Krize urbanistické moderny v socialismu : případ plánování Prahy od šedesátých do osmdesátých let 20. století

• Authors: Petr Roubal

Title variants

EN

Crisis of modern urbanism under the socialist rule : case study of the land-use plan of Prague between the 1960s and 1980s

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

CS

a2_Článek sleduje, jak již od poloviny šedesátých let sílila kritika sídlištní výstavby, na které se podílel především urbanista Jiří Hrůza (1925-2012). Pod dojmem prací americké novinářky a urbanistické aktivistky Jane Jacobsové (1916-2006) pak na počátku sedmdesátých let podal soustavnou kritiku socialistického modernismu a zpochybnil samotný princip urbanistického plánování jako prostředku společenské transformace. Tato intelektuální skepse se brzy přenesla i do praxe pražského městského plánování, které ustoupilo od modernistických principů zónování a přiznalo tradičním čtvrtím nejdříve urbanistickou a později i architektonickou hodnotu. Nakonec autor sleduje, jak se tento urbanistický obrat střetával s praxí stavební výroby a politickou preferencí rychlé bytové výstavby.

EN

a1_Using the planning in Prague between the 1960s and 1980s as an example, the article deals with the transformation of the concept of a socialist city among urbanists and architects. The author describes how the generation of the inter-war modernist avant-garde inspired by works of Karel Teige (1900-1951) started reasserting itself again after Khrushchev´s speech on architecture in 1954. Its influential member, Jiří Voženílek (1909-1986), became the Chief Architect of Prague. It was under his leadership that the General Plan of the Capital City of Prague was drafted at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s. The author analyzes the plan as an example of the socialist modernism and urbanistic optimism of its creators who believed that, subject to a correct application of principles of inter-war avant-garde architecture, an urbanistic transformation might become the base of a social transformation of socialism. The plan envisaged sacrifing not only all residential quarters of Greater Prague built at the turn of the century, but also the very principle of a traditional city with a network of living streets which socialist urbanists saw as an incarnation of all evils that the development of towns and cities had thitherto been governed by: mixing of functions, too high density of population, lack of light and air. New housing projects comprising high-rise prefab residential buildings set in greenery were to become the opposite of traditional streets.

EN

a2_The article explains how criticism of the housing schemes, the chief representative of which was urbanist Jiří Hrůza (1925-2012), had been growing stronger since as early as the mid-1960s. Influenced by works of US journalist and urbanistic activist Jane Jacobs (1916-2006), he presented a comprehensive critique of socialist modernism and questioned they very principle of urban planning as a tool of social transformation. The intellectual skepticism was soon thereafter reflected in urban planning practices in Prague; they abandoned the modernistic principle of zoning and acknowledged the value (first urbanistic, later architectural) of traditional quarters. In the end of the article, the author analyzes how the urbanistic turning point was confronted with building industry practices and political preferences demanding rapid construction of flats and apartments.

Keywords

CS

historiografie; urbanismus; panelová sídliště

EN

historiography; city planning; prefabricated housing estates

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Soudobé dějiny (Contemporary History)
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 335-360
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Petr Roubal

• Soudobé dějiny, redakce, Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, v.v.i., Vlašská 9, 118 40 Praha 1, Czech Republic