Shopping centres: Difference between revisions

<br>Citizen NGOs were probably the first to start complaining about retail construction as it has affected the direct surrounding of their homes. A good example is an NGO called Healthy Life founded in 1998 in Prague 10 in order to protest against the construction of SC EDEN, located close to the Slavia football pitch. As their 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;nocache=invalidate&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;add_disc=1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;parent_id=2d04b53480894ea9832979b7bfb6972f</ref> claims, this SC was built despite the lack of necessary approvals. This NGO and other bodies appealed against the Prague 10 Council´s permission of 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 is invalid), the investors started cutting trees and building engineering network. Later on there was not enough power on the side of opponents to stop the construction. <br>The most important arguments of Healthy Life were that the park, which lay on the allotment was the only green land in a wide area and that the construction of a SC would increase traffic and worsen air-pollution. <br>  

Images from Wikipedia Commons follow:

[[Image:240pxEden Shopping Development - geograph.org.uk - 255613.jpg]]The development of Eden shopping centre, Prague, Czech republic<br>  

[[Image:240px-Tesco headquarters Czech .jpg]]Eden shopping centre, Prague, Czech republic<br>

Another example is the Pankrác Plain with SC Arkády, an area where skyscrapers have been built and a big discussion rose about a threat of UNESCO punishment (because the skyscrapers might disrupt the city’s panorama). Again and NGO was founded and a dispute went on. Citizens always refer to the EIA process because it is their only legal possibility of joining the discussion. They hope the EIA results might cause fatal trouble to the investor, but all the cases show that this political/environmental instrument is not powerful enough to actually stop a whole project.<br>

Media have supported every now and then the fragmented citizen efforts. Articles with for example these headlines were published: “A stamp is enough to turn a park into a parking” (Ekonom, 9.1.2003) or “Arkády Pankrác are 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).<br>Politicians, important actors in the conflict, are usually rather silent and not much explanations or quotations are findable. From the few comments in media I have assumed that their argumentation in favour of SC construction is of financial character, that is to say that the given city part wants to profit from selling allotments and claims SC to bring local importance and raise the economic value of the area. <br>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.