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= Heart of Europe Stifling Under Concrete Foreword  =
'''Heart of Europe Stifling Under Concrete:The construction boom of shopping centres in Prague'''


== Foreword  ==
== Foreword  ==
The Shopping Gallery Harfa opened in November 2010. The Fenix Shopping Gallery opened in 2008. They both lie at a driving distance of approximately 5 minutes from the biggest shopping area in Prague and the Czech Republic - OC Letňany built in 1999. I visited Fenix on 23 December 2010 and it felt like a ghost town. And on one of the busiest days of the year! This experience made me wonder, how it is possible that energy and resources are wasted on redundant chapels of consumption. In the Czech Republic the so-called area standard – square metres of shopping space per inhabitant – has tripled since 1989 from 0.331<ref>Ministry of Industry and Trade</ref> to 1.1 in 2009<ref>Incoma Research</ref>. That means that every citizen in this country has their own square metre for shopping. Of this, shopping centres represent 0.26 m<sup>2</sup> per inhabitant(sq/inh)<ref name=Ellis>CB Richard Ellis, 2010: http://www.cbre.cz/propertyinfomap/emea/_PDF/EMEA_FPR_CZECH_RETAIL%20_H1_2010_ENG.pdf</ref>. Compared to Liberec for example, which has a value of 1.4 m<sup>2</sup>/inh<ref name=Ellis/>, Prague might seem quite empty with its 0.72<ref name=Ellis/>. The frequency of new shopping centre openings, however, challenges common sense. Prague is fancied for its intimacy and was honoured by becoming a part of the UNESCO world heritage site in 1992 thanks to its historical value. The construction boom is sometimes acused of threatening the town´s uniqueness. Sýkora (2006)<ref name=Sykora>L. Sýkora (2006): Urban Development, Policy and Planning in the Czech Republic and Prague.I'n 'Altrock, Guntner, Huning and Peters: Spatial Planning and Urban Development in the new EU member states. Ashgate Publishing, UK</ref> warns that new investments after 1990 contributed to densification of central city morphology, including rapid growth in car traffic and consequent congestion, which turned out to be especially critical in Prague. Furthermore Sýkora adds that there have been numerous conflicts between investors and those protecting historic buildings and urban landscapes. Another argument in the discussion is environmental sustainability. As the Prague City Development Authority Prague points out, developing commercial areas significantly increases the proportion of built-up land and so opportunities for establishing adequate proportions of greenery decrease. Numerous civic petitions for maintaining parks or other free land in different parts of the city have been signed.


The Shopping Gallery Harfa opened fall 2010. The Fenix Shopping Gallery opened in 2008. They both lie in a driving distance of approximately 5 minutes from the biggest shopping area in Prague and the Czech Republic - OC Letňany built in 1999. I visited Fenix on the 23rd December and it felt like ghost town. On one of the busiest days of the year! This experience made me wonder, how is it possible, that energy and resources are wasted for redundant chapels of consume. In Czech Republic the so called area standard – square metres of shops per inhabitant – has tripled since 1989 from 0,331[1] to 1,1 in 2009[2]. That means that every citizen in this country has their own square metre for shopping. Compared to Brno for example, which announced a value of 1,78[3], Prague might seem quite empty with its 0,87[4]. The velocity of new shopping centre openings however teases common sense. Prague is fancied for its intimacy and was honoured to become a part of the UNESCO world heritage in 1992 thanks to its historical value. Does the construction boom present a threat for its uniqueness? Sýkora (2006) warns that new investments after 1990 contributed to densification in central city morphology including rapid growth in car traffic and consequent congestion, which turned out to be especially critical in Prague. Furthermore, Sýkora adds, there have been numerous conflicts between investors and the protection of historic buildings and urban landscapes. Another argument in the discussion is environmental sustainability. As the City Development Authority Prague points out, developing commercial areas significantly increase the proportion of built-up land and so decrease opportunities for setting up adequate proportions of greenery. Numerous civic petitions for maintaining parks or other free land in different parts of the city were signed. Rumour has it though that in the Czech Republic, the democratic governance of people is carried out without the people. I will take a closer look at the situation of shopping centre construction in Prague and try to find out, what is happening and whether there is a problem of some kind.  
I will take a closer look at the situation with shopping centre construction in Prague and try to establish, what is happening and where the problem lies.&nbsp;


== <br> Landscape use  ==
== About shopping centres in general  ==
Shopping centres have been replacing traditional markets since the last century. They represent the modern lifestyle as they are sometimes called chapels of consumption. I. Smolová<ref name=Smolova>I. Smolová, Z. Szczyrba (2000): Large commercial centers in the Czech Republic - Landscape and regionally aspects of development. Palacky University Olomouc</ref> provides an overall definition: “A Regional Shopping Centre is an architecturally unified complex of commercial facilities planned, constructed, owned and administered as a whole. They represent a concentration of retail stores, catering and services (entertainment and cultural establishments, e.g. multiplex cinemas) aiming to satisfy the customers’ requirements in the field of goods and services in a short-term, mid-term and long-term perspective. The basis of shopping centres is formed by big retail units of the hypermarket type and by specialised superstores (e.g. hobbymarket).” (author’s translation).


Taken from I.Smolová, Z.Szczyrba (2000): Large commercial centers in the Czech Republic - Landscape and regionally aspects of development. Palacky University Olomouc
The localisation of shopping centres is determined mainly by the proximity of potential customers and accessibility by transport. Given the ratio of sales area to total required area stands at approximately 1:7<ref name=Smolova/>, the localization is limited by the availability of development areas and by lot prices. In relation to Prague, the most sought-after places are on the edges of the city and its high streets.


The man’s impacts on the landscape are so heterogeneous and many-sided that it is not possible to consider each of them on its own. The intensity of the geographic objects location in the extent of their spectrum in a landscape is best expressed by a so-called gradient of landscape alterations, which begins with a natural landscape without any larger man’s impact and ends with a completely urbanized landscape (Forman et Godron, 1993). On a five-degree scale of landscape types, the urban landscape represents the highest degree of man’s impact (so-called artificialization). From the point of view of a historical development of landscape, towns represent completely different organization and specialization units, whose function is in a correlation, among other things, with the commercial function of seats in a general sense of the word. From the point of view of a recent development of the landscape structure, it is especially the landscape type called a suburban landscape that undergoes a dynamic transformation. It forms a transition zone between the town and a free landscape. This domain is significantly affected by the suburbanization, when an originally agricultural function of the land exploitation is replaced by other functions. It is a transformation of the suburban zone especially by the influence of commercial projects. Besides the construction of supermarkets and large commercial centers, it is also the foundation of industrial and stocking areas and a new construction of living houses. From the point of view of a recent development in the Czech Republic, the suburbanization adds to the existing spatial town structure an additional ring of urban structure (Sýkora, 1999). The socially spatial model of the town gets closer and closer to a polycentric model, based on a principle of the existence of multiple cores in the inner structure of urban landscape, each of them specialized in one of the functions (industry, commerce, housing etc.).  
=== Shopping centres in the Czech Republic with a focus on Prague  ===
Shopping centres did exist before 1989 – every citizen then knew the famous first western-like Kotva Retail House, for example. Nevertheless the massive expansion of this shopping phenomenon began after the revolution in 1989 as a result of joining the global market. Prague being the capital city forms a kind of bridge between the national and foreign market, and therefore it has been the most affected by globalisation and internationalisation. The service sector has grown rapidly, whereas industry has been left behind which has resulted in the existence of brownfields in several areas. The most visible recent urban tendency is suburbanisation, including outward migration and commercialisation. Stores, logistic centres and shopping areas have been built. As I mentioned in the foreword, the area standard of Prague has the value of 0.72 m<sup>2</sup> per citizen. The total number of shopping centres in the capital is 38, their area represents 33% of the national shopping centre area<ref name=Ellis/>.


