City Architect of Liberec - conclusion of the first public discussion

On Thursday, March 17, 2011, at the invitation of mjölk architekti, the first public debate took place at Fryč Bookstore in the center of Liberec regarding the reintroduction and specification of the city architect's role. In the opening session moderated by Kryštof Hanzlík, the secretary of the Czech Chamber of Architects Jiří Plos, architecture promoter Adam Gebrian, and architect Ondřej Císler were invited. The latter excused himself due to illness, and was promptly replaced by the chief architect of the city of Jičín, Radek Jiránek. His role was almost ideal, as he could directly share his experiences with the audience as a person the local council is currently searching for. While in other places minor details are being painstakingly resolved and already prepared positions filled, the undeniable advantage of Liberec is that it stands at the very beginning and can thus completely influence the final form of the city architect institute, which has been missing in Liberec for four decades. The size of the regional city hardly allows for a single person to be entrusted with development concepts. The resulting team will be faced with two sides of the same coin: it should not only limit through its regulations but also create a creative environment through its stimuli.
The responsibility for the city's development lies primarily with politicians who, as representatives of a new representative democracy, critically acknowledged that they are not experts in everything and expressed an interest in seeking advice. According to Jiří Plos, there is no better architect than an informed mayor or councilor who uses the chief architect institute as an advisory tool. The chosen individual should enjoy general respect and their mandate should not be tied to the four-year political cycle. Architecture is a long-distance endeavor, and a short-term perspective could harm the image of the city.
During the evening, Professor Jiří Klokočka was invited to the discussion table, who has been dealing with urbanism in Ghent, Belgium, for a quarter of a century and has now come to the Faculty of Art and Architecture TUL in Liberec, where he began to comprehensively address urbanism in all its breadth from the summer semester, while also looking at the task through the somewhat naïve lens of students. Until now, the university had neglected interdisciplinarity, and tasks were approached as a major architectural assignment consisting of a set of houses.
Professor Klokočka pointed out that urban plans in Belgium did not differ much from ours until 2000, but it was then recognized that land use plans are too static to meet the needs of today's dynamic society, leading to the introduction of spatial structure plans that are not rigidly determining but flexibly adaptable. Another interesting insight from Belgium was that every municipality must have a chief architect by law, the person is designated by the state, is in the service of the city, and the position transcends the six-year political cycle. According to Jiří Plos, this option is also well applicable in our case. In the 1990s, there was a tendency to move in this Belgian direction, which was completely thwarted by the new building law. Using the historical example of Hradec Králové, Jiří Plos demonstrated that when informed mayor František Ulrich invited the excellent architect Josef Gočár to the city, nothing less than a great result could emerge.
There are politicians who believe they have swallowed all the wisdom of the world and feel no need to ask. Then there are politicians open to other opinions, but for their own detriment, they ask those who also do not know. Adam Gebrian mentioned the example of nearby Semily, where the newly elected council invited experts whose opinions they value. During the evening debate in a local cinema, these foreign critics served as a unifying element for the entire community, allowing them to agree on essential matters and combine their efforts for the good of the community.
In conclusion, Mayor Jan Korytář also joined the discussion, justifying his late arrival by saying that he hurried from a public discussion of the land use plan with citizens. Before any vision emerges, the mayor plans to organize a total of sixteen sessions where he will ask citizens to find out what they really want. The more people agree on the vision of the city, the greater the chance it can last longer than one electoral term. According to Adam Gebrian, deep local knowledge should meet with a superficial outside perspective, allowing both worlds to enrich each other and give rise to an "ideal compromise."

Guests of the first evening summarized their advice for future debates about the city architect in the following sentences:
J. Klokočka: “The architect should survive the politician.”
A. Gebrian: “Do not give up responsibility and do not offload onto others. The architect cannot solve everything.”
J. Plos: “Openness of mind and general culture in debate. Have a longer mandate and not be easily dismissible.”