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Public deserves a say in new development
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July 18th, 2007 issue

If you stand on any northern promontory in the city and look south, the dominant feature on the skyline is a clutch of high-rise buildings dominated by a behemoth office tower.  

Prague-based ECM Real Estate plans to reconstruct the 109-meter (358-foot) office tower, which is already the highest building in the city. It also plans to build four new structures nearby, including a massive apartment tower. On its Web site, ECM leaves no doubt about its goal for the project: to be a dominant architectural feature of Prague.
This week’s lead story looks at the battle going on behind the scenes for Pankrác Plain, as it’s known, which lies in a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site buffer zone. A citizen’s group named Arnika has been fighting the “Manhattanization" of Prague since 2001, writing letters to city hall and complaining to UNESCO.
City officials gave ECM the necessary stamp of approval to build in 2006, but it was annulled by the Culture Ministry. City Hall’s heritage protection department remains supportive of proposed new construction, however, even after UNESCO delegates recently called on Prague officials to reconsider high-rise buildings.
This is no small matter. UNESCO designation protects unique sites all over the world, from the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru to Dubrovnik, the 13th-century port city on the Croatian coast. The UNESCO stamp of approval draws tourists to these sites, but also makes a country’s government responsible for maintaining the sites’ historical integrity.
Prague officials came up with a bureaucratic dodge for observing the letter of the law but violating the spirit of it: They treated all the buildings as separate projects, according to Arnika spokesman Martin Skalský. This allowed them to bypass the public comment part of the approval process required for large-scale projects.
“We demanded that they discuss it, but they said it’s different developers and they don’t need to,” Skalský says.
This country has a bad tradition of making decisions behind closed doors. That needs to change. Public input is a critical part of any approval process, especially when it involves critical decisions that affect the city’s appearance and well-being.
In this case, holding a public hearing is not only the right thing to do. It’s an important gesture with the city’s reputation on the line in the international sector.
If a large number of people support new business development in Pankrác, so be it; the city can then negotiate in good conscience with UNESCO. But the important thing is that people’s voices are heard. Only then can the country truly consider itself on the road to democracy.


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