Communications in Small Settlements, Analysis of the Current Situation and Proposal Solutions
Abstract: Movement is an essential element of life of Society. Human needed transporting himself, things or information since the beginning of the ages. These needs are realized by transport, which works through the transport infrastructure. The importance of transport is increasing with the expansion of the postmodern society and a plenty of requirements on frequency and volume of different transports have to be satisfied. However, the increasing in traffic, particularly on the ground, strongly affects people´s life. This is evident in the cities and also in the small villages, which adapt their structure and streets for cars. The streets aren´t understood as public spaces, they become transport corridors and parking spaces are made from public areas. This way of development strongly degrades the intravilan of the villages and cities, destroys the multifunctionality of public spaces. This causes that the streets lose life. And it should been remembered that life is that what makes public spaces well-established and attractive place to live. This article describes road network and transportation in small settlements, especially in rural areas, in villages in Czech Republic. In these structures the road profile is not stabilized, there aren´t clearly defined spaces for particular users such as pedestrians, cyclists or places for parking. This causes crossing and intersection of different types of transport, which can be very dangerous. The analysis of smaller settlements with different topographical typologies should show the current concepts of transport and their problems. There are also given some examples from abroad, which can be a solution of problems in our country. Examples show how different types of modifications of communications in smaller settlements improve transport to safety way.