== Conditions for development of Prague as a post-communist city  ==
[[Image:CBRE SC.jpg]]


Taken from L.Sýkora (2006): Urban Development, Policy and Planning in the Czech Republic and Prague.I'n 'Altrock, Guntner, Huning and Peters: Spatial Planning and Urban Development in the new EU member states. Ashgate Publishing, UK
'''Fig. 1: Shopping Centre Development in the Czech Republic'''<ref name=Ellis/>


<br> The post-1989 urban change in the Czech Republic has been conditioned by government-led reforms aimed at establishment of a capitalist system with market principles. This enabled spontaneous market-led transformations of economic, social and cultural environment. Urban change has been especially led by internationalization and globalization, deindustrialization and growth of producer services and increasing social differentiation. The most dramatic changes occurred in Prague where most of the new investments are concentrated. In the beginnings local and national government favoured unrestricted market development. After a decade tools as strategic planning and EU programming documents helped to apply new urban management for more coordinated and complex urban solutions.  
''Figure 1 shows that shopping centres experienced a steep increase in construction in the year 1998. The other peak was in 2008, which is the year of the opening of big Prague shopping centres like Arkády Pankrác (40,000m<sup>2</sup>) or the afore mentioned Fenix Gallery (12 000m<sup>2</sup>). Most of the new construction was located in smaller towns however - the focus of investors moved away from the cities to these less saturated regional towns.&nbsp;<ref>http://www.ct24.cz/ekonomika/12186-boom-nakupnich-center-se-presouva-do-regionu/</ref> The graph shows there has been a decreasing tendency in the last two years. In 2010, the financial crisis was manifested in construction perhaps even more than in others fields, as only one shopping centre opened in Prague(Harfa Gallery).&nbsp;''


The main patterns of spatial development in cities are commercialization and expansion of city centres and radical transformation of outer cities through commercial and residential suburbanization. Restructuring involved replacement of existing activities with new and economically more efficient uses and took the form of commercialization, gentrification, construction of new condominiums, brownfield regeneration, the establishment of new secondary commercial centres and out-of-centre office clusters. Prague has experienced a strong out-migration towards suburban areas, where the wealthiest Czech population is building new homes – the intensity of housing construction there is three times the national average.
== Legislation  ==


Prague employs less than 15% of its population in manufacturing. This decline has been compensated by an increase in the service sector. Prague plays the role of a prime national centre, logistic hub and a gateway between national and international economy with most foreign direct investment.  
Three main laws are relevant to the topic of shopping centre construction in the Czech Republic: firstly the Construction Act No.183/2006 Coll.; secondly, Act No.334/1992 Coll., on Protection of Agricultural Soil; and lastly Act No.100/2001 Coll., containing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). These include the general principles of building procedures, the conditions of use of agricultural soil for other than agricultural purposes and the criteria for EIA (for example, since 2007 projects with less than 3,000 m2 and fewer than 100 parking spaces can be omitted from the EIA).  Complex regulations concerning specifically big shopping centres are missing though.  


Emerging urban problems Decline in areas omitted by investment cause economic, social and physical decline. However growth can have negative effects too – for instance commercialization of the city core implies growth of individual car traffic, damage to historical heritage and decline in population leaving block of central city properties without residential function. Another problem can be suburbanization itself. The compact character of the former socialist city is being changed through rapid commercialization and residential suburbanization that takes a form of an unregulated sprawl. Fragmented and non-contiguous suburbanization has negative social, economic and environmental consequences. For instance suburbanization of retail facilities has completely reshaped the pattern of commuting for shopping. While in the 1990s most retail wa concentrated in central city and in secondary centres within cities, at present a lare share of shopping is realised in suburban hypermarkets ad shopping mall where people travel by car from the inner city, which contributes to traffic congestion. Policies and planning
=== Policy and Planning  ===


Sýkora (2006) In the Czech Republic, the responsibility rests primarily with city governments. However the functional urban region, i.e. the area that is tightly linked through commuting for work, services, education and culture, extends the administrative boundary of the core city. In the hinterland of Prague there are 171 independent municipalities. Fragmented metropolitan decision-making lacks coordination. Further more the metropolitan area of Prague is under the government of two regions: Prague itself and Central Bohemia who do not cooperate in the field of common metropolitan development and therefore is left to competition between governments. Municipalities are independent legal and economic entities which take decisions and bear responsibilities on their own behalf. The capital city of Prague as a statutory town divided its municipal territory into 57 boroughs establishing second tier of local governments. These take advantage of gained partial autonomy. Prague prepares two citywide planning documents at the municipal level – The Master Plan and the Strategic Plan. The former is a physical plan that specifies the special arrangement and land use in the medium term perspective, the latter specifies long term priorities of socio-economic development. The Strategic plan declares controlled development and coordinated management and decision-making in order to achieve prosperity, healthy and cultural environment and preservation of values, which make Prague one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is an agreement between politicians, specialists, corporate sector representatives and citizens. One of the five pillars focuses on Quality of environment: “Prague endeavours to achieve a high quality of both natural and urban development, while observing the principles of sustainability. It wants to substantially reduce pollution in the city and create balance between human settlement and landscape in order to become a clean, healthy and harmonious city. Besides these two documents, Prague worked on policies according to the EU demands and created a Regional Development Strategy which matches the Strategic Plan.  
In the Czech Republic, the responsibility for policy making rests primarily with municipal governments. The problem is that the so-called functional urban region extends the political boundaries of the core cities. In regard to Prague, it is surrounded by over 170 small municipalities which are economically and legally independent units and whose decision-making process lacks wider coordination. Moreover, the metropolitan area of Prague is governed by two regional entities – Prague itself and Central Bohemia which tend to compete rather than cooperate on the question of joint development.  


Taken from I.Smolová, Z.Szczyrba (2000): Large commercial centers in the Czech Republic - Landscape and regionally aspects of development. Palacky University Olomouc:
Prague itself, as a statutory town, has its municipal territory divided into 57 boroughs, therefore establishing a second tier of local government which takes advantage of the gained partial autonomy in decision making. However, they ought to respect two citywide planning documents – The Master Plan and The Strategic Plan. The former is a physical plan that specifies the special arrangements and land use in the medium term, while the latter specifies the long term priorities of socio-economic development.  


