Replacing a River Canal with an Urban Highway: The “Gottwaldova Street” Ring Road in Košice as a Historical Urban Design Mistake from the 1960s
Until the 1960s, the east Slovak city of Košice displayed a ring road system, largely inspired by the models of Vienna and Budapest. During the 19th century, local city planners respected the natural interaction between the densely built-up structure and its adjacent recreational area to the eas...
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| Format: | Article |
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Institute of History, Slovak Academy of Sciences
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Architektúra & Urbanizmus |
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| Online Access: | https://architektura-urbanizmus.sk/2025/03/19/replacing-a-river-canal-with-an-urban-highway-the-gottwaldova-street-ring-road-in-kosice-as-a-historical-urban-design-mistake-from-the-1960s/ |
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| author | Ondrej Ficeri |
| author_facet | Ondrej Ficeri |
| author_sort | Ondrej Ficeri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Until the 1960s, the east Slovak city of Košice displayed a ring road
system, largely inspired by the models of Vienna and Budapest. During
the 19th century, local city planners respected the natural interaction
between the densely built-up structure and its adjacent recreational area
to the east, consisting of the river canal, called the Millrace [Mlynský
náhon], the City Park [Mestský park] and the garden-city neighbourhood
of the New Town [Újváros], generously incorporating these areas into
the inner urban circle. This original concept was still unchallenged in the
1950s, when Košice’s newly ascribed status of the industrial metropolis for
the easternmost part of socialist Czechoslovakia anticipated a modernist
remodelling of the local urban landscape. Between 1950 and 1970, Košice
grew rapidly from a town of 60,000 inhabitants to a city with 150,000
inhabitants, further projected for a population of 300,000 in 2000.
In 1965, after the establishment of the Office of the Chief Architect of
the City of Košice, it was this expert body, which had been assigned
responsibility for local urban planning, that suggested the change of
the original inner-city ring. Based solely on technocratic calculations
of estimated traffic volumes, this expert body succeeded in pushing
through the idea of abandoning of the eastern section of the original
inner circle to replace it with an urban highway, constructed under
the narrow street Gottwaldova (now Štefánikova) in the watercourse
of the Millrace canal. The realisation of the idea between 1968–1978,
approved by the local state authorities, imposed a harsh incision into
the previously treasured urban texture of the Košice’s pre-WW2 urban
composition, which since its creation has been perceived in local
memory as a historical urban design mistake.
Based on archival research, the present study examines the socio-economic
circumstances and political factors that eventuated in the change of the
original concept of the Košice ring road from the 19th century, and resulted
in the extant, radically car-oriented, modernist intervention in the urban
structure of Košice’s historical city centre. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4e0b89b98e2c46e9ad85e6fe65757c6d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0044-8680 2729-8752 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Institute of History, Slovak Academy of Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Architektúra & Urbanizmus |
| spelling | doaj-art-4e0b89b98e2c46e9ad85e6fe65757c6d2025-08-20T02:13:52ZengInstitute of History, Slovak Academy of SciencesArchitektúra & Urbanizmus0044-86802729-87522024-12-01583-4298323doi:10.31577/archandurb.2024.58.3-4.10Replacing a River Canal with an Urban Highway: The “Gottwaldova Street” Ring Road in Košice as a Historical Urban Design Mistake from the 1960sOndrej FiceriUntil the 1960s, the east Slovak city of Košice displayed a ring road system, largely inspired by the models of Vienna and Budapest. During the 19th century, local city planners respected the natural interaction between the densely built-up structure and its adjacent recreational area to the east, consisting of the river canal, called the Millrace [Mlynský náhon], the City Park [Mestský park] and the garden-city neighbourhood of the New Town [Újváros], generously incorporating these areas into the inner urban circle. This original concept was still unchallenged in the 1950s, when Košice’s newly ascribed status of the industrial metropolis for the easternmost part of socialist Czechoslovakia anticipated a modernist remodelling of the local urban landscape. Between 1950 and 1970, Košice grew rapidly from a town of 60,000 inhabitants to a city with 150,000 inhabitants, further projected for a population of 300,000 in 2000. In 1965, after the establishment of the Office of the Chief Architect of the City of Košice, it was this expert body, which had been assigned responsibility for local urban planning, that suggested the change of the original inner-city ring. Based solely on technocratic calculations of estimated traffic volumes, this expert body succeeded in pushing through the idea of abandoning of the eastern section of the original inner circle to replace it with an urban highway, constructed under the narrow street Gottwaldova (now Štefánikova) in the watercourse of the Millrace canal. The realisation of the idea between 1968–1978, approved by the local state authorities, imposed a harsh incision into the previously treasured urban texture of the Košice’s pre-WW2 urban composition, which since its creation has been perceived in local memory as a historical urban design mistake. Based on archival research, the present study examines the socio-economic circumstances and political factors that eventuated in the change of the original concept of the Košice ring road from the 19th century, and resulted in the extant, radically car-oriented, modernist intervention in the urban structure of Košice’s historical city centre.https://architektura-urbanizmus.sk/2025/03/19/replacing-a-river-canal-with-an-urban-highway-the-gottwaldova-street-ring-road-in-kosice-as-a-historical-urban-design-mistake-from-the-1960s/košiceriver channel replacementurban motorwaysocialist czechoslovakiamodernist urban planning |
| spellingShingle | Ondrej Ficeri Replacing a River Canal with an Urban Highway: The “Gottwaldova Street” Ring Road in Košice as a Historical Urban Design Mistake from the 1960s Architektúra & Urbanizmus košice river channel replacement urban motorway socialist czechoslovakia modernist urban planning |
| title | Replacing a River Canal with an Urban Highway: The “Gottwaldova Street” Ring Road in Košice as a Historical Urban Design Mistake from the 1960s |
| title_full | Replacing a River Canal with an Urban Highway: The “Gottwaldova Street” Ring Road in Košice as a Historical Urban Design Mistake from the 1960s |
| title_fullStr | Replacing a River Canal with an Urban Highway: The “Gottwaldova Street” Ring Road in Košice as a Historical Urban Design Mistake from the 1960s |
| title_full_unstemmed | Replacing a River Canal with an Urban Highway: The “Gottwaldova Street” Ring Road in Košice as a Historical Urban Design Mistake from the 1960s |
| title_short | Replacing a River Canal with an Urban Highway: The “Gottwaldova Street” Ring Road in Košice as a Historical Urban Design Mistake from the 1960s |
| title_sort | replacing a river canal with an urban highway the gottwaldova street ring road in kosice as a historical urban design mistake from the 1960s |
| topic | košice river channel replacement urban motorway socialist czechoslovakia modernist urban planning |
| url | https://architektura-urbanizmus.sk/2025/03/19/replacing-a-river-canal-with-an-urban-highway-the-gottwaldova-street-ring-road-in-kosice-as-a-historical-urban-design-mistake-from-the-1960s/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ondrejficeri replacingarivercanalwithanurbanhighwaythegottwaldovastreetringroadinkosiceasahistoricalurbandesignmistakefromthe1960s |