A lively discussion on Prague’s Metropolitan Plan marked the start of a series of public debates under the Prague Agenda initiative, whose aim is to create a platform for an unbiased debate on the future of the capital city. Through this initiative, its organizer the independent think tank Strategeo Institute also seeks, among other things, to contribute to more competent governance of the capital, which will face municipal elections in autumn 2026.
“Urban planning and the development of Prague have been among the key topics of Strategeo Institute since its founding. We want to cultivate public debate about the future of the metropolis and bring forward concrete, rational impulses for effective planning and governance of the city,” said Jan Macháček, founder and president of Strategeo Institute, who also moderated the debate.
Experts and Prague politicians discussed visions, major challenges, and the current state of negotiations surrounding the key metropolitan document which has been in preparation since 2012 and will shape the city for many years to come in two panels held before a full audience at the ČTK Press Club.
First Panel: “Crimes Against Urbanity” and Necessary Compromises
The first panel included Ondřej Boháč, Director of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR HMP); Tomáš Kadeřábek, Director of the Association of Developers; architects Roman Koucký and Vít Máslo; as well as lawyer and adviser to the Czech Chamber of Architects Jiří Plos.
“The Metropolitan Plan addresses all key infrastructure projects and will enable the construction of 350,000 new apartments. We are doing everything to ensure it is approved in May of this year. It should be added, however, that many of its principles have already been incorporated into urban planning—for example into new regulations or into plans involving the use of brownfields,” said IPR Director Ondřej Boháč.
“Its adoption is a necessity, but it is already clear that it will have to change. It is no longer a Metropolitan Plan, but a rigid, restrictive document. Its form is not the result of agreement among stakeholders, but rather a dictate of state administration, activists, and city districts,” countered architect Roman Koucký, the author of the original version of the plan from 2015.
“We are not the creators, but the consumers of the Plan, and we are very much looking forward to it. For us, the worst thing is the prolonged delay in its adoption; we need clear rules. Even in its current form, it represents a major step forward. In our view, however, some of its parts are flawed—especially the rules on height regulation. In some places, these limits are even lower than before,” said Tomáš Kadeřábek, Director of the Association of Developers.
“There are several points that I call ‘crimes against urbanity’ which were imposed on us by the state administration. Height regulation, for example, is a fundamental crime, because the principle of Prague’s height composition is completely destroyed in the Plan,” said Roman Koucký, who is also skeptical about hopes that the massive construction enabled by the Plan will automatically improve housing affordability. “Apartment prices are also significantly influenced by factors such as regulations or, in recent years, the popular so-called contributions. Incidentally, this term originally referred to a wartime tax levied on occupied territory. In its current form, it is ultimately paid by the end user of the apartment.”
Second Panel: Political Perspectives
The second panel featured representatives of Prague’s political scene, namely Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček (STAN), Mayor of Prague 9 Tomáš Portlík (ODS), Prague 9 Councillor Tomáš Pek (TOP 09), and Prague City Councillors Adam Scheinherr (Praha Sobě) and Ondřej Prokop (ANO). All agreed that it is absolutely necessary to adopt the Plan and address its controversial elements through subsequent amendments.
“Most of the 14 years of preparation were taken up by negotiations with state administration authorities, which have a decisive influence on the form of the Plan. The result is the maximum possible. After approval, the next step will be the creation of a second, more detailed level for individual development areas,” explained Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček (STAN), who is responsible for the preparation of the Metropolitan Plan.
“It will form the foundation of the city for the 21st century, enabling the construction of housing and infrastructure. We must approve it first, and then move on to the criticized parts, such as high-rise development,” said Prague councillor Adam Scheinherr (Praha Sobě).
“I agree that it needs to be adopted—Prague is blocked—but the comments from the outer districts are crucial. Half of Prague’s residents live in housing estates, and these are underestimated in the Plan,” warned Prague councillor Ondřej Prokop (ANO), who also pointed out another metropolitan issue in connection with the Plan: a lack of investment. “Twenty years ago, Prague had a budget of roughly 50 billion crowns, of which 20 billion went to investments. Today, the budget exceeds 100 billion, but investments are still around 20 billion. The rest is consumed by the city’s operations. With this type of financial management, the Metropolitan Plan will not help us.”
Research into the Views of Prague Residents
An exclusive STEM/MARK survey also served as one of the inputs for the debate. It shows that only 14% of Prague residents have good awareness of what the Metropolitan Plan is. Overall, the document is perceived rather as political and unstable, meaning that it changes with each new Prague administration. Respondents to the STEM/MARK survey, by contrast, prefer a more expert-driven rather than political approach. According to them, the main influence on its preparation should come from city districts, the public, and the IPR. They expect it to help address housing unaffordability and the transport situation.
Further Activities of the Prague Agenda
In addition to regular expert debates, the Prague Agenda initiative will also deliver public opinion research, podcasts, and recommendations for the city. Strategeo expects these outputs to serve as inputs for political entities running in municipal elections and to hold up a mirror to their programs and specific proposals in terms of expertise and competence.
“Our goal is to organize at least one debate per month and to connect experts with representatives of state administration, business, academia, and the media,” said Veselin Vačkov, Director of Strategeo Institute, according to whom the upcoming debates will focus on housing affordability and problems related to Prague’s transport system.
Strategeo will publish outputs from the debates and research results on its website www.strategeo.cz and on its social media channels. The project will also be complemented by a podcast series in which Jan Macháček will invite guests from expert, business, political, and cultural circles with a connection to Prague.
About Strategeo Institute
Strategeo Institute z.s. is a non-partisan and independent think tank founded in 2024. It focuses on geopolitics, economic strategy, and public policy and promotes the values of classical European liberalism. The founder and president of the Institute is Jan Macháček, a leading commentator and analyst of current domestic and international affairs. He also serves as an external adviser to the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, on foreign policy.
