Using minimal interventions, local practice U / U Studio has turned a neglected space into a new community asset. Underneath an elevated busy road at Vltavska, a neglected pedestrian underpass has been transformed into a colourful public space, supporting skateboarding, basketball, BMX, bouldering and other activities. While the space was previously avoided, it is now hoped that a range of residents and visitors, especially young people, will use it and feel welcome there. The transformation was led by local architecture practice U / U Studio, which is known for designing engaging skate parks across Prague and further afield. ‘As “skate architects”, we immediately knew that implementation of skateboarding and other leisure activities is the perfect way of healing this area,’ says Martin Hrouda from U / U Studio. ‘The skate community occupied this spot right after opening and is taking care of it. Putting new life and joy into the spot seems to be working and the place has become safe for everyone.’ The project team prioritised reuse, using minimal new materials in order to transform the space for better public use. Colourful paint – in red, pink and orange – has been used to enliven the concrete structure, including the...
Prague ranks 110th in the 2021 Inrix Global Traffic Scorecard with an average of 51 hours spent in congestion per year. This is 20% less than before the epidemic. Other Czech cities included in the scorecard include, Hradec Králové (53 hours on average spent in traffic jam per year), Pardubice (51), České Budějovice (38), Brno (36), Olomouc (31), Ústí nad Labem (24), and Ostrava (17). The study analyzed congestion in 1,064 cities in 38 countries. London is the world’s most congested city and. Drivers lost 148 hours in traffic jams last year, down just 1 percent from pre-COVID levels. In second place was Paris – a city where authorities have been far more proactive in putting emergency bike lanes in place and restricting motor traffic than the British capital has – on 140 hours, a 25 hour improvement. And in both cases, average last-mile motor vehicle speed actually improved by 10 per cent. To determine the cities that have the worst traffic, INRIX collects billions of anonymous data points daily from an array of sources, including connected vehicles, mobile devices, navigation units, fleet vehicles, road and garage infrastructure, and publicly available information on incidents. “For nearly every country across the...
The statue of the famous Czech nobleman and Austrian field marshal Josef Radecký had once stood in the Lesser Town square from 1858 to 1919 when it was removed due to objections from Italian diplomats. Now, Prague 1, and many other supporters of the chief of the general staff in the Habsburg Monarchy late in the Napoleonic Wars, are supporting the return of Marshal Radecký. However, there is a lot of confusion about whether they will be able to reinstall it. Jan Bárta, chairman of the Radecký Association, which seeks to return the work back to Malá Strana, added that they need a clear yes or no answer from politicians regarding the status of the monument. Currently, the representatives of the association have spent approximately 62 thousand crowns on preparatory project work, and they have managed to collect about 400 thousand crowns in the public collection. There are now 1,700 signatures under the petition for the restoration of the work. The return of the statue of Marshal Radecký also has the support of the City Hall of Prague 1. “Marshal Radecký was one of our most important military figures and I do not hide that I am one of...
KAPRAIN Group, in cooperation with TNI Group and Plopsa, a renowned Belgian operator of thematic family parks, will soon open the largest indoor amusement park in the Czech Republic: Majaland Praha. Within the park’s 10,000 sqm area, there are great attractions for young children and their parents with the theme of Maya the Bee and Viki the Viking. All of this is under one roof and directly connected to the shopping center Premium Outlet Prague Airport. Majaland Praha will open its doors on December 27. Visitors will be able to experience 15 impressive attractions, including an indoor roller coaster, where you’ll be zipping through Viking Vic’s domain, a 30-metre slide with an elevation of nine meters, a tilting “butterfly” chair-swing with a 16-meter flight path, a simulated 10-metre free fall, and many more. In addition to these attractions, the all-day entertainment and popular animated film audiovisual experiences, visitors will also be able to relax and refresh in cafes, restaurants and kiosks. Tomáš Novák, the owner of the TNI Group: “Nowadays, you have to offer visitors something unique, for example, a combination of entertainment and shopping. The emphasis on experience has become a trend, and Plopsa knows everything about giving people...
