City Hall Brno-Center wants to improve the neglected space in front of the train station

Brno - The Brno-střed city hall has set one of its goals for the next election period to improve public spaces. One of these will be the neglected and unsightly area in front of the train station. Architects are expected to propose how to deal with it. The city hall will likely announce an architectural competition, said Mayor Libor Šťástka (ODS) to ČTK. Brno-střed, with 80,000 residents, is the largest city district, and the city hall is controlled by a coalition of ODS and ČSSD.
    Earlier, university students also dealt with the condition of the area in front of the station. In their studies, they described the space as overcrowded, chaotic, neglected, and unattractive. According to student surveys, the most bothersome factor for people is the poor accessibility of the area. Crossing from one end of the platform to the other often requires considerable nerves and patience due to the number of people and barriers. Catching trams in such conditions is difficult.
    Šťástka linked the area in front of the station to other spaces that should be developed according to the architects' visions. Among them is the so-called Roman Square, for which the Brno city hall announced an architectural competition before the elections. They received more than 90 proposals, and the jury selected the design by young architects Lukáš Fišer and Kristýna Casková as the best. They recommended narrowing the entrances to the square to increase its intimacy and divided the space into a lively area with café tables and benches and an inner courtyard containing greenery and a building for a children's and nursery center. However, according to Šťástka, the competition may have been evaluated hastily due to the elections; therefore, he recommended further studying the proposals.
    The Brno-střed city hall also supports the reconstruction of the Zelný trh market, which is to serve less for parking cars and more for people to meet. The proposal by architect Tomáš Rusín and his Atelier RAW has been sitting in the municipal drawers for more than a year. "In the second wave, we are preparing the renewal of the market at Zelný trh; we are also planning to establish farmers' markets," stated the mayor. Current market regulations do not allow the regular sale of dairy products from farms or homemade sausages at the stalls during the season. However, this is set to change - according to Šťástka, farmers' markets with such products could take place every Saturday afternoon after the vegetable vendors leave the area.