Martin Ouředníček

DIFFERENTIAL SUBURBAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE PRAGUE URBAN REGION

Abstract. Numerous authors have asserted that suburbanization contributes to many problems in both suburban and inner city localities. Research of suburban development demonstrates variations in spatial patterns, the intensity of spatial processes, and the social and economic status of new suburbanites. While some forms of suburban development could cause serious problems throughout the urban region, other forms could be perceived as processes improving the quality of life in suburbia. This paper seeks to investigate different types of suburban development in the Prague urban region over the past fifteen years of transformation. The focus of my interest is residential suburbanization, which is one of the most significant spatial processes today in the settlement systems of post‐socialist countries. The theoretical part of the contribution deals with the differentiation of spatial processes changing the suburban zone. Here I discuss the concepts of several processes of suburban development and their distinctive impact on both suburban and inner city localities. The empirical part of the contribution is based on an analysis of migration flows in the various localities of the Prague urban region in the period 1995 to 2003. I attempt to describe the magnitude and spatial patterns of suburbanization and the composition of migrants to suburbia. The paper concludes with a discussion about the possible future development of suburbanization in the Prague urban region.

Housing Estates in the Czech Republic after Socialism Various Trajectories and Inner Differentiation

Growing income differentiation in society, diversification of housing supply and selective population mobility are resulting in increasing socio-spatial differentiation in Czech cities and neighbourhoods during the post-socialist transition. Housing estates are no exception to the processes of urban change. The paper shows that development trajectories of housing estates vary in different parts of the country, in various locations within each city and also within particular housing estates. As segregation in Czech cities takes place mainly within very small areas, statistical analyses usually fail to detect the seeds of social and physical degradation emerging in neighbourhoods and a micro survey is essential. In order to understand the patterns and factors of differentiation, the paper presents case studies from housing estates located in different cities of the Czech Republic.

The relevance of “Western” theoretical concepts for investigations of the margins of post-socialist cities: the case of Prague

Abstract The exceptional dynamics of urban change in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries sparked an almost immediate revitalization of urban studies during the 1990s. In academia, this interest implied an urgent need to make use of theoretical concepts that would inform the description and interpretation of observed new social and spatial phenomena and processes. Consequently, developmentalism – the belief in the realignment of former socialist cities to their Western counterparts and in the gradual “correction” of their socialist character – became the dominant paradigm of urban studies throughout the 1990s in most CEE countries. A strong confidence in the explanatory and predictive function of theoretical concepts that functioned well in Western cities was typical of this period. However, more than two decades of post-socialist urban research have led to the recognition of the limited utility of some imported Western concepts. This paper documents these trends using the example of the outer areas of Czech (post-socialist) cities, which, having been shaped by socialist planning practice for decades, convinced many CEE urban scholars of the need to seek alternative theoretical concepts. It is hoped that this may create fertile ground for new ideas, which would be then exported as a part of wider and internationally more relevant urban theory.

The reurbanisation concept and its utility for contemporary research on post-socialist cities: The case of the Czech Republic

Abstract The concept of reurbanisation is discussed in this article from theoretical and methodological perspectives. Reurbanisation has been defined as one of the stages of urban development recently, but it is also tied to processes of gentrification, or perceived as a policy aimed at the revitalisation of inner cities. The main objective of this contribution is to discuss three principal and different perspectives of reurbanisation: firstly, reurbanisation as defined on the macro-scale of settlement system development; secondly, the concept as elaborated at the micro-scale of the transformation of inner cities; and, thirdly, reurbanisation viewed as a specific urban policy at the local government scale of analysis. The authors’ singular understanding of the reurbanisation process – as suburban-to-urban migration – is then presented as an alternative conceptualization of reurbanisation. This paper presents and evaluates the use of the reurbanisation concept in research on residential environments in current conditions in the Czech Republic and relates it to the broader domain of research on post-socialist cities.

Distance matters. Assessing socioeconomic impacts of the Dukovany nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic: Local perceptions and statistical evidence

Abstract The effect of geographical distance on the extent of socioeconomic impacts of the Dukovany nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic is assessed by combining two different research approaches. First, we survey how people living in municipalities in the vicinity of the power plant perceive impacts on their personal quality of life. Second, we explore the effects of the power plant on regional development by analysing long-term statistical data about the unemployment rate, the share of workers in the energy sector and overall job opportunities in the respective municipalities. The results indicate that the power plant has had significant positive impacts on surrounding communities both as perceived by residents and as evidenced by the statistical data. The level of impacts is, however, significantly influenced by the spatial and social distances of communities and individuals from the power plant. The perception of positive impacts correlates with geographical proximity to the power plant, while the hypothetical distance where positive effects on the quality of life are no longer perceived was estimated at about 15 km. Positive effects are also more likely to be reported by highly educated, young and middle-aged and economically active persons, whose work is connected to the power plant.

