Geografie 1966, 71, 231-252
The Centre of Prague as a Place of Residence and Work
This paper is the continuation of the article of the author "To the Problem ot Zonality of the Demographic Conditions in Prague" (which was published in the last volume of this journal) and deals with the daytime and nighttime population of the centre of Prague. The population of the centre of Prague (district Prague 1) can be devided into 3 groups: the population which lives in the area, the population which works there and the population which is there for other purposes such as municipal (business, service, cultural and other) facilities. We must know the total number of the population because it represents the demand for the technical and municipal facilities of the centre of the city. The social and occupational structure of the inhabitants of the centre has always been different from the rest of the city. The ratio of labourers has always been below the Prague's average, but during the last 30 years it has been increasing fast: it was 26 % in 1930, 34 % in 1950 and 41 % in 1961 (in the whole city 44 %). Today the structure does not differ too much from the rest of the town. The ratio of the living population engaged in industry is 30 % (in the whole town 37 %), in business and public catering organisations 16 % (in the whole town 12 %) etc. The education of the population is above the average. In the central district there are the largest flats: the average living area of one flat is 41,2 square metres (in the whole town only 32,0 square metres) because the flats there have on the average 1,8 rooms (in Prague 1,6) and they are larger than in other districts. Thus one inhabitant has on the average 13,1 square metres of the living area of the flat (in Prague only 10,6 square metres). The central region (Prague 1, 2 and a part of Prague 7) consists of 7 urbanistic areas which have different demographic and housing conditions. The oldest part of Prague is the Lesser Town (Malá Strana, No. 2 in the map), where 67 % of the flats were built before the year 1860 and only 6 % of the flats are in the 1st category (flats with central heating, and all conveniences). This area has also the oldest population of the whole town, the education of the population is also rather low. The most modern flats from the central region are in Letná (No. 6) and mainly in Holešovice (No. 7), where 63 % of the flats were erected after the World War I. The Lower New Town (Dolní Nové Město, No. 4.) and Letná have the best standards of flats (29 % and 23 % of the flats of the 1st category). In the whole we can observe a direct dependence between the education of the population and the quality of their flats (the higher education the better flats). In the central district there is one third (170 thousand) and in the central region one half (260 thousand) of the workplaces of Prague. The number of people living in the centre is double that of those working there; the density of workplaces is 292 per 1 ha, that is 15 times higher than in the rest of the whole town area. The structure of workplaces in several selected economic branches in the centre and in Prague is as follows: industry 19 % (35 %), building 18 % (12 %), business and the public catering industry 19 % (13 %), education and culture 9 % (7 %), administration and jurisdiction 8 % (5 %) etc. From the urbanistic poin of view we distinguishe 3 great groups of workplaces (the percentage of workers in the whole of Prague, central district and central historical core): production (45 %, 31 %, 25 %), municipal services (37 %, 41 %, 41%) and public administration (18 %, 28 %, 34 %). The number and structure of the population in the centre is different in various hours of the day. The distribution of the daytime and nighttime population can be shown by the dasymetric profies. We can say that during the normal working hours the population of a district consists of the number of workplaces and the economically passive part of population. The greatest number of the population of the third group is present in the centre late in the afternoon (after 4 o'clock p. m.) and in the evening when the business, cultural, entertainment and other facilities are at their peak. The concentration of business and other services is higher than the demographic concentration. The share of the central district in the retail turnover is 23 % in foodstuffs, 43 % in public catering and 66 % in industrial goods. In the centre there is also the majority of tearooms, bars, hotels and restaurants of the highest classes. The concentration of cinemas and theatres is very high: only two of all theatres are out of the central district. The concentration of population, workplace and municipal facilities also causes the great concentration of transport. The greatest traffic is in the streets and crossroads of the so-called Golden Cross (Wenceslas'square and the surrounding area). The stops of the crossroad Wenceslas'Square Centre have the greatest turnover of passengers traveling by means of public transport (120 thousand per one day). The highest intensity of pedestrians is in the same place; the maximum is 10 thousand pedestrian on one pavement in one direction in the rush-hour (from 16 to 17 o'clock p. m.). The capacity of the streets and transport facilities is insufficiant (especially for the automobile transport). Therefore the traffic problem will be radically solved by building broad circular roads, underground tram lines, parking spaces etc. When we compare the density of population and workplaces in the centre of Prague with the average indices of the other great cities of the world, we find practically no difference. The only one is that we plan a moderate decrease in the number of workplaces (about 30 thousand) in the centre. These demographical problems are still being investigated.
