Does Prague have a car problem? Expert comments on key obstacles to building a more sustainable city
Prague’s car problem is not a secret. High car ownership persists, mainly because of political resistance and historical preservation laws which inadvertently hinder efforts to reduce car dependency. The dependency poses a challenge to its sustainability goals, increases noise pollution in the city, and is dangerous to pedestrians. So, what’s being done? I spoke with Urbanist at the Sustainable Urbanism Laboratory Zuzana Poláková to discuss some of these challenges that prevent a more sustainable Prague.
Let's start with some basics. Can you comment on some of Prague's key urban development projects in the near future that try to enhance it into a sustainable city? Because, as a comparison, when we look at Barcelona or Paris, there are a lot more green spaces being built, public facilities that are incorporated with residential areas that are more green and more sustainable. So does Prague have any of these showing up?
“Prague is somewhat of a green city even now. So, on greenery: it's not planning any big projects. In the outskirts, there are some new big parks and so on. But new developers are trying to be sustainable. And they are trying to resemble that in our building code. And also in the land use plan, there are principles that need to be fulfilled.
“But actually, the big developments are more about negotiations between private and public organizations. I think the developers understand the need for public services more than before. Some of the developers are excellent at meeting environmental and ecological needs. But the big problem is still the affordability of housing in Prague. Most of the land is private, and the developers are not motivated to cooperate with the city on this topic. The social aspects of sustainability are rather neglected here, as is common in other post-Communist countries.
“And from a sustainable transportation point of view on which we are concentrating, it's still very hard to advocate for adequate space to develop good conditions for active transportation in planning new big developments; it's still the struggle between land use for the private profits of the developers and profit for the whole city and sustainable conditions for living in such a city.
“One example of that is New Masaryčka and Na Florenci Street, which is totally new and there is no space for a separate bike lane, for example. And it's because of the volume of the building. And in other cases, like Bubny-Zátory, for example, the scope of public space and width of the streets are planned to be kept at a minimum to maximize space for buildings. So it's a problem.”
And one of these things you have mentioned is just the magnitude of cars, really, in Prague. So in another interview you did, you talked about 600 cars per 1,000 citizens in Prague. Maybe you can speak to that for people who don't know if that's a lot for a city. You were mentioning the bicycle infrastructure, that it's not really there, even with new projects. So is that a possibility in the future, that we could see fewer cars in Prague?
“I am not so optimistic about this. And about the number of cars, it's actually much more than I said before. It's more than 700 registered personal cars. And all together with bigger vehicles and trucks, it's more than 950.
“For a long time, especially since the opening of Tunnel Blanka, the City of Prague has been planning transit regulations through the city center. But since the first promotions, there was no political will to do that.
“Last year, the Ministry of Transport said that it could be illegal to charge the transit through the center if the inner ring road is not officially completed. And this is, for example, one of the legal requirements for introducing low-emission zones in the Czech Republic.
“But we hope the change of this law is being prepared, so maybe the future will be better on the issue. But it's still complicated in Prague to regulate or manage the cars in the city.
“But if I'm trying to be positive, the city is planning one project that could make a big step, mostly in bicycle transportation. It's the revitalization of one part of Prague Magistrála. In its section in the compact city of Prague, from the Nuselsky Bridge to the National Museum, the aim of the city is to fulfill the vision to transform the road into a new urban avenue. That would mean fewer car lanes, wider sidewalks, more trees, and also a protected bike path.
“Now it is in the project studies, so the final design is a matter of negotiations between stakeholders and public authorities. And we hope for a better future in this. But there are complications, for example with the ‘heritage protection’ …
What is that exactly?
“They have problems with these bike lanes in the Danish style, which are separated from the sidewalk and from the road.
“The officers of ‘heritage protection’ have problems with this because it's a new thing in the historical center.”
And also I've heard similar arguments for building greenery in the city center, that they don't want to build trees because it would hide from the historical buildings. Is that the defense there?
“Yeah, it's similar, but I think that it's somehow better; the negotiations with them have better results. I think that they really need some documents, some concept documents which say, ‘Yeah, it needs to be like this, and this is the priority for the city.’ And so they need these priorities on paper.”
