Václav Orcígr
Increasingly more visible signs of climate change together with the pressure of the climate movement are beginning to bring their first results at the level of local governments. First, Czech municipalities and cities have declared a state of climate emergency. After a long period of silence, the topic is beginning to gain relevance in the political debate. In addition to radically reducing carbon and other emissions (mitigation) that cause planetary warming, adaptation of human settlements is also necessary to overcome the climate crisis. Cities and regions are now adopting strategic documents to fight the changing climate and should implement them in binding regulatory frameworks and specific spatial measures. Adaptation programs have become an essential part of grant programs implemented by the municipalities as well as individuals. These are typically diverse solutions of blue and green infrastructure or preventive protection of endangered greenery, which if facing investment pressures of development.
This article presents different case studies from the Czech capital of Prague, showing problematic areas, minor adaptation solutions and the struggle of citizens for the preservation of insulating greenery and leisure areas in one of the Prague´s largest housing estates. At the level of specific local government representatives and active citizens, the studies examine concrete measures and map the situation in the area. They also deal qualitatively with motivations and the discourse around the topic where the understanding of a place as home clashes with the understanding of a place as a real estate commodity. In contrast to the efforts and practices of the climate movement in the fight against (not only) the fossil industry, adaptation has in a way become a part of environmental gentrification. Yet it still brings an important community function and can be a motivation to spend active leisure time together. The topic of social housing is very specific in the Czech context. Like other post-socialist economies, we are burdened with a series of bad decisions from the past, such as the privatization of almost the entire housing stock. A series of such decisions has led us to a situation where social housing does not de facto exist in the Czech Republic of 2020 (except for a few bottom-up testing projects).
In the introduction, the article presents the basic principles of Prague’s adaptation strategy and the ways (and difficulties) of its implementation into binding regulations. In addition to the case studies, realized during 2019 and 2020 and published in an inspiration brochure for both the municipalities and the public, the contribution also presents current on-site activities realized by the Arnika Association—the “urban walks” focused on high-risk places, heat islands, and examples of good and bad practice. This contribution will present the adaption of Prague as a complex problem influenced by political decision-making, private interests as well as local neighborhood activities.