Uber is launching a new ride option in Prague called Uber Pet, through which you can give drivers a heads up that you’re bringing your pet along. The surcharge corresponds to the cheapest UberX tariff increased by a one-time fee of 50 CZK. More than half of households have a pet at home, and according to statistics, there are about two million dogs and a million cats in Czech families. Uber Pet will help both riders and drivers avoid any unwanted surprises. It might give you peace of mind that a driver is happy to have a pet in their car and won’t cancel as soon as they see your dog or cat (or another animal). All drivers using the Uber application in Prague can decide whether activate or not the Uber Pet option. “Czechs are a nation of dog breeders and we have often heard from our users that they would greatly appreciate the possibility of transporting their animal companions. We decided to meet their needs and prepare a tailor-made service. In addition, the novelty is appreciated by the drivers themselves, who can better prepare for transporting pets,” describes Štěpán Šindelář, Uber’s operations manager for the Czech Republic. To...
This year, among other things, one of the world’s biggest topics is climate change. The forecasts are not very attractive and the threat needs to be addressed globally. That is the reason why the Cities Race to Zero initiative was created with a goal to reduce the number of emissions of individual member cities by half. Prague – also joined the initiative. Prague’s commitment is clear: it must halve its emissions by 2030. In the spring of 2021, the Prague City Council approved the 2030 Climate Plan of the City of Prague, which is supposed to significantly help in this effort. The same goal have other 720 cities around the world, which have also joined the initiative. The capital of the Czech Republic also had its representatives attending the UN Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, where the fight against climate change was discussed. “This year, Prague was represented at the UN climate conference for the first time, and it intends to establish international cooperation following this participation. Among the cities represented, we intend to find like-minded partners with whom we can be of mutual inspiration. This is another essential step in the implementation of the Climate Plan, of which some projects are already being implemented. We started with the construction of...
The Czech Republic has the second-lowest affordable housing in Europe, but a new project is now hoping to solve this issue with affordable cooperative housing (DDB). Middle-income groups will soon benefit from up to a third of cheaper flats from the first Prague project of this type which will initially be built in Radlická Street in Prague 5. The city is also already negotiating construction in other parts of the city. “Cooperative housing is the fastest way to provide more affordable housing for Praguers – not only for young families or the elderly but also for representatives of professions key to the city’s operation and development, such as teachers, paramedics, firefighters or police officers,” said the Legislative Councilor and housing support Hana Kordová Marvanová, who has long been striving for affordable housing for the inhabitants of Prague. The main advantage of the project is that the city will provide land for the construction of apartment buildings. Thanks to this, the builder’s margin savings compared to the involvement of a commercial developer will save the people of Prague up to a third of the cost of purchasing housing. The procedure for specific DDB residential projects consists first in selecting suitable land...
The Czech online restaurant reservation service Restu.cz will cease operation by 31 December 2021. The main reason is the crisis in the restaurant business caused by the coronavirus epidemic. The company announced it on its website. The service catalog contains more than 17 thousand cafes and restaurants throughout the Czech Republic. Restu.cz allowed users to search for the best restaurants in their area, make reservations, and read and write reviews. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the company has canceled fees for restaurants for its services. If you have an account on Restu, you can download or delete your data in your account settings, which will be available until 31 December 2021. If you do not do so, all data will be deleted from your account. If you have a valid voucher, you can use it until 31 March 2022. Starting from 1.1.2022 the catalog will no longer be available. Starting from 1. 4. 2022 it will no longer be possible to use restaurant or Restu vouchers. If you still have a valid voucher after 31.3.2022 (i.e. a voucher with an expiry date later than 31. 3. 2022), you can email them at [email protected] with the voucher code and the bank...
