The Hvězdička – Eugen Horváth Park was opened in 2015, designed by the landscape architect Zdeněk Sendler (the object of the low-threshold centre was designed by the architect Radko Květ). The park was built in a neglected courtyard of a residential block (previously also worked as a playground). The brief for the park said: The aim of the project “Hvězdička Park” is to create a designed park for spending free time or children and youths in a marginalised district (in the locality of Bratislavská, Francouzská, Hvězdova street) where particularly socially weaker families live. The park with should content wise motivate and encourage children and youth of the particular target group to spend their leisure time actively. At the same time, it should be a place of natural contact of children with social workers and services in the new social facility (low-threshold centre) built at the entrance from Hvězdová Street.*

 

The park was also realised thanks to the “Integrated Development Plan of the City of Brno in the Problem Residential Area”. In its framework, it was invested in the “revitalisation of the public spaces”, “the regeneration of the housing stock”, and the creation and implementation of “pilot projects focused on solving Roma communities in danger social segregation” in the infamous “Brno Bronx”.** The investments aimed to improve the image of the neighbourhood, to increase security and to attract new residents and district users. The park is designed as a temporary, the particular housing block has several gap sites, and in the long term, it is considered its complete revitalisation, in 2017 an architectural competition was announced for the design of the housing development in the courtyard. However, these changes (gentrification) have been taking place throughout the neighbourhood, and some threaten the current residents. Both park and low-threshold centre are supposed to support the “inclusion of members of Roma localities in the majority society”. How did the author of the park cope with these requirements and how did it affect the final design of the park and the centre? The project, on the one hand, provided a well-designed public space with recreational use, but did not hide the use of “anti-vandal materials” (even though it is meant to be temporary) and to ensure certain control over its users (camera system). The entire park is surrounded by a fence or concrete wall and is closed during the night.

 

 

* Brno Municipality (2010). Study Commission: Hvězdička Park

** Brno Municipality (2012). Integrovaný plán rozvoje města v problémové obytné zóně 2008–2015

 

 

Zdeněk Sendler is a landscape architect; he works in Brno at the Atelier of Garden and Landscape Architecture. He works on projects of private gardens, parks and landscapes, his work is characterised by naturalness, modesty and humility, without surrendering its creative potential. Among his projects are e.g. a monastery garden in Litomyšl, a park in Slavonic Square, Björnson Park or Denis Gardens in Brno, a park or a cemetery in Dolní Břežany. He grew up in the Černá Pole, the locality around Hvězdová, Bratislavská, Francouzská, Příční, Příkop or Cejl Streets were his second home. He comes from a gardeners family.

 

— “They would say “vandalism”… I absolutely hate that word. Because vandalism, in my experience, is from a greater part – I don’t know the percentage, I don’t have the statistics right now – due to badly made cheap furniture and details… If four guys are sitting on a bench and the backrest breaks, then it’s because the bench is badly made.”

 

 

Kateřina Sidiropulu Janků is a sociologist; her dissertation dealt with ethnographic research of Czech-Canadian Roma families migration. She currently works at the Institute for Research in Inclusive Education at the Faculty of Education of the Masaryk University in the ISOTIS project (Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequalities in Society). She deals with Czech-Roma relations, social marginalisation, sociology of memory and ethics of research. In recent years, she has also been involved in interdisciplinary projects with participatory overlaps. The outputs of the applied project The Memory of Roma Workers were a collection of historical data, a conceptual street exhibition, documentary film and educational materials for elementary schools. In her doctoral studies at the Department of Architecture at CTU in Prague, she focuses on the changes of public space in stabilised areas.

 

— “It reminds me of the blue lights at the gas stations, in toilet rooms. Such space is hard to use to deal drugs. In that sense, the community centre is sort of the panoptical tower.”

 

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camera: Tomáš Hlaváček
video editing: Tomáš Hlaváček
translation: Ondřej Kvapil, Karolína Plášková

subtitles: Tereza Kvapilová, Karolína Plášková