According to the research results, majority of purchasing population got very quickly adapted to new possibilities that are offered by super and hypermarkets and these are more often preferred by them. Small traders whose contributions to town treasuries are not inessential perceive supermarkets as unequal fight and “unfair rivals”. They initiate petitions, call for market protection and its regulation. Unlike those who oppose construction of large markets, majority of both laymen and experts in this field think that “reasonable” construction of super and hypermarkets is necessary for trade competition. However, legal means in the sense of predefined principles on construction of large-scale stores in the area are minimal and towns are dealing with the situation Instead of that, we keep facing the situation that shows us that towns and cities are not able to direct the development. Moreover, they cannot co-ordinate procedures in the decision making processes in the field of territorial planning and thus the non – regulated construction of trade complexes is attributed wider regional aspects. From the perspective of the territorial development concept, development of retail network up to now can be considered as rather accidental than systematic whereas we do not speak of big trade companies but of bodies of public administration that are accountable for harmonisation of territorial development. Independent towns that recently used to be parts of bigger administrative units are nowadays of special issue because they do not communicate and co-operate properly as partners with their “counterparts” in the territorial development program. In lieu, development of retail networks in the Czech Republic becomes rather a product guided by visions of investors and “lobbying” groups in the town halls than the work of logical direction.With regard to lower financial resources of smaller towns and some cities, a potential strong investor is mostly viewed positively. His activities play an important role in improving traffic and technical infrastructure of towns (financial contributions to reconstruct sewerage, roads etc.). Frequent pros include new working opportunities and future tax contribution for the town. Possible negative ramifications concerning the location of shopping facility include primarily the overload of communication network and design of buildings that vary from the built up areas up to now. Experts agree today that non regulated and non  co-ordinated development can cause the retail network grow beyond dimensions which would lead to subsequent unbalance of the system and bankruptcy of many, especially retail  salesmen. Merciless rules of market economy apply also to the trade area and therefore it is necessary to retain certain proportions. Who else than villages representing the interests of their population should strive for that. Implementation rules of the amended construction Law no. 50/1976 of the Code are very benevolent as for the interpretation, and thus the accepted solutions are results of a whole array of compromises. Starting with as-a-matter- of-fact arguments by town-planners, geographers, ecologists and other  professionals and ending with “pressures” of interest groups that enforce the construction from different reasons. Equally the other relevant laws do not represent a real obstacle for  the development of big commercial constructions (over 3000 m2 of the builtup area). It is especially the Law no 334/1992 of the Code about the Protection of the agricultural land and
The Strategic Plan specifies controlled development and coordinated management and decision-making in order to achieve prosperity, a healthy and cultural environment, and the preservation of values which make Prague one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is an agreement between politicians, specialists, corporate sector representatives and inhabitants. One of the five pillars focuses on the quality of the environment: “Prague endeavours to achieve a high quality of both natural and urban development, while observing the principles of sustainability. It wants to substantially reduce pollution in the city and create balance between human settlement and landscape in order to become a clean, healthy and harmonious city<ref name="Sykora" />.” Besides these two documents, Prague has worked on policies in accordance with EU demands and has created a Regional Development Strategy which basically matches the Strategic Plan.


the Law no 244/1992 of the Code about the assessment of the environmental impact of constructions – a socalled “EIA” (Environmental Impact Assessment). With exception of the construction law, governing the territorial planning, and some other laws, there is no general legislative framework which would clearly define the regulations concerning the construction of big commercial centers in the Czech Republic. Development of the Czech trade is frequently confronted with the development in the new German Federal countries. Their development of retail capacity in the early 90s led to network of stores beyond dimensions with a whole array of negative effects on public facilities of towns such as Leipzig, Dresden and other (“dead” town centres, excessive and unbearable cumulation of stores in a certain location etc.). Similar to many foreign examples, also the development in the former GDR proved that it is not possible not to regulate processes with failed market self-regulation as a result of different conditions of social and economic system. In the EU countries the admissible limits for construction of large units in the region are defined by a law and local as well as regional authorities can veto projects exceeding a certain size. The rules are often very strict (e.g. in Portugal, an approval of the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism is required for a construction of any retail outlet with a total sales area exceeding 2000 m2). The question of keeping the retail network in town centres becomes prior in the territorial development. Almost all new stores are located in urban estate, in some cases as completion of public facilities of big housing estates, many times directly in town centres. Classic department stores are also built.
=== A feedback on the current policy  ===


Taken from the City Development Authority Prague, Planning Analytical Materials, 2008  
''In this part, the resume of a feedback document - Planning Analytical Materials <ref>http://www.urm.cz/uploads/assets/soubory/data/UAP/UAP_book/kapitoly/04_kapitola_4_uap_2008.pdf</ref>- carried out by the City Development Authority Prague in 2008 is provided:''


The lasting pressure on building new shopping centres and office complewex is seen as a threat to the content of a lively metropolitan structure and to the transport network. New European trends turn their attention to mixed compact constructuon with lower capacity facilities. Newly constructed and reconstructed big capacities of retail and offices, such as the newly opened Palladium complex, stress traffic because of parking demands and with their 100% built-up land limitate areas for new parks or greenery for relaxation of local inhabitants and workers. Due to more interest in investment the survival of existing parks in the Prague city centre is endangered as well.  
The ongoing pressure on building new shopping centres and office complexes is seen as a threat to the lively metropolitan structure and to the transport network. The new European trend is to mix compact construction with lower capacity facilities. The newly constructed and reconstructed big capacities of retail outlets and offices, such as the newly opened Palladium complex, place emphasis on traffic because of parking demands and with their 100% built-up land they limit areas for new parks or greenery for the relaxation of local inhabitants and workers. Due to greater interest in shopping complexes the survival of existing parks in the Prague city centre is endangered as well.  


The negative trend is low support of the private sector it fulfilling financially less atractive functions of the city, which includes public facilities, greenery and recreation areas. There also exists a disproportion between customer interest in tradinional dispersed retail network and the new fashion of travelling to big shopping centres in the outskirts of Prague which generates traffic and so causes damage to the environment.  
A negative trend is the low support of the private sector in meeting the financially less attractive functions of the city, which includes public facilities, greenery and recreation areas. There is also a mismatch between customer interest in traditional dispersed retail networks and the new fashion for travelling to big shopping centres on the outskirts of Prague which generates traffic congestion and so causes damage to the environment.  


A Problem solvable by the Mater Plan is insufficient coordination of store and logistiv areas in the city surroundings. What is beyond the competences of the plan however is regulation of retail network in favour of smaller units as well as the pressure of economic land use at the expense of urban aspects and environmental protection.  
A problem solvable by the Master Plan is insufficient coordination of store and logistic areas in the city surroundings. What is beyond the competence of the plan, however, is regulation of the retail network in favour of smaller units, as well as the pressure of economic land use at the expense of urban aspects and environmental protection.  


The Planning Analytical materials of 2008 reccomend that no more land is dedicated to big shopping centres except for newly suggested district centres.  
The Planning Analytical Materials of 2008 recommend that no more land is dedicated to big shopping centres except for newly proposed district centres.  


== Influence of Globalization on Shopping Centres ==
== Problems connected to commercialisation – urban, environmental and social aspects ==


Taken from J.Temelová (2004): The Reflection of Globalization in non-housing estate in Prague after 1990. In M.Ouředníček: Social Goegraphy of the Prague Region. Charles University in Prague, 2006
The existence of shopping centres definitely brings several benefits to society. These can be employment, shopping availability, economic growth. However, numerous unpleasant consequences of the construction of shopping centres have been observed. A list of the most important ones follows. 


