Czech placemaking under foreign Austrian rule: emancipatory urban strategies in 19th Century Prague.

City / Country / Region: 
Prague/Bohemia - Austria
Period: 
19th Century
Commissioner(s) / Initiator(s): 

Various actors including Austrian diplomats, Czech autonomy strivers (culture, politics, urban policy), local citizens, church.

Local / Citizens' Knowledge Production as a Tool for Placemaking: 

Local knowledge on pre-Habsburg architecture/art/cultural traditions – and on Prague mythology fuel content and expression of 19th Century Czech-Slavic emancipatory movement. 

Participatory Processes: 

Mostly a top-down (policy makers, cultural leaders etc.) process, though local citizens supported and identified with the emancipatory movement; the production of typical Czech-Slavic places did address ordinary citizens/daily use of public space and movement through Prague.  

Enlightenment > Emancipation > Language/culture/literature/architecture > The example of Prague/Bohemia, starting in late-18th C. and resulting in a revolutionary narrative and in concrete urban interventions as of mid-19th C. (Vltava embankments/bridges/culture and academic buildings/cemeteries/parks/housing) Ongoing research, based on primary and secondary historical sources.

Safety, security and remembering trauma, as triggers for placemaking and local knowledge production over time:: 

Securing access and identification of Czech citizens with city, history and culture through urban programs and architecture; reverse traumatic effects of foreign rule (officially since 1620) into Czech-national place-making, stimulated by local knowledge

Digital Tools Used: 

No digital tools used originally. The historic process could be made accessible/understandable by digitization? 

Bottom-Up Digital Practices: 

The 19th Century process was a top-down process, though stimulated and supported by regular citizens. 

Disciplinary / Professional Field: 

Architecture/town planning history. 

Articles / Publications / Websites: 

Publication on Czech-Slavic campo santo, Vysehrad-Prague (published 2019; in Dutch)