The Role of Foreign Migration in the Changing Socio-Spatial Differentiation of Prague

Investigating the spatial differentiation of foreign populations in cities, especially the level of ethnic segregation, has a long tradition in Western European and American social geography. Owing to increased international mobility since the 1990s, it has also become relevant for some post-socialist cities. This article examines how the growing ethnic heterogeneity of the urban population is reflected in the spatial distribution of foreign citizens in Prague, which is now a unique example of a newly multicultural post-socialist capital. The analysis uses the migration register and census data based on citizenship. The results suggest that foreign citizens are a factor in the transformation of the ethnic structure of the population especially in the inner city and the historical core. Ethnic segregation appears to be most pronounced among economically stronger and culturally distant groups, but concentrations of foreign citizens are forming on the level of localities rather than urban quarters. The article offers the first insight into the relationship between international migration and a post‑socialist city, which, soon after the fall of communism, became a destination of international immigration.

The Long-term Development of Socio-spatial Differentiation in Socialist and Post-socialist Prague

The article examines how different social and urban processes were refl ected in the spatial patterns of three dimensions of population structure (demographic, socio-economic, and ethnic statuses) in Prague during the socialist and post-socialist periods. The article has three main objectives. First, it analyses inertia and change in socio-spatial patterns and evaluates the processes that have infl uenced them. Second, it investigates how the importance of all three statuses in the spatial differentiation of urban space has evolved. Third, the article focuses on the level of geographical variability as recorded within different spatial scales, and the development of this variability. It examines selected indicators of socio-economic, demographic, and ethnic statuses by employing detailed statistical data on the level of basic settlement units from the Population Censuses held in 1970, 1991, and 2011. The results confi rm that the most signifi cant changes in socio-spatial patterns between socialism and post-socialism can be observed for ethnic spatial differentiation. In addition, the city witnessed considerable changes in demographic spatial patterns in both periods, while socio-economic spatial patterns have remained relatively stable. New socio-spatial processes driven predominantly by movements of young and better-off populations have taken place in previously less attractive neighbourhoods. As a result, very different populations often live side-by-side in contemporary Prague.

Long-term Development and Current Socio-Spatial Differentiation of Housing Estates in Prague, Czechia

The housing estate is perceived to be one of the main symbols of the socialist regime in the former Eastern Bloc. Immediately after the Velvet Revolution, housing estates were to some extent rejected by the general public as well as neglected in spatial planning and policies. At the same time, Prague’s housing estates contained more than 40% of the city’s population, thus representing the most important part of the built environment within the city. The main aims of this chapter are to evaluate the specific development of Prague’s housing estates in the second half of the twentieth century, and then to explore the finer details of their inherent socio-spatial differentiation. The role of state and local housing policy is evaluated as the crucial factor in the current and future development of housing estates. The results are similar to those for many other CEE cities, and confirm that the transformation period had little impact on social structures within these residential areas and that the social mix sustains the main attribute of Prague’s housing estates. New housing construction and ethnic differentiation are the most important processes to have changed the social environment of housing estates in Prague during the post-transformation period.

A synthetic approach to the delimitation of the Prague Metropolitan Area

ABSTRACT The main objective of this paper is to apply a synthetic approach to the delimitation of metropolitan areas, which combines traditional commuting data from the population census with alternative approaches. The presented delimitation, which was originally realized in response to a request from Prague’s planning authority, is based on three methodological pillars: the use of economic and social aspects of metropolization; suburbanization; and daily mobility within the Prague Metropolitan Area. Integrated systems of centers calculated from population census data are complemented with the use of mobile phone data. There was a surprising level of similarity in the spatial patterns gained from the two methods. Zones of residential suburbanization and time spent in the core city provided a complex perspective on the daily urban system within the Prague Metropolitan Area. A synthetic map based on the four methods is provided, accompanied by five analytical maps on a smaller scale.

DISCLOSURE OF HISTORICAL SPATIAL AND STATISTICAL DATA OF DISTRICTS IN CZECHIA IN A GIS ENVIRONMENT

This article presents a methodology for the creation and reconstruction of historical borders of chosen spatial units, especially political and judicial districts in Czechia for the specific years of population censuses within a GIS environment. Since an ethnic, language, demographic, social and cultural composition of a population is one of the main features of national and regional identity, the main objective of the article is to introduce new method for the creation of spatial-statistical databases which will make these historical data sources accessible to both experts and the public for general use. For this purpose, district borders from 1921, 1930, (1947), 1950, 1961, 1970, 1991, 2001 and 2011, which represent the years of the population censuses in Czechia, were digitized. Our method is based mainly on historical maps, which correspond with the censuses’ statistical datasets. The proposed methodology for the creation of GIS layers (digitalization, geo-referencing, vectorization, accuracy assessment, and spatial identification), their connection with censuses statistical data (creation of spatial codes), metadata creation, and web publication is described in this article along with examples of some of the difficulties encountered during the process. We also bring attention to several case studies of problematic areas where the reconstruction of borders was particularly complicated. Finally, spatial and statistical data in the format of ESRI shapefile and ESRI Geodatabase offer possibilities for a retrospective analyses of quantitative data to current researchers from a range of scientific disciplines. Files in both formats are publicly available at webpage www.historickygis.cz.