Studies at the Faculty of Social Studies at the Masaryk University. In the past, he worked as a dramaturge in the Czech Television and co-founded the originally satirical movement Žít Brno. He is currently working at the public relations office at the Public Defender of Rights. He regularly contributes to Finmag, Respekt and Hospodářské noviny. He is one of the authors of the local guide This is Brno, in which he utters in exaggeration often unpleasant truths. In autumn 2017, he published the novel Nejlepší kandidát [Best Candidate], a political satire about a presidential candidate Jan Novák [common Czech name].

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— “Because it is actually a contradiction when many municipalities face de facto extinction because there are no job opportunities, the young ones are leaving and not coming back, that’s the end… Then there is the possibility of tourism which could lead to a similar result when people would want to come back, but it is not possible because it is not affordable or them anymore.”

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camera: Vít Trunec
video editing: Tomáš Hlaváček
translation: Ondřej Kvapil, Karolína Plášková

subtitles: Tereza Kvapilová, Karolína Plášková