The talk explores the reception and transformation of Ebenezer Howard’s garden city concept in the Czech lands between 1900 and 1938, with a particular focus on the interwar period and the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918. Far from being merely an imported model of suburban planning, the garden city became intertwined with the political and social ambitions of the new democratic state. Czech architects, planners, intellectuals, and reformers interpreted the garden city as a spatial counterpart to the revolutionary transformation of Central Europe after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire: a vision of a healthier, socially balanced, and nationally conscious society.

Drawing on projects such as Ořechovka, Zlín, and the unrealized “Masaryk City,” the talk examines how the British reform ideal was translated into local conditions shaped by nationalism, social reform, and modernization. By situating interwar suburbanization within broader political transformations, it presents garden cities in Czechoslovakia not only as urban experiments, but also as symbolic laboratories for imagining a new society and a new state in post-imperial Central Europe.

Vendula Hnídková is an architectural historian, curator and lecturer who obtained her Ph.D. from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM) in 2011. Her research focuses on modern and contemporary architectural production and urbanism, examining issues such as cultural transfers, national identities, and transnational networks. She pays particular attention to the interplay of economy, politics and societal expectations in the built environment. She has received research funding from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme (MSCA, University of Birmingham), the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, the University of Brighton, the AKTION Czech Republic – Austria programme, the Österreich Stipendium, and the Czech Science Foundation, among others. Since 2023, she has been the Czech Principal Investigator (PI) of the bilateral project “Invisible Agents” in Architecture (1908–38). Policies, Principles, and Projects in Central European Ministries of Public Works (FWF).

Tuesday May 26, from 3pm to 5pm

ULB, Solbosch Campus, Building DE1
Av. Antoine Depage 1, 1050 Ixelles
Reception Room (MSH)
3rd floor - R3.105

The conference will be conducted in English

Free Entry

Contact : barbora.svobodova@ulb.be