Author: Marie Horňáková

The NAKI project focusing on Prague suburbs continues successfully! In September, the 3rd and 4th set of specialised maps were completed and published, dealing with the growth of selected neighbourhoods in the socialist period (Strašnice, Kobylisy, Hlubočepy, Jižní Město, Černý Most, Modřany) and the growth of suburbs in the transformation period (Jesenice, Dobřichovice, Dolní Břežany, Hostivice).

All maps together with analytical texts are available here.

Adela Petrovic and Greta Kukeli have presented their preliminary research findings at two international conferences, RC21 Conference on Sensing the City (Antwerp, BE) and 5th Serbian Congress of Geographers (Novi Sad, RS). The title of their presentation is “From a former industrial neighbourhood to a creative class oasis: A case study of Karlín, the inner-city neighbourhood of Prague“. The research deals with urban transformation processes taking place in Karlín, such as gentrification, internationalisation, regeneration and hipsterfication. The goal of the study is to (i) identify the physical, social and cultural changes in Karlín, (ii) understand how Karlín is perceived by the general public and its frequent users, and (iii) find out how Karlín is used by young international employees.

The 50th Annual Conference of the Czech Demographic Society took place from 15 to 17 September 2021. The conference took place in Ostrava at the University of Ostrava. The papers were divided into several sections: Pension Reform – Reproductive Ageing – Economics of Healthy Ageing – Current Demographic Research. There was also a poster session, with three posters from members of our team!

1. Ivana Křížková, Adam Klsák, Martin Šimon: Migration and residential mobility of foreign citizens in Prague and the Central Bohemian Region.
2. Martin Šimon, Ivana Křížková, Adam Klsák: Residential segregation in Prague and Central Bohemian Region 2012–2018: a multiscalar approach using individualized neighbourhoods.
3. Adam Klsák, Ivana Křížková: Spatial Patterns of the Foreign Population in Prague and the Central Bohemian Region: The State 10 Years after the Financial Crisis.

At the turn of August and September 2021, another international conference organised by the European Network for Housing Research took place, this time with the subtitle Unsettled Settlements: Housing in Unstable Contexts. Members of our team presented their papers at the conference! Two papers were presented within the working group “Disadvantaged Urban Neighborhoods and Communities”. Kadi Kalm presented the paper “Various housing estates’ trajectories in post-socialist cities: does the socialist legacy still matter?”, which she is currently working on together with her colleagues Petra Špačková, Jan Sýkora and Ondřej Špaček.  Jan Sýkora and Marie Horňáková presented the paper “‘It is natural’: life course as a key element of long-term residents’ place attachment in a gentrifying Prague neighbourhood”, on which they worked together with Kirsten Visser and Gideon Bolt from the University Utrecht. 

A new article in the Journal of Housing and the Built Environment entitled: “Towards ordinary quarters: the development of housing estates in Prague after transformation” was published in the last few days. Its authors are Martin Ouředníček and Zuzana Kopecká. The main objective of the paper is to explain and understand contemporary spatial changes within housing estates in Prague with special attention to the role of public and private institutions. The authors that housing estates are undergoing considerable functional heterogenization and becoming integral parts of the city as a consequence of mix of commercial development, specific public policies and activities of local actors. We focus on two crucial aspects of the contemporary development of housing estates within the capital city of Prague: (i) the new functional differentiation of housing estates as a consequence of private activities and commercialization; (ii) the role of master planning and public policies on the level of both the city and self-governed city districts. A case study of the largest housing estate and a symbol of socialist housing in Czechia—Jižní Město—illustrates the impact of state and municipal policies and commercialization on the local level. Read the full article here.