Problémové rezidencní ctvrti a politiky k jejich regeneraci v postsocialistickém meste - studie Prahy/Problem Residential Neighbourhoods and Policies Aimed at Their Regeneration in the Post-socialist City: A Case Study of Prague

• Published in: Sociologický časopis Vol. 48; no. 1; p. 39
• Main Authors: Kostelecký, Tomás, Patocková, Vera, Illner, Michal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Czech
• Published: Prague Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic 01-01-2012
• Subjects: Cities; Inequality; Neighborhoods; Political behavior; Socioeconomic factors; Studies; Urban development; Urban renewal; Czech Republic; Prague Czech Republic
• ISSN: 0038-0288; 2336-128X

This article sets out to examine regeneration policies in Prague. After introducing the concept of regeneration and regeneration theories and reviewing foreign cases of regeneration of problem neighbourhoods, the authors analyse the situation in Prague and attempt to answer three basic questions: How do the authorities in Prague approach social-spatial inequalities and urban regeneration in the city? What are the objectives of the city's regeneration policies and what tools are used? Who are the main actors involved in regeneration policies and how do they relate to each other? The study of documents and interviews with the people who are the actors involved in regeneration policies showed that the 'regeneration policies for problem neighbourhoods' in a post-socialist city differ significantly from the approaches applied in Western cities. In Prague regeneration policies do not rank high on the ladder of local political priorities, and local politicians implicitly assume that the situation in the city and its districts and neighbourhoods will improve, existing problems will be eliminated, and the city's inhabitants will see a rise in their economic and social status. A detailed analysis showed that the lack of emphasis placed on the regeneration of problem neighbourhoods is mainly due to structural factors. Socio-spatial inequalities in Prague are still smaller than in most otherwise comparable cities in the Western world, the spatial concentration of existing problems is not too great, and the spatial patterns of social and economic problems in the city do not overlap very much. Spatial concentrations of problems in Prague are thus far mainly found in a micro-local form, encompassing just individual buildings, clusters of buildings, or at most one to several blocks. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]