The Department of City Development was established only two years ago. It enables plans for how to organise and use an area to be combined with visions of what investments the city needs. What are the other benefits of combining spatial and strategic planning?

Traditionally, strategic and spatial planning operate separately in the Czech environment. However, it is already common in large cities in western Europe for these planning processes to occur simultaneously. This is because one without the other does not work well enough in practice. To give you a better idea, I will give a simple example. The new district of Bubny-Zatory is being built in Prague. At the outset, it is necessary to think comprehensively, not just from a spatial planning perspective. It is therefore not just a question of how the individual buildings will be arranged, what their height will be or where the streets will lead. In the planning phase, it is necessary to think about practical strategic indicators, such as how many schools will be needed, what cultural facilities the new district will have, whether sufficient capacity for sports facilities is planned or what its economic sustainability is. That is why we are trying to overcome the long-standing barrier between strategic and spatial planning and to link the economic and demographic view with the spatial planning and architectural-urban planning perspective.

The department has a total of four offices. What do they do?

The Office of Metropolitan Planning is responsible for the preparation of the new Prague master plan—the Metropolitan Plan. The Office of Spatial Documentation and Analysis prepares and analyses data for Prague, i.e. it administers spatial analytical documents. The Office of Neighbourhood Planning is dedicated to the development of key development areas in the city, and therefore coordinates the preparation of spatial and urban planning studies. The Office of Strategy and Sustainability Policy prepares city strategy documents, sectoral policies and economic, population and housing strategies. Relatively recently, for example, it produced an important document: Housing Development Strategy in the City of Prague. All in all, we collect a really huge quantity of data. But we must not be frightened of this volume, which our colleagues manage very well. We therefore share everything with each other and present developments in key projects to each other before standard reviews by colleagues.

You are very much involved in the topic of housing. How do people live in Prague today?

According to the latest census from 2021, Prague has a total of 721,332 apartments. Owner-occupied housing still prevails very strongly. Up to 70% of Prague residents live in their own apartment or house. Interestingly, the average area per inhabitant has risen, jumping to 35 sqm from the previous 31.7 sqm. At the same time, however, the number of single-person households, whether young singles or seniors, is growing significantly, and they are raising the average. The average Prague apartment is roughly 70 sqm, but new buildings are already using smaller areas. Up to 60% of new apartments built by developers are now single-bedroom apartments, while the standard size is slowly decreasing from 50 sqm to about 45 sqm.

However, the entire mortgage housing market is currently frozen. Few people can get a mortgage; it is very expensive to build. A square metre in Prague today costs an average of CZK 155,800. Renting an average single-bedroom or single-bedroom plus kitchen apartment will cost CZK 25,000 or more. To buy a regular apartment, a buyer has to save 13 annual salaries, whereas in Belgium, for example, only 5 annual salaries are needed.

So why is living in Prague so expensive?

There are several causes. The first one is entirely positive. Prague is a successful and good city for life, where people currently want to live. The proportion of foreigners living in the city is now close to 20%. Like other world cities, we are dealing with globalisation, which brings major urbanisation and population growth. Pressure on land use is therefore increasing. Prague has experienced great suburban growth in the past. But today it is clear that it must be made denser, not expanded.

Another factor is the aforementioned high proportion of owner-occupied housing. In western European cities, far more people live in rented accommodation, but the proportion of municipal housing is also significantly higher and has a tradition. But this is not really surprising; the second half of the 20th century showed Czechs that owning our own home is one of the few certainties we can rely on. Many people see an investment in real estate as an insurance policy for old age, because they do not trust the fragile pension system.

The third problem is that we are basically building too little and too slowly. Prague’s housing stock is relatively old. This results in higher maintenance and energy costs. Until recently, the central feature of the housing policy of the City of Prague and most of the boroughs was the privatisation of the municipal housing stock, which to some extent compensated for the absence of new public construction. Fortunately, that has changed. In order for Prague to develop well, it needs new apartments. In the Czech Republic, however, we have an extremely complex permitting and planning system. That is a dangerous cocktail indeed given current prices and inflation. But we are ready for new construction. The Metropolitan Plan opens up many areas on which to build. It provides clear regulation and says what can be built where.

However, the new Building Act does not really help faster construction.

The original one supported it. We will see how the amendments to the new act turn out. The Czech Republic deserves a building act that follows 21st century trends and is based on spatial planning in western Europe, where cities have more powers and approval processes are much faster. This is not the case here; there is very little local governments can do. Each city is different, with its own specifics and character. Our own building regulations can bring quality buildings to Czech cities, create pleasant places to live and enhance their character. That is why we have been seeking autonomy for the Prague Building Regulations, which the city has had since 2016. The new Building Act seeks a uniform standard of spatial planning documentation. In practice, this means that all valid and currently developed urban land-use plans would have to be revised.

Czech legislation needs to simplify the permitting process; in short, one stamp for everything. But the problem is not only with the permitting of buildings, we also lack a mechanism to effectively reach agreement in an area, i.e. to decide where housing, a school, or an industrial zone should be built, for example. We have long been used to the paternalistic role of the central government and a hierarchical planning system. It’s like we still feel the central government does it better. But it’s not like that. We need to muster up the courage to devolve more responsibility to local government. I imagine that the mayor will decide what gets built or not built in a community. Local citizens will then simply issue him or her with the bill in a democratic election.

But let’s go back to Prague. IPR Prague has created a Housing Development Strategy in the City of Prague. What are its main objectives?

