Prague Public Space Design Manual

An important issue is making the city pedestrian-friendly. In busy areas, the pavement should be wide enough to allow room for pedestrians, trees and front gardens. Tramway line poles or streetlamps should be grouped together so as to be as unobtrusive as possible. The movement of pedestrians should not be complicated by railings, overpasses and underpasses. The manual also focuses on the aesthetics of public space. It addresses the regulation of advertising and the design of street furniture. It also offers a balanced solution for all public space users: pedestrians, cyclists and drivers

The Prague Public Space Design Manual and the proposed Public Space Development Strategy are independent documents. The proposed Strategy does, however, form an integral part of the manual, as it provides the intellectual foundation for it.

The manual is not simply a methodology: it is particularly a document responding to the city’s long unresolved problems. It aims to have a direct impact on the quality of public spaces. The city has finally realised the importance of public spaces for the quality of life in the city and for the proper development of the city as an interconnected sum of many parts. The manual is one of the first tools in the effort to create a first–rate city.

The manual should serve as the basis for the approach to be taken to developing quality public spaces in Prague. It is one of the tools for fulfilling the city’s strategy in planning, designing,managing, operating and using such spaces.

Read and download the manual here

Recommended by Luisa Bravo