Often, I write about different aspects of urban planning, particularly with a focus on gender sensitivity and inclusion. Among my commissions are various studies in which I apply interdisciplinary urban research or plan complex participatory processes on my own or in collaboration with other professionals. Besides this, I contribute to magazines, manuals and other local & international publications.
Bratislava 2030 is an accompanying publication of the city's strategic plan (city development program) Bratislava 2030, which was approved by the city council in June 2022. It introduces its readers to the structure of the plan, summarizes the goals and programs that will be a priority for the city in the coming years in a simpler language and in a more accessible form. The richness of the plan is illustrated by accompanying artifacts of daily life from the past and future. The notes that you will find throughout the publication also refer to the document in full, whether it is the chapters that we used as a basis for the creation, or the specific goals that we illustrate in the publication.
The new guidebook I edited and co-authored provides complex ways on how to involve people in city planning. Municipalities, architects and developers can draw from it.
The book I edited and co-authored deals with several means how to revitalize unused publicly owned buildings and sites. We have come a long way. From the period of state ownership, through decades of wild privatization, to the renewed search for public interest. Buildings that were once factories, schools or warehouses can find a new use today. So they don't all have to end up in disrepair or as residential areas. Can municipalities recognize other types of collective investors who could give their city or district a different, community impulse?
The Shared Cities Atlas applies the new, global ‘sharing paradigm’ in architecture and public sphere to a site-specific situation in seven cities in Central Europe. Mapping current practices of sharing and new fields of action in case studies, it contextualizes the phenomenon in research papers, data, and photography.
The ideas of a ‘right to the city’, of common resources, or ‘the urban commons’ all of which are in vogue in contemporary architectural discourse illustrate the paradigm shift towards a sharing perspective. In ‘sharing cities’ the emphasis lies in the right to remake the cities as a form of urban social contract with a specific creative or critical agenda. The Atlas presents creative forms of sharing driven by idealistic positions and collective actions – new approaches to sharing of spaces and architecture, experience and knowledge, data, or collective histories.
Restless Cities: Lessons from Central Europe is a publication that reflects a year-long training programme of the Prague office of the Heinrich- Böll-Foundation focusing on understanding the political aspects of urban planning in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. It consists of four thematic chapters that offer introductions into each topic, short texts by selected invited experts, participants' views, and key learnings about sustainability and politics. The authors of the texts are not just the experts who con- tributed to the training programme, but also the participants themselves share their learnings and views herein. We hope this book will help readers to understand the o en-invisible areas where urban planning moves from the realm of expertise-only into the realm of political action and that it will inspire readers to further politi- cal learning and engagement.
Cooperation: Zdenka Lammelova
Client: Heinrich-Boll Stiftung, ev Prague Office
Published: autumn 2018
ISBN: 978-80-907076-9-6
I have edited the first manual of outdoor advertising in Bratislava. The publication follows almost 3 years long process of community development along with more than a year long participator process on the topic of outdoor advertising in Obchodna street.
Client: Obchodna a okolie, ngo, The City of Bratislava
Published: May 2018
ISBN: 978–80–972849–1–6
You can download the publication here:
From the fall 2017 until May 2018 we conducted a participatory process exploring needs and opinions of residents of Bratislava-Old Town in the area of Panenska and its surroundings. The study was used as a preparatory material for emerging Manual of Public Spaces in this district.
Cooperation: Punkt, ngo
Client: Bratislava - Old Town
Published: Spring 2018
The concept planning study of one of the most important axis and boulevards of Pardubice, Czech Republic.
Cooperation: Marko&Placemakers
Client: The City of Pardubice
Published: 2018
In Central Europe, the architectural and urban planning practice usually serves well those who are healthy and economically active. But when we consider demographics, working and economically active people only make up just over half of urban population. Senior citizens and young people under 18 years of age complete the whole. Trends also show that our population is ageing and when we overlay gender and ethnicity, the user groups significantly diverge. Each of them has different needs.
How do we ensure a city that offers a fair-share to everyone?
How to Design a Fair Shared City? offers 8 simple and captivating stories of different heroes representing wider user groups of our population. Two fictional characters, architect Erik and Sophia will lead us through story of a girl, a mother, an elderly woman or a couple, kids or common visitors using high profile urban areas to remind us of daily situations when design by default can be a significant obstacle. On the other hand, they will offer solutions on how thoughtful design can significantly improve the quality of urban life - with no extra costs necessary.
This publication has been developed in close cooperation with Heinrich Boll Foundation in Prague and is dedicated to architects, urban planners, politicians, anthropologists and a wider public with an interest in urban design. We hope it will spark a deeper understanding of design impacts in our everyday lives. We also hope that while reading it you will have fun, find an interest and pass it on.
Client: WPS Prague, Heinrich Boell Stiftung, Prague office
Published: January 2017
The publication is an accompanying documentation during the process of envisioning and strategizing the future of the Mills island area in Pardubice, Czech Republic. The area is characteristic by contrasts. The iconic monument, Gocar's Mill house, declining bakery production give background to the one of the most vibrant parks Na Spici on the edge of quiet residential district. The City of Pardubice detected it to be the one of the upcoming transformation zones. In order to keep the values of the area, the commission was carried to gather all the information and stakeholders' visions and organize legal competition architectural workshop. The publication summarizes in-depth dialogues and basic socio-economic mapping of the area. The book served as a grounding, supporting material for the future architects of the regulation plan.
Collaboration: Petr Navrat, ONPLAN
Client: ONPLAN lab, The City of Pardubice
Authors: Petr Navrat, Milota Sidorova, Katarína Vankusova
Published: Fall 2016