The strategy was approved in 2021 by Prague City Hall and an action plan is now being prepared. The document identifies the main reasons for deteriorating housing affordability and proposes solutions. Priority areas include the development of affordable and high-quality housing, an expanding city housing stock, sustainable and standard housing for specific groups of residents, attractive housing throughout the city, and open cooperation between the city and key stakeholders. According to this strategy, 9,000 new apartments should be built every year. At present, approximately 5,500 apartments are completed annually. By 2030, the number of city apartments should increase to at least 35,000. The strategy also addresses the issue of short-term rentals such as Airbnb. The aim is to reduce the number of apartments used in this way from more than 11,000 to a maximum of 5,000.

Co už se povedlo změnit?

Podařilo se omezit privatizaci bytů ve správě města. Vznikla Městská nájemní agentura, která zprostředkovává pronájem soukromých bytů Pražanům v bytové nouzi. Cílem města je tak podporovat preferované profese, jako jsou učitelé, zdravotníci nebo policisté, které nedosáhnou na komerční nájemné. Založila se Pražská developerská společnost, jež připravuje pozemky pro výstavbu, tedy provádí tzv. land development, a rozvíjí výstavbu nových obecních nájemních bytů na městských pozemcích.

Praha má velké množství vnitřních kapacit, kde stavět. Jedná se například o jeden z největších a nejdůležitějších pražských brownfieldů, Bubny-Zátory, který se promění v domov pro 25 000 obyvatel v 11 000 bytech; dále Smíchov, Nákladové nádraží Žižkov nebo Rohanský ostrov. Pro tato rozvojová území se podařilo vytvořit nástroj kontribuce: developer musí pro novou čtvrť buď postavit například určitý počet škol, školek, zdravotnických zařízení či městských bytů, které předá do správy konkrétní městské částí, případně je domluvena jiná forma kontribuce. Připravuje se také pilotní projekt spolkového bydlení.

Stále nám ale chybí garanční mechanismy ze strany států, obcí, ale třeba i církví. Nedávno jsem například pracovně navštívil Jižní Koreu, kde mají garanční banku jak pro státní bydlení, tak pro soukromou sféru, která pomáhá i velmi drobným developerům. V České republice nemáme tržní mechanismy pro podporu malých subjektů. V Nizozemí zase fungují vysloveně udržitelné úvěry skrze specifickou banku, které se zaměřují pouze na udržitelné projekty.

Zmínil jste Pražskou developerskou společnost. Kde vznikají nové městské byty?

Aktuálně se připravují menší individuální i větší projekty. Zmínil bych třeba bytový dům s 56 městskými nájemními byty a maloobchodními prostory v přízemí, který vznikne mezi ulicemi V Botanice a Matoušova na Praze 5, nebo městský bytový dům u fotbalového stadionu Bohemians se 139 nájemními byty a parkovacím stáním pro obyvatele domu i rezidenty Prahy 10. Návrhy obou domů navíc vzešly z architektonické soutěže. Stavět se bude také v Dolních Počernicích, kde vznikne až 1 500 nových bytů na pozemcích o rozloze 185 000 m². Další projekt se připravuje také na městských pozemních podél ulice Arnošta Valenty na Černém Mostě. Městské byty by pak měly sloužit především pro tzv. preferované profese. Jaká zaměstnání to přesně budou a jaký bude poměr takto dedikovaných bytů nelze nyní přesně říct, každopádně to bude velmi silné politické téma.

Aktuálně v CAMPu běží výstava Praha zítra? Domy a byty. Můžete popsat, jak přesně se na ní vaše sekce podílela?

Kolegové se podíleli především na sestavení typologie současného bydlení. Poskytli také data. Na výstavě s námi velmi intenzivně pomáhal i náš bývalý kolega Vojtěch Kubát, který dnes již působí jako specialista dostupného bydlení na Ministerstvu pro místní rozvoj.

What other key projects and topics is your department currently working on?

The new Prague City Council stated in its programme declaration that it wants to complete the Metropolitan Plan in this term of office. So we are doing everything we can to make it happen. The plan was presented to the public last year. We are currently working on a detailed timetable for all subsequent steps. We are also finalising the Spatial Analytical Source Documents, which should be discussed by the city’s leadership next year. Colleagues from the Office of Neighbourhood Planning have completed the Prague Heritage Reservation Land Use Study. In cooperation with EUROCITIES, the European network of cities, we have been involved in helping Ukrainian cities, with which we share our experience of urban planning. The Office of Strategy and Sustainability Policy recently produced the document Prague in an International Context, which tracks the development and quality of life indicators across ten European cities—such as Vienna, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam, Milan and Barcelona—over the last ten years, under four thematic headings: prosperity, stability, sustainability and amenities. Colleagues have also prepared an action plan for affordable housing, which remains a key issue for us.

How long have you been working at the institute?

I joined the City Development Unit in 2012. It was soon transformed into the Prague Institute of Planning and Development. I first worked as an architect in the Office of Metropolitan Planning under Roman Koucký. Later I became his deputy and then secretary to the Director of the City Planning Department. I headed the Department of Urban Design from 2018 and have headed the newly-created Department of City Development since 1 April 2022. In the meantime, I finished my doctoral studies in urban and spatial planning at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague.

What does your normal working week look like?

My week has a fairly clear pattern that repeats itself regularly. On Monday, I start with an organisational meeting and check the schedule for the whole week, during the semester I also teach in the afternoon at the Faculty of Architecture of Czech Technical University. We have a “meeting day” at the institute on Tuesday. In the morning, we have a concept meeting where we present current projects with the office heads, then in the afternoon we have a management meeting and a planning department meeting. We meet with our founder, i.e. Prague City Hall, on Wednesday. Meetings with individual offices are held on Thursday morning. Then I try to have Fridays “free” and only do conceptual work without any meetings. I’d say I quite like a challenge. I enjoy the constant negotiating and sorting out of often conflicting needs. Perhaps the only thing that bothers me sometimes is the pace in our field: everything takes a very long time in planning. Especially in the Czech environment.