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Temelová, J., 2007: Flagship developments and the physical upgrading of the post-socialist inner city: the Golden Angel project in Prague. Geogr. Ann., 89 B (2): 169-181.ABSTRACT. Over the past few decades many urban leaders have searched for an appropriate policy response to tackle urban decay. Various kinds of flagship projects emerged in many cities as the products of a property-led approach to the regeneration strategies adopted by local governments in North American and European cities. It was expected that the creation of high-profile milieux would launch chain reactions which would eventually lead to the regeneration of declining neighbourhoods.The focus of this study lies in the anatomy of physical transformation in an inner city neighbourhood within the context of postsocialist transition. In particular, the paper discusses the flagship role of the Golden Angel commercial centre in the physical upgrading of the Smíchov district in Prague. The case study contributes to the understanding of complex circumstances and mechanisms of revitalization in the post-socialist inner city. The empirical material is based on field observations, expert opinions and existing documents.The paper shows that a high-profile project can be one of the driving forces in physical revitalization through the provision of symbolic power, credibility and appeal to a declining neighbourhood. At the same time, it is emphasize that physical transformation is a multi-conditional and context-related process rather than an automatic and straightforward outcome of flagship developments. Successful revitalization depends on a favourable constellation of various factors. On the local level, the key factors include the development potential of the location, the attitude of the local authorities and the commitment of all involved actors.

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Since the 1990s the inner city residential areas of CEE post-socialist cities have experienced substantial physical and social transformation. Previous studies have recorded a gradual rehabilitation of inner city housing stock and the displacement of lower status groups by middle and higher social status residents, but they have also shown that diverse social groups continue to live in the inner city. The scholarly emphasis on identifying the macro-scale factors that influence inner city change has resulted in a lack of studies considering micro-scale processes. We therefore herein attempt to address this gap in the literature by providing qualitative insight into the drivers of inner city dynamics at the level of the individual actors concerned. Our study is based on an investigation of two second-tier cities: Tartu in Estonia and České Budějovice in the Czech Republic. We found that, besides supply side factors which emphasise the conditions of urban spatial fabric, relocations to inner cities can best be explained by a combination of household socio-economic, life course and lifestyle factors. We also provide a typology of relocators to post-socialist inner cities, based on our findings.

The main purpose of this paper is to identify ongoing changes in post-socialist large housing estates and to clarify their main factors, using a case study approach. The paper examines the transformations of nine housing estates in the third largest Polish city -Łódź. The transformations were analysed in two dimensions: social (socio-demographic changes) and physical (changes in the spatial and functional structure and changes in the physiognomy). The key question was whether the changes occurring in large housing estates in Łódź protect them before the development of the social and physical degradation, identified in many estates in Western Europe, referred as the "large housing estate syndrome". Research has shown that in examined housing estates there are no symptoms of physical or social degradation. Moreover, processes found there contribute to the prevention of the negative phenomena leading to the development of the "large housing estate syndrome".