Towards a Model Ecology for Prague: Expanding the Historical Landscape through Indigenous and Interconnected Place-Making

Ref.: 56
Domaine thématique: 01 Intégrité physique des paysages urbains historiques
Date de réception: 05/11/2008

AUTEURS (*Auteur principal)

ELAN, Neuman Fessler * (République Tchèque) - J.W. Fulbright Commission

RÉSUMÉ

In an ecosystem, all parts have an interconnected role.

In Prague, a World Heritage City, an imbalance has developed between the "historical" center, and the surrounding "buffer zone". This schism is social, economic, aesthetic, experiential and ideological. The rush to build around the core has made it difficult to reflect meaningfully upon a cohesive strategy for the city's growth. New models and guidelines are necessary for enabling responsible and healthy development. These new models should address the question : How could future centers in the "buffer zone" interconnect the center and periphery?
The interplay of land, built elements and experience has an ongoing meaning for the whole city. Both the city's composition, nestled in the land, and its panorama, fundamentally anchor the greater landscape - including the multiple horizons of its geological and cultural landmarks - into the heart of the Historical Core. The integrity of this greater landscape is currently at risk from the pressures of new construction.

Millions of square meters of new construction are being proposed across the urban panorama, without an overall formal or functional approach. Market demand is generating an over saturation of a few profitable building types and locations, creating an imbalance within the city. The authorities that oversee development are decentralized, and this further contributes to urban fragmentation.
The first, planned urban extension of the Historical Core in the 14th century, the « New Town »,can serve as a model for contemporary planning. Even then, urban planning employed a strategy to preserve and extend the identity of the land, and to integrate social fabrics and balanced diversity through a single, flexible urban framework. The plan successfully enhanced the heritage landscape while creating a greater meaning of `place'. I will describe how these «New Town » planning principles, can be adapted to contemporary urban development using my case-study design proposal for the site of Pankrac Plain.
Pankrac Plain is the epicenter of a long-standing international debate about skyscrapers in the "buffer zone" of Prague. Firstly, the case-study aims to diminish the visual impact of new towers. Secondly, to develop an intimate social fabric. This plan employs a range of scales, civic uses, gradual building accumulation, and adapted typologies. The conflict between the horizon at-large and the ground on-site is addressed by incorporating, into the block morphology, a series of ascending horizontal strata that rise from the terrain into the skyline. Revising height limits to express topological gradation, softens visual impact and provides a connection to terrain.
Before construction is permitted, thorough urban planning studies are a necessary tool to articulate concepts and relationships hidden in the site. In order to decide the character and composition of spaces and uses, planning guidelines must draw from local material, must acknowledge existing landmarks, and must communicate with surrounding elements and social groups. Understanding the historical- geographical context of the urban landscape, through a mapping of its layers and values, is necessary to establish where and how a new project should be built.

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