Urban planning in the Czech Republic

[2][6] The physical and spatial planning and investment under central government focused mainly on construction of grand schemes, (often energy and mineral resources, chemical manufacturing and heavy industries) and not on, small scale ‘consumer’ needs, or protecting the local environment.

[3] Despite the nationalization of all property and maintenance in the first decade of communist rule, little investment was made in new development or urban improvements, and by the 1960s; Czech cities experienced a severe housing shortage, and declining quality of buildings and sanitary conditions.

Communist planners succeeded at accommodating nearly every Czechoslovak family in a dwelling with hot water, central heating, private bath, toilet, and kitchen.

Large construction firms turned out massive quantities of concrete modular units in a handful of shapes that were fit together to form gray blocks of high-rise apartment buildings.

[5] Factories led to the degradation the environmental conditions, [5] mostly in the form of soil contamination,[9] and in Prague, air pollution in the confined valleys became a problem for many years.

[2] There was a contradictory attitude of the communist party toward the protection of urban heritage, which was at once both a symbol of individualistic wealth and an expression of man’s triumph over nature.

[6] Municipalities of varying sizes formed, and today Prague comprises 57 boroughs that make autonomous decisions about urban planning, policy and city-management.

[3] For example, in Hrušov, a part of Ostrava, income disparity increases socio-spatial differentiation, with residents needing to alter their livelihoods in response to their position in the shrinking city.

[3] Tourism infrastructure is evident in, and has begun to reshape the centre of Prague’s historical city, as residential zones are converting to commercial use to service the tourist trade.

[7] There is a significant cultural reluctance of many Czech people to accept or trust urban planning, as it is often associated with memories of the past over-controlling communist regime.

[1] Despite the criticism, urban planning is still necessary even in the Market economy of the current day Czech Republic in order to reverse years of environmental neglect of the former communist government.