Shopping centres: Difference between revisions

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<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. Out of these, shopping centres present 0,26 sq m per inhabitant(sq/inh)<ref>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 sq/inh<ref>CB Richard Ellis, 2010: http://www.cbre.cz/propertyinfomap/emea/_PDF/EMEA_FPR_CZECH_RETAIL%20_H1_2010_ENG.pdf</ref>, Prague might seem quite empty with its 0,72<ref>CB Richard Ellis, 2010: http://www.cbre.cz/propertyinfomap/emea/_PDF/EMEA_FPR_CZECH_RETAIL%20_H1_2010_ENG.pdf</ref>. 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)<ref>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 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. <br>