The growing connectedness of parts of the world, internationalization and globalization are demonstrated in economic, social and political aspects of functioning of modern cities. The competing ability of city regions is emphasized, architectural styles become more varied, project carrying the symbolic of global success are spreading and so local identities and historical uniqueness are exposed to risk. Following the revolution in 1989, the economic attractiveness of Prague rose. The capital city has been welcoming foreign and international corporations, which want to do business and invest here. Lack of modern office and retail capacities from the socialist era augmented the intensity of commercial non-housing estate construction, which presented and important part of the building development in Prague after 1990. Together with international funds came foreign architects, developers and suppliers, who have played important roles in the current commercial construction. The 1989 transformation opened architectural barriers and enabled diversification and also brought construction to city centres.  
<u>1. The question of population decline in the city centre emerges as more and more buildings are loosing their residential function and are used for office or retail areas instead. </u><br>


Global influences on commercial estate 1. Participation of globally active artist, who create the international image of cities 2. Important role of foreign investors. Reflected even in names of objects (Anděl Bussiness Center, Office Park Nové Butovice…) 3. Similar methods of financing and construction – the groundscraper model (sprawling low-height building or complex with offices and other functions as shops, entertainment, restaurants.). The developer designs the outer look, the client chooses the inner composition. 4. The trend of buildings as symbols. Investing in prestige buildings creates a part of the marketing and image strategy
<u>2. As a result, people move out of the centre but commute there to work or for shopping, which causes traffic congestion. Suppliers contribute to this congestion as well.&nbsp;</u>


Homogenous environment and differentiation According to one theory cities in the globalized world are becoming homogenous because of global products and actors, construction of unified suburban shopping centres and residential zones etc. Most of recent projects are realized in the modernistic spirit of uniformity and functionalism. Stores and shopping centres in the peripheries and along motorways serve as best examples. They express rationality and purpose of machines of mass consume and create an atmosphere of a placeless city (Harvey 1989). Moreover the strategy of some companies strictly desires uniformity of their shops – such as fast food chains(KFC) or even retail stores (Lidl). On the other hand different places reply to globalization differently which leads to local variety. Especially those owners, who need to look different, prefer symbolic capital encompassed by luxury. So besides shopping machines in the periphery consumer spectacles orientated towards wealthier customers are emerging in the inner city (e.g. The Dancing House by Frank Gehry). Retail chains present important actors in the realty market as new plot demanders and constructors. Since the mid 90s Prague has experienced construction of big monofunctional objects. Firstly hobby and furniture chains, since 1997 also grocery hypermarkets. Since 2000 shopping centres have reflected the growing importance of entertainment and gastronomy - multifunctional complexes were born.
<br>


== Localization of shopping centres  ==
{| cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" width="300"
|-
! scope="col" | traffic increase
! scope="col" | number of retail units
! scope="col" | rate of retail units
|-
| &lt; 5%
| 66
| 26.50&nbsp;%
|-
| 5.00-9,99%
| 67
| 26.90&nbsp;%
|-
| 10-19,99&nbsp;%
| 65
| 26.10&nbsp;%
|-
| 20-29.99&nbsp;%
| 28
| 11.20&nbsp;%
|-
| &gt; 30%
| 23
| 9.20&nbsp;%
|-
| total
| 249
| 100&nbsp;%
|-
| average
| <br>
| 11&nbsp;%
|}


Taken from I.Smolová, Z.Szczyrba (2000): Large commercial centers in the Czech Republic - Landscape and regionally aspects of development. Palacky University Olomouc
'''Fig. 2: The impact of retail construction on traffic, NESEHNUTÍ''' <ref name="nesehnuti">NGO NESEHNUTÍ http://nesehnuti.cz/publikace/vyzkum_2003-2009.pdf</ref>


The most profitable locations for retail trade are edges of Prague and high streets in its centre (but office construction dominates here), availability by transport plays an important role.  
*''This chart shows the proportion of retail units by the percentage of traffic increase that appeared after the opening. The conclusion is that 1/4 of the cases caused an increase of 5% maximum. On the other hand, the same number of cases reported an increase of up to 20%, which might be horrific for infrastructure in cases where it was often congested already. Increased traffic is a burden not only for air quality, but also worsens noise pollution (currently one of the worst problems of the Czech environment) and affects pedestrian comfort and safety, too. ''


For the present and future character of the retail netb development in the Czech Republic, conditioned especially by the expansion of foreign retail chains, it is possible to delimit the degree of their territorial investment activity in the following order (Viturka et al.,1998): 1. Factor of the market proximity 2. Factor of the transportation 3. Factor of the development area offer 4. Factor of the construction lot price ad 1) The market proximity is the most important partial business factor for the case of distribution activities, trying to achieve a central localization within the serviced area. From the point of view of urban-oriented investments, this factor accentuates a long-term inertia of urban structure determining the territorial potentials of the population’s final consumption. ad 2) Transportation infrastructure factor is generally considered to be one of the most important localization factors of the development of new large-space sales outlets, especially with the hypermarkets and regional shopping centers. The evaluation of the investment attraction corresponds with the evaluation of the present and planned road network, especially motorway networks and high-speed four-lane thoroughfares. From the point of view of the convenient position of the selected cities, Prague and Brno have become the most important motorway junctions
<u>3. New construction investments are being made at the expense of diminishing greenery that is already rare in the city centre.&nbsp;</u>


ad 3) The offer of development areas is a partial local factor, identifying the potential possibilities of the acceleration of the social-economic development of municipalities and regions. For their plans (i.e. investments on a green field), investors very often require sufficient development areas fulfilling at least minimum criteria of the shopping zone services. For one-storied large-space commercial establishments in suburbs, the ratio of the total sales area and the total requirements of areas necessary for the sales outlet service may be 1:7, and possibly even higher. The most requirements from the point of investor’s view, concern thoroughfares (parking lots), representing usually 30–50&nbsp;% of the total construction area. Green areas represent appr. 20–30&nbsp;% of the construction area (Szczyrba, 2000).  
[[Image:Envis vlastni.jpg]]


ad 4) The criteria influencing the price of the construction lots are especially their location, infrastructure equipment and the limiting factors of the construction. In the context of the Czech Republic, one could add the purpose of exploitation defined by the territorial plan and, with respect to an incompletely developed lot market, even the subjective influence generated by the nature of ownership. The offer prices are generally based on administrative prices of construction lots defined for different categories of municipalities by the Law no 151/1997 of the Code, in a better case they are based on price maps respecting the available data on market prices. An overwhelming majority of development areas for large-space commercial buildings are localized on the periphery of municipal areas, sometimes even beyond their borders where lot prices are lower.
'''Fig. 3: The development of different types of land in Prague, ENVIS'''<ref>ENVIS, 2007: [http://envis.praha-mesto.cz/%28cvvouk454exf1gmszo5zjmia%29/zdroj.aspx?typ=2&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;Id=79433&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;sh=-1015397439 available on-line]</ref>


Figure 1: CB Richard Ellis Shopping centre development.jpg
''Even though politicians like to pride themselves on the numbers of newly planted trees or hectares of newly established urban greenery, this chart shows that in total natural land (forest, water, agricultural and other areas) has more or less stagnated, whereas the built-up area has increased significantly since 1990.''


