Open scene at I.P. Pavlova aims to transform the boulevard

Prague - For two weeks starting Friday, July 26, the square I. P. Pavlova, squeezed between two parts of the magistrate, will become an open space for passersby. With a rich program, the event organizers aim not only to attract viewers but primarily to contribute to the gradual transformation of the traffic artery into a city street and to encourage people to debate the same.
    Until August 10, various theater and music performances, exhibitions, workshops, and happenings will take place daily in the square. The Center for Central European Architecture (CCEA), which organizes the Open Stage I. P. Pavlova event, has been dealing with the transformation of the magistrate since 2009.
    "So far we have primarily been in contact with the city hall, now we want to publicly present the project of transforming the magistrate into a new Prague boulevard," architect Yvette Vašourková from CCEA told reporters today. Together with other architects and urban planners involved in the project, she dismisses the previously proposed idea of a short tunnel that would redirect traffic at the National Museum.
    Separating traffic, according to her, is not a solution; it is more suitable to gradually calm the magistrate and integrate it into city life. Architect Pavla Melková, head of the Public Space Office, which has been functioning for about six months under the initiative of today’s mayor Tomáš Hudeček (TOP 09), agrees with this. Even the establishment of the office, according to Melková, indicates a change in thought direction for Prague regarding city development.
    "Public space is primary, so the transport and technical infrastructure should adapt to it. Life in the city is what architecture and urbanism are made for," she hinted at the efforts of her office. "The general effort is for the city to have streets instead of roads. On the road as a pedestrian, I can only walk between cars, in the street I can linger," Melková added, noting that, for example, perhaps more cars drive on the boulevards of Vienna than on Prague's magistrate, and yet the local environment is more pleasant for the city's residents.
    The event at I. P. Pavlova is supported by Deputy Mayor of Prague 2 Václav Vondrášek, in addition to Hudeček; last year, Prague 2, together with the fourth and seventh city districts, signed an initiative for the humanization of the magistrate. Vondrášek stated today that the mentioned tunnel at the museum would not improve the situation. According to him, 10,000 people cross the magistrate near the museum daily, at I. P. Pavlova, twice as many. He favors gradually calming the road through partial measures, such as narrowing it by one lane.