British rockers The Cure will return to the Czech capital after six years. The group will perform next October 24 at the O2 arena, with forerunners being the Scottish punks The Twilight Sad. Tickets prices range from 1250 to 2000 CZK and will be on sale starting Thursday morning in the Ticketmaster and Ticketportal networks, the organizing agency Live Nation announced. The upcoming concert at the O2 arena will be their eighth in the Czech Republic. The performance is part of a European tour, during which the group will visit 22 countries and give 44 performances. The Cure first performed in Prague in August 1990 as the first Western rock band since the fall of the regime, even before the Rolling Stones. The last time they came to the metropolis was five years ago. For the largest Czech audience so far, they played the year before as the main stars of the Colors of Ostrava festival, on the stage on which they spent almost two and a half hours. They performed the most songs from the album Disintegration, which sold 3 million copies in the late 1980s. The pale face of frontman Robert Smith also emphasized make-up in Ostrava, his...
On Saturday evening, for the first time this advent, the City of Prague (DPP) sent a fleet of festively decorated vehicles to the streets travelling to the Three Kings. Among them are the Škoda 15T For City tram No. 9401, the T3 tram No. 6921, the popular Mazačka and the Irisbus Citelis retrobus. This year, the cable car on Petřín also joined in, both cable cars to Petřín, including the upper station, have been decorated and Passengers can ride them on regular flights. In addition, DPP also decorated the historic two-axle Ringhoffer tram No. 2210 and the Museum of Public Transport. Together, all the vehicles are decorated with more than 13,000 lights, interior holiday decorations and special exterior stickers with winter and Christmas themes. The Christmas decoration of the DPP fleet began last Monday evening in the Motol depot. All the Christmas vehicles will run in Prague’s public transport until the Three Kings (until January 6, 2022.) Their current timetables can be found by passengers and public transport fans on the homepage of the DPP website.
Since the new government restrictions have been introduced in the Czech Republic, involving the abolition of Christmas markets or restrictions on the opening hours of restaurants and bars, interest in New Year’s Eve stays in Prague has dramatically decreased. The operators of accommodation establishments and the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Czech Republic (AHR) reported that people have not been registering new reservations- they are instead waiting for the situation to develop. AHR President Václav Stárek says that the government should state as soon as possible what restrictions will apply at the end of the year. According to Stárek, after the declaration of a state of emergency, which applies until December 25, and new restrictions, there has been many booking cancellations, especially from abroad. The manager of the Bauer Hotel Group, Jakub Svačina, has recorded a decrease in reservations of tens of percent since the new restrictions were announced. “At present, there are no new reservations for New Year’s Eve, potential clients from abroad and the Czech Republic are certainly waiting for the restrictions,” added Ivana Peterková, CEO of Prague Hotels – Chateau St. Havel. Many in the hotel business are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the restrictions...
Bolt will expand its fast grocery service to Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic by January after entering the booming business of couriering drinks and snacks to users earlier this year. Bolt’s founder Markus Villig raised $600 million from investors in August in a bid to reposition the ride-hailing startup as a “super-app” covering taxis, scooters, short-term car rentals, food delivery, and now fast commerce. The Tallinn, Estonia-based startup already ships groceries via couriers in seven European countries but will expand further into Eastern Europe and Scandinavia in 2022. In the Czech Republic, Bolt will face competition from local rivals like Rohlik, and Wolt, which was acquired by DoorDash for $8.1 billion in November. Villig says Bolt would be able to build out its grocery delivery network faster and more efficiently, thanks to the infrastructure it already had in place to support ride-hailing and electric scooter hire. “It is much easier for us to add new products on top of that platform rather than building that all out from scratch,” says Villig, CEO and cofounder of Bolt. “So that is why from the outside it looks like we are expanding to so many countries at such a rapid pace—we would...
Don’t have an account? Register
Already have an account? Log In
How Would You Like to Promote Your Business? PR ArticleDisplay bannersVideo productionNewsletter adsJob ListingsInfluencer Marketing
Your Email
We will come back to you within 24 hours with our proporsal