Figure 2: Area of retail in Prague, CB Richard Ellis Prague SC area.jpg
<u>4. Construction of suburban shopping centres occupies even more land, because roads and parking lots have to be built too. Traffic increases again. Research from EIA 2003-2009<ref name="nesehnuti" /> shows that</u>


= <br>Literature review  =
<br>  


=== 1. Scientific resources  ===
*72% of shopping centres in the Czech Republic have been built in the suburbs
*Buildings take up 30% of the construction lot, roads and parking lots 45%
*92% of parking areas have been designed as surface types, the rest as underground or internal
*One half of shopping centres have been built upon green fields, 10% of that land being firsty category agricultural soil intended to be built upon only in the most special cases.  
*46% of shopping centres have had a negative effect on the landscape (soil degradation, tree cutting, endangering ecological stability etc)


'''I.Smolová, Z.Szczyrba (2000): ''Large commercial centers in the Czech Republic - Landscape and regionally aspects of development''. Palacky University Olomouc'''
<u>5. Small, traditional retailers are threatened and see shopping centres as “unfair rivals”.</u>


*This paper describes the topic of commercial centres from the geographical point of view. Urban lanscape is seen as the highest degree of man´s impact on land and since 1989 the development of this landscape has been specially obvious in suburbanization. Factors of location are explained, emphasizing the role of lot prices and insufficient legal background and lack of regulation. The conflict between new shopping centers and the old retail network is mentioned. The national situation is also compared to other European countries according to the space standard indicator (selling area per inhabitant)
<u>6. The design of new shopping centres often omits local urban patterns and so interrupts the landscape or even historical values. A study<ref>J. Temelová (2004): The Reflection of Globalization in non-housing estate in Prague after 1990. In M.Ouředníček: Social Goegraphy of the Prague Region. Charles University in Prague, 2006</ref> on this topic claims these factors:</u>
*Unfortunately this study is 10 years old, so the predictions and tendencies suggested are not up-to-date, nevertheless I find this paper usefull for my study case as it gives a good insight to the topic of shopping centres accompanied by 2000 specific data and examples (which enables a 2010 comparison probably)


'''L.Sýkora (2006): '''''<b>Urban Development, Policy and Planning in the Czech Republic and Prague.</b>'''''I''''''n ''''''Altrock, Guntner, Huning and Peters: ''Spatial Planning and Urban Development in the new EU member states''. Ashgate Publishing, UK'''
* A trend towards globally active artists creating international images of cities has emerged and buildings are designed to show global success as a part of the marketing strategy of their owners. This means that the architecture is becoming rather unified, local specific customs are often omitted and so one can observe the same designs worldwide. Example images, both from abroad and Prague are shown to prove the theory:


*The czech chapter of this book consists of a overview of the construction sector in an economically and politically transforming region. It includes the problematic of leftover industrial sites (brownfields) and focusing on services instead. Suburbanization joined by commercialisation plays an important role again, equally important is the trend of commercializing city centres causing lower populations there. The lasting conflict between historical sights protection and new investments is cited as well. Sýkora also goes through the political forces and points out the absence of communication between various administrative organs as well as the absence of global concepts.
[[Image:240px-Downtown of Rio de Janeiro.jpg]] Rio De Janeiro, Brazil&nbsp;
*This source is rather broad and includes topics which are not closely related to my study case but is useful to gain a more general overview of the topic of construction.


'''Planning analytical materials 2008, City Development Authority Prague'''
[[Image:240px-Toronto.jpg]]Toronto, Canada


*"The Planning Analytical Materials of the City of Prague documentation is intended as material for the preparation of instruments and policies aimed at influencing land development." This set of documents assesses the curent state of land use and observes related conditions (economic, demographic), both in text and graphic version. The important outcome is the Assasment of the Balance between the pillars of sustainable development and the Dessignation of issues to be solved, which talks also about the diminuition of green areas because of retail construction.
[[Image:240px-Praha Pankrac mrakodrapy.jpg]]Praha Pankrác, Czech Republic
*I appreciate this as an oficial governmental source of information to combine with the scientific perspectives. The main limitation is the absence of updates (this is the first edition and the 2010 isnt available yet) which disallows comparison and observation of progress.<br>


'''''J.Temelová (2004): ''The Reflection of Globalization in non-housing estate in Prague after 1990''. In M.Ouředníček'''''<b>: ''Social Goegraphy of the Prague Region''. Charles University in Prague, 2006</b>
[[Image:240px-Villagecinemas cernymost.jpg]]Entertainment centre Černý Most, Prague, Czech Republic


*Temelová studies the topic from an architectural point of view. After the political transformation in 1989 Prague became attractive for foreign investors in realty. The trend of constructing non-housing buildings in a way that shows global success threatens the local landscape patterns as well as traditional know-how and uniqueness. This paper describes two parallel tendencies in design: uniform/ordinary projects and interesting/unusal ones.The former occur more in suburban areas and aims at masses, whereas the latter are located closer to the centre, represent luxury at aim at wealthy customers. Besides these, Temelová mentiones the phenomenon of huge areas around Prague with no architecture at all - stores, logistic centres etc.<br>
*New projects engage foreign investors, which is reflected in their names (Anděl Bussiness Center), in the similarity of financing (the developer designs the exterior whereas the interior composition is chosen by the client) and in construction similarity. A new type of construction occurs, it is the so-called groundscraper model. A groundscraper takes the american way (skyscraper) of construction but adjusts it to European conditions. It is a horizontal building fulfiling a whole block and besides offices it includes other functions - shopping, entertainment, food. The concept can be illustrated by these pictures:
*I find this source very inspiring and enriching, because I haven´t though of the role of architecture in my study case before, so it provides new ideas for me. Shame that it doesnt include much conflict (eg. the question of landuse possibilities, whether all the new shopping and office yards were are neccessary)


=== 2.Other Resources  ===
[[Image:240px-AON WAKAMATSU SHOPPING CENTER.jpg]] Shopping centre Wakamatsu. Fukuoka, Japan


'''Civic associations''': www.arnika.org, www.econnect.ecn.cz, www.modranskenoviny.cz
[[Image:240px-Galerie Butovice.jpg]] Galerie Butovice, Prague, Czech Republic


*All these websites publish announcements related to new construction sites and municipal plans. Generally speaking they express negative opinions about political decisions and complain about exlusion of citizen from the process of decision making. The core of complains lies in maintaining/preffering green areas instead of building retail estate.
[[Image:240px-Praha-letnany.jpg]] Shopping centre Letňany, Prague, Czech Republic
*These sites are very because they show the existence of opposition to developers and lobbyist or even politicians. Of course their limits are biased statements and one also has to be aware of authors speaking "by the voice of people", because they might not be representing the majority.


'''Media:'''
[[Image:240px-Praha Chodov Centrum Chodov a okoli.jpg]]Centrum Chodov, Prague, Czech Republic


www.profit.cz - Shopping centres mount up despite crisis, 2009
*Suburban stores and shopping centres in particular express the rationality and purpose of machines of mass consumption and create the atmosphere of a placeless city


www.euro.cz - Transformation of a Dormitory, 2010 (about a plan for a aministrative-shopping centre in Prague 11)
<br>


www.ct24.cz - Arkády Pankrác are openning, other shopping centres struggle to survive
== Conflict  ==


www.ekonom.cz - It takes just a stamp to turn a park into a parking, 2003 (about insufficient legal protections of land)
Civil society NGOs were probably the first to start complaining about retail construction as it has affected the direct surrounding of people’s homes. A good example is an NGO called Healthy Life founded in 1998 in the municipal district of Prague 10 in order to protest against the construction of Nákupní centrum EDEN (EDEN Shopping Centre), located close to the Slavia football ground. As the NGO’s website<ref>[http://nno.ecn.cz/index.stm?apc=nP2z1-161309&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nocache=invalidate&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;sh_itm=d8f9c3fa1af9670e34fc21399469e5e6&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;add_disc=1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;parent_id=2d04b53480894ea9832979b7bfb6972f available at Econet web]</ref> claims, this shopping centre was built despite the lack of necessary consent. This NGO and other bodies appealed against the Prague 10 council´s permission for the construction and even though the Supreme Court decided that the decision-making process had been wrong and must start again (and so the building permit was invalid), the investors started cutting trees and building an engineering network. Later on there was not enough power on the part of the opponents to stop the construction.


