This doctoral dissertation deals with comparison of attitudes of cultural/mational groups who share the borders of a particular river area. The thesis is focused on the question of how different cultural and interest groups prefer different elements of river area which affects the changes investigated area. Attitudes are explored through visual evaluation of the transformation changes to the function of the river area and the written questionnaire. In this way, methods of prediction and identification of potential conflicts in planning of river area are developed, as well as the level of acceptability of the planned changes in reference to the initial state of the area. The dissertation deals with spatial planning in the following areas: 1. The theoretical background shows that national/cultural groups whose value system of higher order affects the environmental orientation. It also demonstrates that differences in value systems of interest groups can become background for a potential conflict when planning the shared river area. 2. The practical part develops a method that defines the specific differences in value systems of cultural and interest groups while evaluating the transformation of the river area in order to achieve cultural sustainability of the planned area.