Hlaváček: The Metropolitan Plan could be approved by the councilors starting on May 28

Prague - The new Prague zoning plan could likely start to be approved by the city council at a meeting on May 28. This was stated today by the mayor's deputy Petr Hlaváček (STAN). According to him, some partial parts of the plan could be addressed in the future, but as a whole it brings numerous positives and it is necessary to approve it. The new plan will replace the current planning document from 1999, and the city management claims it will improve and simplify the planning of the city's development. However, it also has its critics.

According to Hlaváček, the city council meeting at the end of May could also be a two-day event due to various circumstances. Two days before the council meeting, on May 26, the metropolitan plan will also be discussed by the Prague Committee for Urban Development, which is public. At present, Hlaváček is doing everything possible to have the metropolitan plan approved on May 28. "I personally perceive that there are areas that need further resolution in the future, but the plan as a whole brings an enormous amount of solutions that are positive," stated Hlaváček.

The zoning plan is a key document that determines where construction is permitted in the city and to what extent. The current Prague plan has been in effect since 1999 and, without a change in the law, can be valid until the end of 2028 at most. The preparation of the Metropolitan Plan was approved by the city council in 2013, and five years later, the city's Institute of Planning and Development (IPR) published its draft. This was followed by three rounds of consultations, the first in 2018, the second in 2022, and the third last year.

According to the IPR, the new plan aims to streamline urban planning and expedite construction. Compared to the existing document, it includes height regulations or divisions into specified locations and their protection, while also accounting for the creation of new neighborhoods on current brownfields. According to previous information from the IPR, there is space planned for the construction of 350,000 apartments.

The form of the document has been criticized, for example, by the civic association Arnika, which claims that it was not prepared transparently enough and has significant shortcomings in green space protection and ensuring necessary public amenities. The original author of its proposal, architect Roman Koucký, also criticizes the plan. According to him, during the discussions, it lost the flexibility that was supposed to be its main asset due to the incorporation of comments from state organizations and ministries.

Among the so-called large development areas in the metropolis are several large areas and brownfields, such as in Smíchov, on Karlín's Rohanská Island, in the former freight railway yard in Žižkov, or around Kolbenova Street in Vysočany. New neighborhoods are also expected to gradually emerge in areas such as Bubny-Zátory, Florenc, and Ruzyně. In these parts of Prague, major development companies like Central Group, Sekyra Group, Penta Real Estate, and Finep are building or planning to build.