*Following comments from media is good because they discuss issues up-to-date and usually express common feelings/attitudes of the society. The limit here is that the information might be manipulated - some circumstances can be left out in the argumentation
The most important arguments of Healthy Life were that the park, which lay on the building allotment was the only green land in a wide area and that the construction of a shopping centre would increase traffic and exacerbate air-pollution.
 
[[Image:240pxEden Shopping Development - geograph.org.uk - 255613.jpg]]The development of Eden Shopping Centre, Prague, Czech Republic
 
[[Image:240px-Tesco headquarters Czech .jpg]]Eden shopping centre, Prague, Czech republic
 
Another example is the Pankrácké Pláně (Pankrác Plain) with ArkádyPankrác (a shopping centre), an area where skyscrapers have been built and a big discussion ensues about the threat of UNESCO punishment (because the skyscrapers might disrupt the city’s panorama). Again an NGO was founded and the dispute went on. Inhabitants always refer to the EIA process because it is their only legal option for joining in the discussion. They hope the EIA results might cause serious trouble for the investor, but all the previous cases show that this political/environmental instrument is not powerful enough to actually stop a whole project.
 
The media have supported&nbsp; the fragmented civil societyefforts every now and then. Articles with these headlines, for example, have been published: “A stamp is enough to turn a park into a parking lot” (Ekonom, 9.1.2003) or “Arkády Pankrác is opening, other shopping centres struggle to survive”(ČT 24, 14.11.2008) or “Shopping centres are mounting up despite the crisis” (Profit.cz, 27.4.2009).
 
Politicians, important actors in the conflict, usually remain rather silent and not many explanations or quotations from them can be found. From the few comments made in the media I have assumed that their argumentation in favour of shopping centre construction is of a financial character, that is to say that the given district wants to profit from selling allotments and claims shopping centres are of local importance and raise the economic value of the area.
 
As for the developers, their role is quite simple – they act as businessmen looking for profit and don’t pay much attention to other aspects.
 
== Future development  ==
 
The structure of Czech retailing has undergone a rapid evolution since 1989. The construction of new shops and commercial centres has been so massive that it has created an image of uncontrolled sprawl. The numbers say we have recently reached the European average level as concerns the area standard (square metres of shopping space per inhabitant), which undermines the worries of environmentalists – there is probably no over-construction if it’s the same as in the rest of Europe! Examples show, however, that the development dictated by investors without much planning restrictions from the higher political level has not always been successful. That means that over-construction has occurred and it has been reflected in lower incomes for investors, some shopping centres are even half-empty<ref>http://ekonomika.idnes.cz/prvni-nakupni-centrum-propadlo-bance-galerie-butovice-se-vratila-ing-1j4-/ekonomika.aspx?c=A100722_193302_ekonomika_vel</ref> and their owners struggle to come up with new marketing ideas such as turning the parking areas into paintball fields in order to attract back customers. <ref>http://ekonomika.idnes.cz/obchodnich-center-je-moc-hure-dostupna-skomiraji-f64-/ekonomika.aspx?c=A080727_211240_ekonomika_abr</ref><br>
 
To conclude I will cite an up-to-date article from Lidové noviny (11.1.2011). Its headline is “The twilight of huge shopping centres” and points out that in 2011 no shopping centres will be opened (for the first time since 1990!) because the Czech Republic is saturated. This fact is a result of market self-regulation rather than urban and political planning, but it seems that the construction boom in shopping centres has hopefully ended together with the first decade of the millennium and therefore the future development should be pretty much calmer and slower. Current trends are toward to the establishment of retail in existing buildings (eg.high streets) instead of constructing massive complexes on green fields.
 
== Rising challenges  ==
 
During the development of my case study I learned that the construction of shopping centres features more aspects than the ecological one I had been anxious about. Architects are concerned about design, small traders feel discriminated against, residents complain about traffic congestion…
 
The most worrying matter, however, is the lack of effective communication in the process preceding the construction itself. Starting with insufficient cooperation between administrative bodies through to the absence of specialist tuition (architects, environmentalists) and ending with limited options for participation by residents.
 
We face a number of challenges in this topic: Are the laws concerning the decision making process respected in the Czech Republic?; Do numerous shopping centres present a desirable way of development for the majority of people or is it only that the pressures of investors are stronger in the questions of land use? Do we apply enough control mechanisms to prevent corruption and ensure equal possibilities for the involvement of all affected parties?
 
== References  ==
<references />
 
{{License cc|Zuzana Cabejšková}}
 
[[Category:Case studies]]

Latest revision as of 19:18, 30 August 2017

Heart of Europe Stifling Under Concrete:The construction boom of shopping centres in Prague

Foreword

The Shopping Gallery Harfa opened in November 2010. The Fenix Shopping Gallery opened in 2008. They both lie at a driving distance of approximately 5 minutes from the biggest shopping area in Prague and the Czech Republic - OC Letňany built in 1999. I visited Fenix on 23 December 2010 and it felt like a ghost town. And on one of the busiest days of the year! This experience made me wonder, how it is possible that energy and resources are wasted on redundant chapels of consumption. In the Czech Republic the so-called area standard – square metres of shopping space per inhabitant – has tripled since 1989 from 0.331[1] to 1.1 in 2009[2]. That means that every citizen in this country has their own square metre for shopping. Of this, shopping centres represent 0.26 m2 per inhabitant(sq/inh)[3]. Compared to Liberec for example, which has a value of 1.4 m2/inh[3], Prague might seem quite empty with its 0.72[3]. The frequency of new shopping centre openings, however, challenges common sense. Prague is fancied for its intimacy and was honoured by becoming a part of the UNESCO world heritage site in 1992 thanks to its historical value. The construction boom is sometimes acused of threatening the town´s uniqueness. Sýkora (2006)[4] warns that new investments after 1990 contributed to densification of central city morphology, including rapid growth in car traffic and consequent congestion, which turned out to be especially critical in Prague. Furthermore Sýkora adds that there have been numerous conflicts between investors and those protecting historic buildings and urban landscapes. Another argument in the discussion is environmental sustainability. As the Prague City Development Authority Prague points out, developing commercial areas significantly increases the proportion of built-up land and so opportunities for establishing adequate proportions of greenery decrease. Numerous civic petitions for maintaining parks or other free land in different parts of the city have been signed.

I will take a closer look at the situation with shopping centre construction in Prague and try to establish, what is happening and where the problem lies. 

About shopping centres in general

Shopping centres have been replacing traditional markets since the last century. They represent the modern lifestyle as they are sometimes called chapels of consumption. I. Smolová[5] provides an overall definition: “A Regional Shopping Centre is an architecturally unified complex of commercial facilities planned, constructed, owned and administered as a whole. They represent a concentration of retail stores, catering and services (entertainment and cultural establishments, e.g. multiplex cinemas) aiming to satisfy the customers’ requirements in the field of goods and services in a short-term, mid-term and long-term perspective. The basis of shopping centres is formed by big retail units of the hypermarket type and by specialised superstores (e.g. hobbymarket).” (author’s translation).

The localisation of shopping centres is determined mainly by the proximity of potential customers and accessibility by transport. Given the ratio of sales area to total required area stands at approximately 1:7[5], the localization is limited by the availability of development areas and by lot prices. In relation to Prague, the most sought-after places are on the edges of the city and its high streets.

