Meet Matus Vallo, Bratislava’s hipster mayor-architect
Can better public spaces revolutionise the way we live?
In the manner of a child rebuilding an unloved Lego set, Matus Vallo ponders a model of a Bratislava streetscape in a corner of his office. Carefully, he positions a rectangular plate the width of his palm on a section of highway that has run through the capital of Slovakia since the 1970s. Just like that, a park over 200 metres long, suspended above the road, has eradicated a traffic-laden scar in the heart of the city. The transformation seems fanciful, an urban planner’s daydream. To turn it into reality would require the combined talents of an architect, a civic activist and a popular mayor. By some fluke Mr Vallo happens to be all three—and the answer to the question: what happens when an expert in building public spaces gets given the reins of a European capital?
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Man with a plan”
Europe September 16th 2023
From the September 16th 2023 edition
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