Author: okoZbetonu

The Danube Ever larger, the crowd continues toward the next intersection: Astoria, from the 1914-vintage hotel at the corner, evoking its atmosphere of luxury through the name of the then-legendary American oligarch and beaver-slaughterer. Here is the first change: the next section of the Inner Boulevard is blocked; we will now be turning right to…

The Start. 14:00, in the tunnels of the Budapest metro system at Deák Ferenc tér, the central intersection of three lines. A few first sightings of rainbow garb or décor among the crowd, passing around the ticket inspectors with their rather disturbingly fascistic-looking armbands.   Up at street level. The square has far less of…

Demonstration 22.5 at Prague City Hall Eight-thirty on a Thursday morning: unusually cold for late May, drizzling rain slowly letting up. In front of City Hall on Prague’s Mariánské náměstí, all too often renamed by the city’s more cynical wits “Mafiánské”, a small group standing upon the steps as the council session begins. Black suits,…

A review essay for the publication ATÚ: Automatické telefonní ústředny: Společnost, technologie, architektura. Eds. Irena Lehkoživová-Jan Zikmund, ČVUT-Výzkumní centrum průmyslového dědictví: Praha 2024) The study and preservation of industrial heritage – a discipline poised between architectural history, collective memory, and the more-than-Heraclitean flux of economic and technological change – can be difficult enough in situations…

As noted elsewhere on this site, the current main bus station in Prague, Praha-Florenc, is scheduled for relocation at a notable distance from its current site, behind the literal ramparts of two main rail lines: the Negrelli Viaduct heading to the north and the earthwork of the primary rail link from Prague eastward. The reason…

The editorship of Concrete Eye would like to express its profound distress at the recent decision by the Hungarian Parliament to ban all Pride events in Hungary, in Budapest and elsewhere, and use facial recognition software to identify and criminalize participants. As a platform that engages with anthropocenic spaces – and cities in particular –…