Daily street life in the inner city of Prague under transformation: the visual experience of socio-spatial differentiation and temporal rhythms

Abstract

Abstract The paper is concerned with the everyday manifestation of increasing social, lifestyle and cultural diversity in the transforming inner city of Prague. The Smíchov neighbourhood and particularly its central hub, the Anděl junction, were chosen as the focus of the study. The regeneration dynamics during the post-socialist transformation make this place particularly interesting for an inquiry into the interplay of the social and physical environment, into the interactions of changing urban landscapes and people's everyday practices. Particular attention is paid to the character of ordinary daily street life, to the users of urban space and to the manifestation of close-knit social, spatial and temporal diversity in the close vicinity of the Anděl hub. The paper concludes with the necessity of including the temporal dimension of space in urban planning and design practice. Methodologically the case study derives principally from direct observation of neighbourhood life and users, but also draws on the extensive research previously conducted in the neighbourhood by the authors and from intensive experience of living in the area. Acknowledgements This paper was prepared with funding provided by Czech Science Foundation in project 403/08/P168 'Transformation of social and physical environment in inner city of Prague after 1990' and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic in the project 2D06012 'Socio-spatial differentiation of the population and its impact on quality of life in cities and communities in the Czech Republic'. Notes 1. Since the use of public spaces was our prime interest, people sitting in garden restaurants were not counted. Garden restaurants, though invading public space, are considered to be private zones where only those with money can afford to sit. Thus only people entering or leaving garden restaurants through public space were included in our record sheets. 2. Only visually distinguishable ethnic groups could be recorded.