Historic Centre of Prague

• Development of high-rise constructions on the Pankrác Plain
• Lack of effectiveness of existing planning, management, and conservation measures for the property, particularly lack of specific regulations for high-rise developments
• Lack of Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) for proposed projects which may affect the OUV of the property
• Lack of a finalized Management Plan

N/A

On 30 November 2022, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/616/documents/. Progress in a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous sessions is presented in this report, as follows:

• The Metropolitan Plan reflects input from the March 2021 seminar on ‘Integrating Urban Heritage in Urban Planning Processes’ and has been submitted to the World Heritage Centre. The 2019 Management Plan has been published in English. The Architectural­Urbanistic Analysis of the Prague Heritage Reservation has been finalised. The City of Prague Principles of Territorial Development are being updated to take into account the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape. In 2021, the Czech Parliament approved a new Building Act, which continues to protect architectural and archaeological heritage. There is broad cooperation among government agencies to ensure that heritage is integrated into statutes and processes, as reflected in the Tourism Development Strategy;
• A consensus was reached in March 2022 that Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) can be applied to assess the impact of major projects and proposed regulatory changes on heritage;
• An open-ended moratorium cannot be placed on major construction projects for more than 19% of the city, given Prague’s status as the country’s capital, the current housing crisis and the lack of legal capacity. The City of Prague contends that the intent of the moratorium is met by the stricter regime within the property and its buffer zone. A cumulative assessment of the impacts of projects within the property, its buffer zone and its wider setting, which have occurred since the time of the inscription of the property on the World Heritage List, has not yet been completed;
• An architectural competition and changes to the land use plan are in progress for the proposed cable car connecting Podbaba-Troja­Bohnice. The winning designer will prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment documentation. The New Florenc competition has been completed and the outcome submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review. It will be modified as necessary in response to the ICOMOS technical review;
• Other projects include works on the North-South Trunk Road, monitoring the condition of the Vyšehrad Station, an urban planning study of the Žižkov Freight Station, a competition for a railway bridge in New Town and urban projects on the right bank of the Vltava. The Pahic Savarin project has been postponed. The city has addressed Committee’s decisions with regard to the Pankrác Plain, restricted construction in the Pentagon and the Metropolitan Plan provides that future construction will not exceed the height of existing structures.

The State Party has made significant progress in placing the conservation of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) at the centre of its decision-making for the property. The completion of the Metropolitan Plan and the Architectural-Urbanistic Analysis of the Prague Heritage Reservation, the publication of the Management Plan in English and the adoption of new statutes which include heritage protection provisions are all welcomed. The ICOMOS technical review concluded that the Metropolitan Plan addressed concerns expressed by the 2019 Reactive Monitoring mission, including the proposed processes for integrating cultural heritage into wider government statutes and processes. The State Party also acknowledged that HIAs can and should be used for the evaluation of major projects and regulatory changes which may affect the OUV of the property. It would be appropriate to recommend that HIAs be aligned with the methodology of the new Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessment in a World Heritage Context.

The property remains at risk from development pressures and new projects, and although the process for the Podbaba-Troja­Bohnice cable car project is supported, it should be subject to an HIA, which, in accordance with Committee Decision 44 COM 7B.44, should, together with the corresponding Environmental Impact and Strategic Environmental Assessments, be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies. ICOMOS has provided a technical review of the proposed Prague Philharmonic Hall, and it is also recommended that an HIA be prepared for this project, including verified visual representations of the views from the property, including views of Prague Castle once the final design is settled. An ICOMOS technical review of the New Florenc competition outcome concluded that the proposed approach for the neglected area on the edge of the property was promising and recommended that the State Party fine-tune the Masterplan and design code. The technical review of the possible replacement of the Railway Bridge across the Vltava to the west of Vyšehrad Station concluded that the bridge is a key element of the panorama of Prague, which contributes to the OUV of the property, and that its capacity and long-term future need to be secured. It is desirable that the current consultative approach be continued for these projects and the Kavčí Hory Residence Park.

Progress has been made on the implementation of previous mission’s recommendations. However, there are outstanding issues, and the Committee should request the State Party to provide further updates regarding the alignment of laws and regulations with requirements for heritage protection and management of World Heritage properties, as well as the update of the Principles of Territorial Development, which should take into account the 2011 UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape. The State Party is yet to provide the requested assessment of the cumulative impacts of all projects undertaken within the property, its buffer zone and its wider setting from the time of its inscription on the World Heritage List. The rationale for the State Party’s decision not to implement the Committee’s previous request to introduce a general moratorium on major projects is noted. It is appropriate that the Metropolitan Plan provides that future construction will not exceed the height of existing structures on the Pankrác Plain and that construction of the Pentagon is restricted, such that a process is now in place for appropriate building regulations.