Kladno submitted its role to the international consortium for the Interreg Central Europe programme. The project called “Green Heart of Central Europe (GHCE)” aims to design more greenery in urban spaces. In total, the plan is to invest around 5 million Czech crowns in the development of public space within GHCE, of which 85% will be covered by support from the EU and partially by state resources. The key part is capacity building and learning from other partners.

The design of the individual activities in the project will be based on the analysis of the current state of the greenery. As a pilot site to improve the state of the public space, the city chose Freedom Square and the surrounding area. There is already some preparation for the restoration and extension of greenery, a system of rainwater retention and use, the addition of water features as well as total reconstruction of paved areas and mobiliary. At the same time, Kladno plans to select a software solution for the effective management of green spaces. For example, the software will help keep track of the city´s green mowing cycles or fulfill planned measures and the like. Above, Kladno intends to create an overall water management system.

Kladno´s partners in GHCE are the city of Kaštela (Croatia), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Krakow (Poland), or one of the city districts of the Hungarian capital Budapest. The international consortium also includes innovation and technology partners, such as Germany’s INOVA or Italy’s La Sapienza University. If an international consortium will be selected by a committee of evaluators, the first activities in the project will start in January 2023.