PLANNING IN THE PRAGUE REGION - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

This article examines the changing nature of environmental planning in Prague, a city which has seen immense political and economic change i n the past few years; the city will also certainly see great physical change in the next decade, but the role and effectiveness of planning is still open to question. In order to understand these changes it is necessary to explore the past and identify the legacy of problems whic h the city planners face. The tensions which are apparent are illustra ted by looking at three areas of concern: environmental pollution, the historic core and suburban greenspace. In each of these areas the new contexts of privatization of the economy, restitution of private prop erty and decentralization/liberalization of government mean that the a bility of the planning system to address issues directly is heavily co nstrained. For the future, planning needs to be able to facilitate inv estment in new developments and rehabilitation of old without allowing the freedom of the market to damage the environment and heritage even further. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd