One more inventory or spatial planning – which better serves the goals of the Carpathian Convention in historic towns?

Abstract The paper addresses the role of local spatial planning in the implementation of the heritage related goals of Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians. The paper analyses heritage related regulations in the spatial plans of three historic Carpathian towns as compared to the results of heritage inventories made for two pilot areas in the Czech and Ukrainian Carpathians. On the basis of the analyses we conclude that local planning regulations are to a great extent in line with the declared goals of the Convention and therefore can play a more significant role in their implementation whereas the concept of a separate Carpathian Heritage Inventory, in spite of its initial intentions, is of little use for these purposes. In the end we call for the use of local spatial plans as tools for the protection of the Carpathian heritage in future activities of the countries party to the Carpathian Convention.