Background

České Budějovice is the largest city in South Bohemia, and the political and commercial capital of the region. The České Budějovice Future City Game engaged residents in a discussion on the key challenges that the city should address in the new strategy plan. The biggest challenge is transport, since the city has an inadequate transport network to and from other parts of the country, insufficient capacity inside the city, and low use of public transport and non-motorised transportation. This results in frequent traffic jams and residents’ reluctance to use public transport. Among other related issues is the lack of parking space, dangerous pedestrian zones, bicycle paths, and the inadequate coordination of transport development and management. 

Objectives

The participants addressed the challenges in the economic, cultural, social and environmental area, with an emphasis on the transport situation in the city. The players came up with interesting new ideas to solve individual problems, and tested their feasibility in practice by researching available documents, interviewing residents and experts. Transport in the city has been identified as the number one challenge, which also appears in the city strategy plan for 2008-2013.

The game was co-organised by the Centre for Community Work (CpKP JC and CpKP ZC) and the city of České Budějovice.

Winning idea

Become the Owner of the Biggest Living Room in the City

The idea is based on the fact that not enough residents are interested in environment protection and improving their living conditions. They do not consider public space as their own space and thus the majority are not actively engaged in the city’s culture events. The idea promotes active citizenship in terms of cultural events in the city related to transport issues, and also focuses on improving the residents’ attitude to public space.

The team would introduce a short-term leisure activity in the city centre (Senovazne Square) by transforming a car park into a venue for cultural events and activities accompanied by presentations of local businesses. A ‘Switch off the TV’ campaign would introduce public space as a huge living room full of leisure activities, where residents could rent parts of the square (a bench, a piece of lawn, a tree), or have an exhibition in the square. The square could be used for dance parties, theatre performances and concerts, or competitions where the winner could remake a part of the public space according to his or her own ideas. All the activities would have a very positive effect on revitalising the city centre. If residents acknowledge there is no need for a car park, it would be permanently transformed into a cultural venue.
 

Winning ideas from the other teams

Pretty City (transport in the city centre)

The idea addresses the transport situation in the city in an entertaining way by introducing two campaigns Pretty Main Square and Be cool, be smart. The team mainly focused on the change of attitude to parking and improving public transport to encourage its wider use. To attract more residents, public transport should have better timetables and more routes and Park and Ride facilities. With the introduction of music and Wi-Fi, residents would have other reasons to commute by public transport. Pedestrian zones should be improved and would have a positive result on the number of residents cycling to work or school.

Communication Bridge ‘We are closer’

To address local problems and respond to the immediate needs of local communities, the team proposed setting up culture centres in parts of the city. These centres would be municipal institutions, but their activities would address the needs of residents, providing information and venues for meetings and discussions, cultural events and social activities. The centres would become meeting points, bringing together local communities by offering a range of activities near their homes.

Centre for Civic Society Support

The team focused on the creation of a meeting space for youth, teachers and experts to support active citizenship through leisure activities. Such a Centre would organise seminars, discussion groups, workshops, exhibitions, festivals, film screenings, study trips, and publish specific brochures for individual campaigns, etc. Ideally, the centre would have a meeting room, library, and lecture and multimedia hall. Such centres operate successfully abroad, so it could become part of an international network.