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Urban Grassroots Movements in Post-socialist Czechia: Spatial, Social, Cultural, and Political Context

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Contested Czech Cities

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Abstract

This chapter provides a conceptual, theoretical, and contextual introduction of the research this book is based on. It contextualizes the role of urban grassroots movements in cities undergoing neoliberal restructuring and outlines the advantages of the political process theory in researching the Czech situation. The following sections provide the spatial and sociocultural context of these movements, focusing on the characteristics of Czech cities under socialism and post-socialism, and of the civil society and political culture in Czechia. Czech urban grassroots movements are conceptualized here as an important challenge to the democratic deficit in Czech cities, whose perspectives reveal the defining features of Czech urban conflicts. Attention is paid to the problem of corporate capture of the Czech state and the way it affects urban processes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Formal steps forward in terms of citizen participation came about in 2004 with Czechia’s ratification of two important international conventions: the European Landscape Convention and the United Nations’ Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.

  2. 2.

    Some to the first attempts to pursue participatory planning occurred as part of the principles of sustainable development included in the United Nations’ Agenda 21 plan, applied in Czechia, for example, by Národní síť zdravých měst (Healthy cities of the Czech Republic).

  3. 3.

    The name TOP 09 stands for ‘Tradice, Odpovědnost, Prosperita’ (Tradition, responsibility, prosperity).

  4. 4.

    A programming period is a seven-year cycle for implementing regional and structural politics in the European Union, and it comes with a defined budget, goals, and priorities.

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    Michaela Pixová

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Pixová, M. (2020). Urban Grassroots Movements in Post-socialist Czechia: Spatial, Social, Cultural, and Political Context. In: Contested Czech Cities. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9709-8_1

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