On March 11, 2020, an international conference was held at the Public hall Hraničář in the regional capital of Ústí nad Labem. TRACER project also participated as a partner for the Palivový kombinát Ústí – state postmining company which have coorganized the conference with help of Atelier.tečka. We highlighted the need for a comprehensive landscape revitalisation solution and overlap to the social sphere, labor market, innovation, tourism, transpor strategies etc.
At these conference, specialists from various fields (miners, architects, landscape ingeneers, environmentalists, geographers, politicians) outlined the possibilities, difficulties and potential of revitalised mining landscapes, especially via good practice in the Czech Republic, Leipzig and Upper Lusatia.
The topics were intensively explored in the future use of the surroundings of the reclamation lake Milada, the Czech first large-scale lake, and lakes in general. The connecting element was the necessity of interdisciplinary communication and discussion especially with representatives of affected municipalities, interconnection with the wider surroundings, implementation of special landscape and architectural elements and urban solutions leading to the uniqueness of mining sites as well as lasting prosperity and usability in the transforming coal region. Panel discussions with experts and the audience were very fruitful. It was perfectly moderated, as whole conference, by Jitka Žambochová from Atelier.tečka.
As these were the first days of the coming covid epidemic measures, not all pre-registered participants attended the conference, but we were almost 70. The second day was a morning excursion to the reclaimed area and especially Lake Milada accompanied by the director of state enterprise Palivový kombinát Ústí, who manages completed reclamation, Ing. Walter Fiedler and reclamation engineer Bc. Jan Vondruška. The evening program – especially the presentation of the conference outputs and the debate with the public – had to be canceled because the participation was expected to be higher than the Czech government allowed due to coronavirus.
TRACER has established good cooperation with conference participants, many contributed their ideas to the future vision of the region, some have joined the TRACER working group and cooperation will continue to be intensive.