No abstract

Transformation processes activated in the country after 1989 have been influencing not only the configuration and the functioning of urban space, but also the everyday lives of urban residents. Gentrification and commercialization change the central cities, former industrial neighbourhoods in inner zones experience revitalization, and socialist housing estates set off different trajectories from regeneration to stagnation. The processes taking place in various parts of Prague during the last 20 years have left marks on the living environment as well as on the residential satisfaction of local inhabitants. The elderly people, whose daily lives are very locally attached, feel the ongoing changes particularly intensely. This paper compares the three types of transforming neighbourhoods in Prague, the historical core, the inner city and the housing estate, as to the living conditions perceived by the elderly. Residential satisfaction is evaluated in the areas including neighbourhood facilities, public spaces and infrastructure, and local social contacts. A questionnaire survey lead by interviewers was employed to gather the data for 275 respondents older 60 years and living in the three study areas.