In Prague, after years of preparations, whole new city districts are starting to emerge, famous squares are getting a new look, important railway stations are increasing their capacity, and a new bridge will soon span the Vltava River. If the political will is found, residents and visitors of the capital will be able to look forward to a brand new philharmonic or museum. See how Prague will change in the coming years.
According to the Institute of Planning and Development, up to 1.67 million inhabitants are expected to live in Prague in 2050, in addition, the number of expats is expected to almost double and the number of tourists will probably continue to grow. By then, the capital city will also need to grow in terms of the number of apartments, the public transport network as well as cultural and social activities. And it’s not far off in the future.
Whole new neighborhoods with apartments and offices are already being built on Prague’s brownfields in Smíchov or Rohanský ostrov, and construction activity could perhaps start in the development areas in Bubny and Žižkov within a few years. The Prague municipality, which is mainly in charge of public spaces and transport, also has big plans. The people of Prague now have to get used to, for example, the excavated Wenceslas Square, where the trams return. The state, in turn, through the Railway Administration, is embarking on a fundamental renovation of Prague’s railway stations.
What projects will affect the face of Prague in the coming years?
Wenceslas Square
Trams return to the upper part of Wenceslas Square. The new tracks will enable trams to reach the Hlavní nádraží and Vinohradská street, and will thus provide the citizens of Prague with another way to move between parts of the city – until now divided by the main road. Because of this, the transport company has to strengthen the ceiling slab of the subway, all three lines of which run under Wenceslas Square. Work on the new tracks, which began at the beginning of the holidays, will last three years, and the cost of building the approximately 550-meter-long track from the National Museum to the middle of the square is 1.24 billion crowns.
Visualization of the tram line on Prague’s Wenceslas Square|Jakub Cigler Architects
