Moravian-Silesian Region

Moravian-Silesia offers a living study in industrial metabolism collapse and attempted regeneration. Two centuries of coal extraction created an economy so specialized that alternatives atrophied—the classic monoculture vulnerability. When the last deep mine closes in 2025 (ČSM at Stonava), approximately 9,000 mineral sector workers will need metabolic reintegration. The region receives €53 billion in Just Transition funding to engineer this shift 'from coal mining to data mining.' But the transition reveals harsh physiological realities: between the end of mining in the 1990s and 2025, half of emigrants are aged 19-30, the reproductive core. Ostrava hosts one of Czechia's highest concentrations of socially excluded populations—over 20,000 people. The region's transformation echoes metamorphosis: the larval form (heavy industry) must completely dissolve before adult structures (creative industries, data centers) can emerge. Whether the pupation succeeds or produces a developmental failure remains the central question of Czech regional policy.