I'm sitting in one of my favourite cafes in Prague. I've parked myself by a large window overlooking a very visually satisfying square, making my spot ideal for people watching. And despite being a cold, sun-bereft day, people are sitting on the square. No doubt this is partly because the space is extremely welcoming. It was redesigned a few years ago and features some excellent public art - a trio of small, sturdy bronze horses, unobtrusive seating, a cluster of neatly pruned trees, and a pond traversed by little bridges. What's more, even though it's in a fairly prominent position, there's almost no vandalism, and the square looks just as fresh as it did when the work was completed.
I studied building conservation at post-graduate level and therefore such spaces greatly interest me. Indeed, I still filter them through my conservationist perspective. One of the things I find most striking about Czech towns and cities is the quality of their public spaces. And even in an era when penny-pinching and the "cost of everything, value of nothing" are the basis for every decision, granite sets - which don't come cheap - are frequently used, including in resurfacing. What's more, compared to my native UK, there's much less of an effort to make streets that already have plenty of aesthetic worth better by introducing "olde-worlde" street furniture, such as the dreaded "heritage bollards" as we used to call them on the course. But most of all, too often British historic streets are ruined by garish, ugly red paving stones, and a lamentable lack of natural materials.
Even though I've lived in the Czech Republic for a while, I still find myself making mental comparisons between it in the UK. In my opinion, public spaces generally much better in my adopted home country. But must admit that I still find this perplexing. Why is the quality of public spaces in the UK so hit and miss?
I studied building conservation at post-graduate level and therefore such spaces greatly interest me. Indeed, I still filter them through my conservationist perspective. One of the things I find most striking about Czech towns and cities is the quality of their public spaces. And even in an era when penny-pinching and the "cost of everything, value of nothing" are the basis for every decision, granite sets - which don't come cheap - are frequently used, including in resurfacing. What's more, compared to my native UK, there's much less of an effort to make streets that already have plenty of aesthetic worth better by introducing "olde-worlde" street furniture, such as the dreaded "heritage bollards" as we used to call them on the course. But most of all, too often British historic streets are ruined by garish, ugly red paving stones, and a lamentable lack of natural materials.
Even though I've lived in the Czech Republic for a while, I still find myself making mental comparisons between it in the UK. In my opinion, public spaces generally much better in my adopted home country. But must admit that I still find this perplexing. Why is the quality of public spaces in the UK so hit and miss?
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