The Suburban Park Soutok, set to be established in the coming years at the confluence of the Vltava and Berounka rivers in the south of the capital, is unparalleled in the Czech Republic. This was stated by Marek Zděrazdička, the representative director of the Prague City Planning and Development Institute, at a public meeting where architects who won an international architectural competition in the spring presented a detailed study.
However, the term “park” is somewhat misleading, according to Zděrazdička. It is more about transforming a vast area spread over several city districts and municipalities into a territorial laboratory, where experiments with new forms of metropolitan development or new ways of flood prevention will be conducted. The river floodplain, which is about to transform, has an area of over 1,300 hectares, almost three hundred Wenceslas Squares side by side.
After completion, over a million people are expected to visit a year, making it the second most visited park in Prague after Stromovka. “A unique project, the largest in Central Europe,” added Jana Moravcová from the architectural studio Norma Architekti, which is part of the winning team.
The plans include pathways for pedestrians and athletes with a climate-friendly surface whose color will distinguish the speed at which to move on them. New horse routes will also be developed as the area has many stables. An inline track will lead through Lahovičky.
As the city authorities approve the study, an administrative entity, for instance, a joint-stock company that will take care of the project’s implementation, should be established. The budding study also coordinates various developers’ intentions in the locality. The architects ensure that most trees in Černošice by the river should remain, although they want to make the bank accessible.