So then speaking just very practically here. There are parts of the city center in Prague that are very difficult to go through. Speaking of Charles Bridge and that road by the Vltava as you're crossing from Old Town into Charles Bridge, there are just thousands upon thousands of people there, and a lot of cars as well.
What is the reason there specifically, with the busiest streets in Prague seemingly, that aren't kind of connected to the highways, but where there's a lot of foot traffic? Is the car lobby just strong? Is there no possible way to find alternative routes for cars?
A lot of other big cities will create those areas as designated walking areas because of just how many people there are but Prague seems to have these small alleyways for pedestrians and these massive roads for cars.
“I don't really know. I think that they really are trying to regulate the cars there. I think that, for example, before opening the Blanka [Tunnel] close to Smetanovo Nabreží for cars, there need to be areas designated for residents and close it to outside transit. But it's still complicated because some conservative politicians always say that there is no inner ring road completed. So, there is no way to go through the city center. But that’s nonsense from our point of view; it's only some excuse for not enacting regulations for cars.
“So, we are good at public transport. Maybe it's the one thing which is important and which is important for every politician to stay on top of.
“On Smetanovo Nabreží, it's still the number one [priority is] public transport. The second [priority] is perhaps cars and after that tourists and pedestrians, and so on.
“From our point of view, I think that we could do this experiment by closing the streets for example for weekends because it's full of people on weekends. It's strange and horrible to see a lot of people who are on these narrow sidewalks.
“But in Prague 1 some of the politicians wanted to do that but the conservatives were stronger.”
Well, the weekend seems like an interesting, easier idea to implement because what Montreal does, where I used to live, they close down Saint Catherine's street which is downtown for the summer because it attracts business and pedestrians to go to these businesses. In the winter, they open it for the cars because fewer people are walking out and about.
But then before we get to our last question here I did want to talk to you about giving some further credit to the city because Prague is ranked fairly high among European cities for public transport but you're saying that's mainly kind of the center that has really good transport if you want to get to the outskirts it's more difficult. You have to have a car.
“Yes, it's the traditional problem of urban and complex spatial planning of the outskirts around bigger cities. Because around Prague, there are a lot of people in towns where they lack services and job opportunities.
“Furthermore, they lack both effective and sustainable opportunities for transport to inner Prague, where they workshop, they have schools, and so on. So, if they need to transport there they are mostly dedicated to private cars and the city of Prague is not responsible for spatial planning around the city. But the problem is very complex and there is no time to talk about all of them.
“But one of the core problems is an insufficient capacity of electrified Suburban Railways and their absence in some important directions.
“Finally, a lot of people – more than 160 thousand – are traveling by car to the city center every day because it's the most comfortable and, in many cases, the only type of transport that works for them. And it's comfortable because it is still a very easy way to park your car in the inner city. So, it's cheap and, for new buildings, it's very comfortable to park your car under your office.
“So, it's a complex problem starting with this building law and the minimum number of parking spaces that developers need to build.
“And another core problem in Prague is that it has one government for the whole city and 57 small governments in each district, so it's very complicated to build this vision, for example, because these strategic documents, which main Prague is doing, are not mandatory for every district and every stakeholder in the city.
“So I think that this is the main problem that we are not able to build a better whole city.”
And if there were key local ways, let's say, starting from the city center, like Old Town, and making it more walkable. Would it be easier in that case? Because it's so decentralized to target the specific councilors who have that in charge to tell them that there's an economic argument to do this, there's a noise pollution argument to do this. Is that being done at all?
“They are doing the documents, which are pushing the politicians, but it's very slow. And every four years, we have a new government. So, it's a problem with continuity also.
“We have some requirements which we need to fulfill, like the Climate Plan, for example. So, these are the main requirements, which push the changes. But it's more concentrated on the electrification of public transport and relying on the electrification of private cars, and so on.
“And in the Climate Plan, there is a planned completion of the motorways of the ring roads, which doesn’t just have positive effects, it also has the negative effects. So, it's complicated to fulfill [the Climate Plan], making it less ideal for the 21st century.”
