During the second half of the 20th century, Prague underwent the most radical urban transformation in its many centuries of history. It thus acquired its current form, which, with all its pros and cons, affects the lives of every Praguer on a daily basis. But can we say how spatial planning went in the capital? Who was behind the construction of large panel housing estates, decided on their location or solved the problems with growing traffic?
The book, compiled by three historians of architecture and urbanism - Martina Koukalová, Milan Kudyn and Eva Novotná - helps the reader to orientate himself in the complex system of contemporary planning and construction organizations. Through a rich pictorial appendix, it also describes the course of work from the sketch of the zoning plan to its implementation.
Above all, however, in a broader context, it presents the history of the Chief Architect's Office - an organization that has played a crucial role in modern Prague urbanism and which today has its successor at the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR). The book summarizes in detail the work of this important organization. However, not only experts but also those interested in the modern history of the capital will find the necessary and often surprising information in it.