The Polis Project
POLIS: Podpora sociálně - integračních politik a služeb
The Polis Project
Areas of Activity >>> Plzeň
Plzeň is the prosperous administrative, economic and cultural centre of the Plzeň Region, with a population of 163,000—making it the fourth largest city in the Czech Republic. Even a cursory glance at the table comparing the situation in POLIS areas of activity reveals the great discrepancies that exist between Bílina and Ústí nad Labem on the one hand, and Plzeň and the nation as a whole on the other.
Plzeň is economically sophisticated and is home to a highly qualified and affluent work force. Even more striking is the gap between the socioeconomic conditions of Plzeň on the whole and those of its ghettos. Based on the results of systematic anthropological monitoring of these localities, the number of inhabitants is estimated to be between one thousand and 1,300 people. A majority of these individuals are recognized as Roma and are treated accordingly. Unemployment in these areas usually exceeds seventy percent, many children attend segregated or semi-segregated schools and the housing situation is unstable.
The localities identified as socially excluded are:
Plzeň is economically sophisticated and is home to a highly qualified and affluent work force. Even more striking is the gap between the socioeconomic conditions of Plzeň on the whole and those of its ghettos. Based on the results of systematic anthropological monitoring of these localities, the number of inhabitants is estimated to be between one thousand and 1,300 people. A majority of these individuals are recognized as Roma and are treated accordingly. Unemployment in these areas usually exceeds seventy percent, many children attend segregated or semi-segregated schools and the housing situation is unstable.
The localities identified as socially excluded are:
- Jateční and Duchcovská streets – one of the largest socially excluded areas of Plzeň; separated from other residential areas. It is comprised of a three-story gallery house on Jateční Street, and a few blocks of substandard apartments in neighboring Duchcovská Street. In total, there are ninety-four accommodation units with approximately two hundred tenants in this locality. Ninety percent of the inhabitants are unemployed long-term.
- Resslova Street – unlike Jateční/Duchcovská Street, this site is not segregated from other residential areas. It is comprised of an old tenement building, in which 107 individuals inhabit thirty-four accommodation units.
- ‘Plac’ (Plachého Street) – four blocks of flats identified by public administration authorities as ‘troublesome,’ or intended for ‘troublesome tenants.’ Approximately 112 individuals inhabit forty-nine accommodation units at this site. The unemployment rate in this area is estimated to be seventy percent.
- Železniční Street – the site of concern on this street is legally a lodging house, run by a nonprofit organization called Naděje. The lodging house which contains twenty substandard flats was intended for those experiencing a housing crisis. Approximately thirty-three tenants inhabit the house at present. The unemployment rate oscillates between seventy percent and eighty percent.
- Nádražní Street – in a single dilapidated tenement house, approximately twenty individuals inhabit four flats.
- Plynární Street – three out of eleven flats in this three-story building are uninhabited, and a total of approximately thirty-five individuals live here. Although natural gas can be supplied to their homes, many continue to cook and heat with solid fuel stoves.
- ‘Vinice’ (Strážnická Street) – the number of individuals inhabiting the housing scheme Vinice is be estimated to be between seven thousand and eight thousand. Of these individuals, approximately five hundred are Roma, contradicting the reputation of Vinice as being a Roma housing scheme. Roma families are dispersed throughout Vinice; only two concentrations occur with approximately sixty socially excluded Roma inhabiting sixteen flats.
- ‘Petrohrad’ – isolated households, especially in Rubešova and Úslavská streets.