Shopping centres in the Czech Republic with a focus on Prague

Shopping centres did exist before 1989 – every citizen then knew the famous first western-like Kotva Retail House, for example. Nevertheless the massive expansion of this shopping phenomenon began after the revolution in 1989 as a result of joining the global market. Prague being the capital city forms a kind of bridge between the national and foreign market, and therefore it has been the most affected by globalisation and internationalisation. The service sector has grown rapidly, whereas industry has been left behind which has resulted in the existence of brownfields in several areas. The most visible recent urban tendency is suburbanisation, including outward migration and commercialisation. Stores, logistic centres and shopping areas have been built. As I mentioned in the foreword, the area standard of Prague has the value of 0.72 m2 per citizen. The total number of shopping centres in the capital is 38, their area represents 33% of the national shopping centre area[3].

CBRE SC.jpg

Fig. 1: Shopping Centre Development in the Czech Republic[3]

Figure 1 shows that shopping centres experienced a steep increase in construction in the year 1998. The other peak was in 2008, which is the year of the opening of big Prague shopping centres like Arkády Pankrác (40,000m2) or the afore mentioned Fenix Gallery (12 000m2). Most of the new construction was located in smaller towns however - the focus of investors moved away from the cities to these less saturated regional towns. [6] The graph shows there has been a decreasing tendency in the last two years. In 2010, the financial crisis was manifested in construction perhaps even more than in others fields, as only one shopping centre opened in Prague(Harfa Gallery). 

Legislation

Three main laws are relevant to the topic of shopping centre construction in the Czech Republic: firstly the Construction Act No.183/2006 Coll.; secondly, Act No.334/1992 Coll., on Protection of Agricultural Soil; and lastly Act No.100/2001 Coll., containing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). These include the general principles of building procedures, the conditions of use of agricultural soil for other than agricultural purposes and the criteria for EIA (for example, since 2007 projects with less than 3,000 m2 and fewer than 100 parking spaces can be omitted from the EIA). Complex regulations concerning specifically big shopping centres are missing though.

Policy and Planning

In the Czech Republic, the responsibility for policy making rests primarily with municipal governments. The problem is that the so-called functional urban region extends the political boundaries of the core cities. In regard to Prague, it is surrounded by over 170 small municipalities which are economically and legally independent units and whose decision-making process lacks wider coordination. Moreover, the metropolitan area of Prague is governed by two regional entities – Prague itself and Central Bohemia which tend to compete rather than cooperate on the question of joint development.

Prague itself, as a statutory town, has its municipal territory divided into 57 boroughs, therefore establishing a second tier of local government which takes advantage of the gained partial autonomy in decision making. However, they ought to respect two citywide planning documents – The Master Plan and The Strategic Plan. The former is a physical plan that specifies the special arrangements and land use in the medium term, while the latter specifies the long term priorities of socio-economic development.

The Strategic Plan specifies controlled development and coordinated management and decision-making in order to achieve prosperity, a healthy and cultural environment, and the preservation of values which make Prague one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is an agreement between politicians, specialists, corporate sector representatives and inhabitants. One of the five pillars focuses on the quality of the environment: “Prague endeavours to achieve a high quality of both natural and urban development, while observing the principles of sustainability. It wants to substantially reduce pollution in the city and create balance between human settlement and landscape in order to become a clean, healthy and harmonious city[4].” Besides these two documents, Prague has worked on policies in accordance with EU demands and has created a Regional Development Strategy which basically matches the Strategic Plan.

A feedback on the current policy

In this part, the resume of a feedback document - Planning Analytical Materials [7]- carried out by the City Development Authority Prague in 2008 is provided:

The ongoing pressure on building new shopping centres and office complexes is seen as a threat to the lively metropolitan structure and to the transport network. The new European trend is to mix compact construction with lower capacity facilities. The newly constructed and reconstructed big capacities of retail outlets and offices, such as the newly opened Palladium complex, place emphasis on traffic because of parking demands and with their 100% built-up land they limit areas for new parks or greenery for the relaxation of local inhabitants and workers. Due to greater interest in shopping complexes the survival of existing parks in the Prague city centre is endangered as well.

A negative trend is the low support of the private sector in meeting the financially less attractive functions of the city, which includes public facilities, greenery and recreation areas. There is also a mismatch between customer interest in traditional dispersed retail networks and the new fashion for travelling to big shopping centres on the outskirts of Prague which generates traffic congestion and so causes damage to the environment.

A problem solvable by the Master Plan is insufficient coordination of store and logistic areas in the city surroundings. What is beyond the competence of the plan, however, is regulation of the retail network in favour of smaller units, as well as the pressure of economic land use at the expense of urban aspects and environmental protection.

The Planning Analytical Materials of 2008 recommend that no more land is dedicated to big shopping centres except for newly proposed district centres.

Problems connected to commercialisation – urban, environmental and social aspects

The existence of shopping centres definitely brings several benefits to society. These can be employment, shopping availability, economic growth. However, numerous unpleasant consequences of the construction of shopping centres have been observed. A list of the most important ones follows.

1. The question of population decline in the city centre emerges as more and more buildings are loosing their residential function and are used for office or retail areas instead.

2. As a result, people move out of the centre but commute there to work or for shopping, which causes traffic congestion. Suppliers contribute to this congestion as well. 


traffic increase number of retail units rate of retail units
< 5% 66 26.50 %
5.00-9,99% 67 26.90 %
10-19,99 % 65 26.10 %
20-29.99 % 28 11.20 %
> 30% 23 9.20 %
total 249 100 %
average
11 %

Fig. 2: The impact of retail construction on traffic, NESEHNUTÍ [8]

  • This chart shows the proportion of retail units by the percentage of traffic increase that appeared after the opening. The conclusion is that 1/4 of the cases caused an increase of 5% maximum. On the other hand, the same number of cases reported an increase of up to 20%, which might be horrific for infrastructure in cases where it was often congested already. Increased traffic is a burden not only for air quality, but also worsens noise pollution (currently one of the worst problems of the Czech environment) and affects pedestrian comfort and safety, too.

3. New construction investments are being made at the expense of diminishing greenery that is already rare in the city centre. 

Envis vlastni.jpg

Fig. 3: The development of different types of land in Prague, ENVIS[9]

Even though politicians like to pride themselves on the numbers of newly planted trees or hectares of newly established urban greenery, this chart shows that in total natural land (forest, water, agricultural and other areas) has more or less stagnated, whereas the built-up area has increased significantly since 1990.

4. Construction of suburban shopping centres occupies even more land, because roads and parking lots have to be built too. Traffic increases again. Research from EIA 2003-2009[8] shows that


  • 72% of shopping centres in the Czech Republic have been built in the suburbs
  • Buildings take up 30% of the construction lot, roads and parking lots 45%
  • 92% of parking areas have been designed as surface types, the rest as underground or internal
  • One half of shopping centres have been built upon green fields, 10% of that land being firsty category agricultural soil intended to be built upon only in the most special cases.
  • 46% of shopping centres have had a negative effect on the landscape (soil degradation, tree cutting, endangering ecological stability etc)

5. Small, traditional retailers are threatened and see shopping centres as “unfair rivals”.

6. The design of new shopping centres often omits local urban patterns and so interrupts the landscape or even historical values. A study[10] on this topic claims these factors:

  • A trend towards globally active artists creating international images of cities has emerged and buildings are designed to show global success as a part of the marketing strategy of their owners. This means that the architecture is becoming rather unified, local specific customs are often omitted and so one can observe the same designs worldwide. Example images, both from abroad and Prague are shown to prove the theory:

