„A fresh look at the city from the outside“

Mr Rödl, Pilzen is a historic city in the Czech Republic, close to the German border, with approximately 163,000 inhabitants. What are the challenges that the city currently faces in respect to urban development?

Rödl: We have two big tasks at hand, formulated in our Integrated Urban Development Plans. One is called „Pilzen - University City“, and the other is „Pilzen - City of Culture“. But a bigger challenge is the current economic crisis. Everything depends on how it will develop. It might force us to put some projects on hold or to cancel them altogether.

Do you already feel the crisis?

Rödl: Yes, we can already feel it. For example the tax-based income of the city has already decreased by 12 percent.

I read that Pilzen is quite a rich city, even one of the richest in the Czech Republic.

Rödl: That’s right, we’re relatively rich. But we’ve only been part of the market economy for a few years, and we don’t have any experience with crises yet. We can’t foresee what will happen in the future.

Pilzen is located about 90 kilometres West of Prague. Would you say that the proximity of the capital, which is of course much larger and better-known, is an advantage or a disadvantage for the city?

Rödl: Well, it has some advantages, but also disadvantages. A good side is that transport connections are good due to the closeness. From Prague airport, you’re faster in Pilzen than in the centre of Prague. You see, the citizens of Pilzen are clever people: when they had to decide where to place their airport, they put it in the small neighbouring town of Prague, so it wouldn’t disturb them...

On the other hand, Pilzen was a bit forgotten by investors in the beginning, because they all went straight to Prague. But now they’re starting to change their minds. Prague is becoming too complex and difficult in some respects. Traffic is terrible there, and rents are much higher, so they are discovering Pilzen.

Pilzen is also becoming a technological centre. Some international companies are locating their R&D-departments in Pilzen, Mercedes-Benz for example. And there’s a very succesful company in Pilzen that produces camera cranes for the Hollywood movie industry.

Earlier today you said that you would like to attract more sophisticated, high-profile companies to Pilzen. Are those the kind of companies that you had in mind?

Rödl: Yes, we want more companies of this kind. We have a famous university in Pilzen, and we want the people who graduate there to stay in Pilzen and find jobs. But foreign investors ask about the quality of life and the atmosphere in a city. They don’t just want a site to place their offices, they also want their employees to have a good life. That’s a challenge for us.

So in that sense the investors have a direct influence on city development?

Rödl: Well, their employees want to have entertainment after work, they’re not production line workers who just go out to drink a few beers. They want avantgarde art and high-quality entertainment. If we can achieve to attract these people to Pilzen through city development on a cultural level, it will boost city development on the economic level at the same time. The question is how to start this process. We think that the European Capital of Culture programme can be an impulse.

Where do you want this development to happen? Are you planning to redevelop areas inside the city or to extend the city?

Rödl: After the Velvet Revolution, the city mainly developed on its fringes. A lot of new housing estates without infrastructural facilities were created. Now we’d like to focus more on the city centre. There are many areas which decayed in Communist times and were never taken care of afterwards. One of those places is the embankment of the river Mze, as well as the confluence of the three other rivers. We want to create a city park where people like to come and spend time. The development has to be finished by 2012, because of the programming periods of the EU. Some projects will be extended until 2015 afterwards.

In which way do you hope to benefit from the City Visions programme?

Rödl: We hope that the programme will bring us a fresh look at the city from the outside. Of course we know the city best, but sometimes we get stuck in a vicious circle because we don’t have the necessary distance. We hope that the cooperation will offer us some new opinions on how to do things. For example, there’s a spot in the city centre which has always been a green space. We think if it’s a green space now, it has to stay one forever. But it might be useful if somebody else came up with a different suggestion.

Interview by Anneke Bokern for City Visions Europe.