240px-Downtown of Rio de Janeiro.jpg Rio De Janeiro, Brazil 

240px-Toronto.jpgToronto, Canada

240px-Praha Pankrac mrakodrapy.jpgPraha Pankrác, Czech Republic

240px-Villagecinemas cernymost.jpgEntertainment centre Černý Most, Prague, Czech Republic

  • New projects engage foreign investors, which is reflected in their names (Anděl Bussiness Center), in the similarity of financing (the developer designs the exterior whereas the interior composition is chosen by the client) and in construction similarity. A new type of construction occurs, it is the so-called groundscraper model. A groundscraper takes the american way (skyscraper) of construction but adjusts it to European conditions. It is a horizontal building fulfiling a whole block and besides offices it includes other functions - shopping, entertainment, food. The concept can be illustrated by these pictures:

240px-AON WAKAMATSU SHOPPING CENTER.jpg Shopping centre Wakamatsu. Fukuoka, Japan

240px-Galerie Butovice.jpg Galerie Butovice, Prague, Czech Republic

240px-Praha-letnany.jpg Shopping centre Letňany, Prague, Czech Republic

240px-Praha Chodov Centrum Chodov a okoli.jpgCentrum Chodov, Prague, Czech Republic

  • Suburban stores and shopping centres in particular express the rationality and purpose of machines of mass consumption and create the atmosphere of a placeless city


Conflict

Civil society NGOs were probably the first to start complaining about retail construction as it has affected the direct surrounding of people’s homes. A good example is an NGO called Healthy Life founded in 1998 in the municipal district of Prague 10 in order to protest against the construction of Nákupní centrum EDEN (EDEN Shopping Centre), located close to the Slavia football ground. As the NGO’s website[11] claims, this shopping centre was built despite the lack of necessary consent. This NGO and other bodies appealed against the Prague 10 council´s permission for the construction and even though the Supreme Court decided that the decision-making process had been wrong and must start again (and so the building permit was invalid), the investors started cutting trees and building an engineering network. Later on there was not enough power on the part of the opponents to stop the construction.

The most important arguments of Healthy Life were that the park, which lay on the building allotment was the only green land in a wide area and that the construction of a shopping centre would increase traffic and exacerbate air-pollution.

240pxEden Shopping Development - geograph.org.uk - 255613.jpgThe development of Eden Shopping Centre, Prague, Czech Republic

240px-Tesco headquarters Czech .jpgEden shopping centre, Prague, Czech republic

Another example is the Pankrácké Pláně (Pankrác Plain) with ArkádyPankrác (a shopping centre), an area where skyscrapers have been built and a big discussion ensues about the threat of UNESCO punishment (because the skyscrapers might disrupt the city’s panorama). Again an NGO was founded and the dispute went on. Inhabitants always refer to the EIA process because it is their only legal option for joining in the discussion. They hope the EIA results might cause serious trouble for the investor, but all the previous cases show that this political/environmental instrument is not powerful enough to actually stop a whole project.

The media have supported  the fragmented civil societyefforts every now and then. Articles with these headlines, for example, have been published: “A stamp is enough to turn a park into a parking lot” (Ekonom, 9.1.2003) or “Arkády Pankrác is opening, other shopping centres struggle to survive”(ČT 24, 14.11.2008) or “Shopping centres are mounting up despite the crisis” (Profit.cz, 27.4.2009).

Politicians, important actors in the conflict, usually remain rather silent and not many explanations or quotations from them can be found. From the few comments made in the media I have assumed that their argumentation in favour of shopping centre construction is of a financial character, that is to say that the given district wants to profit from selling allotments and claims shopping centres are of local importance and raise the economic value of the area.

As for the developers, their role is quite simple – they act as businessmen looking for profit and don’t pay much attention to other aspects.

Future development

The structure of Czech retailing has undergone a rapid evolution since 1989. The construction of new shops and commercial centres has been so massive that it has created an image of uncontrolled sprawl. The numbers say we have recently reached the European average level as concerns the area standard (square metres of shopping space per inhabitant), which undermines the worries of environmentalists – there is probably no over-construction if it’s the same as in the rest of Europe! Examples show, however, that the development dictated by investors without much planning restrictions from the higher political level has not always been successful. That means that over-construction has occurred and it has been reflected in lower incomes for investors, some shopping centres are even half-empty[12] and their owners struggle to come up with new marketing ideas such as turning the parking areas into paintball fields in order to attract back customers. [13]

To conclude I will cite an up-to-date article from Lidové noviny (11.1.2011). Its headline is “The twilight of huge shopping centres” and points out that in 2011 no shopping centres will be opened (for the first time since 1990!) because the Czech Republic is saturated. This fact is a result of market self-regulation rather than urban and political planning, but it seems that the construction boom in shopping centres has hopefully ended together with the first decade of the millennium and therefore the future development should be pretty much calmer and slower. Current trends are toward to the establishment of retail in existing buildings (eg.high streets) instead of constructing massive complexes on green fields.

Rising challenges

During the development of my case study I learned that the construction of shopping centres features more aspects than the ecological one I had been anxious about. Architects are concerned about design, small traders feel discriminated against, residents complain about traffic congestion…

The most worrying matter, however, is the lack of effective communication in the process preceding the construction itself. Starting with insufficient cooperation between administrative bodies through to the absence of specialist tuition (architects, environmentalists) and ending with limited options for participation by residents.

We face a number of challenges in this topic: Are the laws concerning the decision making process respected in the Czech Republic?; Do numerous shopping centres present a desirable way of development for the majority of people or is it only that the pressures of investors are stronger in the questions of land use? Do we apply enough control mechanisms to prevent corruption and ensure equal possibilities for the involvement of all affected parties?

References

  1. ↑ Ministry of Industry and Trade
  2. ↑ Incoma Research
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 CB Richard Ellis, 2010: http://www.cbre.cz/propertyinfomap/emea/_PDF/EMEA_FPR_CZECH_RETAIL%20_H1_2010_ENG.pdf
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 L. Sýkora (2006): Urban Development, Policy and Planning in the Czech Republic and Prague.I'n 'Altrock, Guntner, Huning and Peters: Spatial Planning and Urban Development in the new EU member states. Ashgate Publishing, UK
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 I. Smolová, Z. Szczyrba (2000): Large commercial centers in the Czech Republic - Landscape and regionally aspects of development. Palacky University Olomouc
  6. ↑ http://www.ct24.cz/ekonomika/12186-boom-nakupnich-center-se-presouva-do-regionu/
  7. ↑ http://www.urm.cz/uploads/assets/soubory/data/UAP/UAP_book/kapitoly/04_kapitola_4_uap_2008.pdf
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 NGO NESEHNUTÍ http://nesehnuti.cz/publikace/vyzkum_2003-2009.pdf
  9. ↑ ENVIS, 2007: available on-line
  10. ↑ J. Temelová (2004): The Reflection of Globalization in non-housing estate in Prague after 1990. In M.Ouředníček: Social Goegraphy of the Prague Region. Charles University in Prague, 2006
  11. ↑ available at Econet web
  12. ↑ http://ekonomika.idnes.cz/prvni-nakupni-centrum-propadlo-bance-galerie-butovice-se-vratila-ing-1j4-/ekonomika.aspx?c=A100722_193302_ekonomika_vel
  13. ↑ http://ekonomika.idnes.cz/obchodnich-center-je-moc-hure-dostupna-skomiraji-f64-/ekonomika.aspx?c=A080727_211240_ekonomika_abr
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