The inaugural EUNIC Imagine Festival kicked off on 3 November at Prague’s Centre for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning (CAMP), bringing together 400 architects, urbanists and mobility planners from 15 EU member states. Under the theme “Regeneration of Cities,” day-one panels examined how affordable housing shortages and fragmented mobility systems hamper talent attraction in Central Europe.
Speakers from Vienna, Copenhagen and Ostrava showcased pilot schemes—15-minute-city zoning, employer-subsidised tram passes and park-and-ride tax credits—that could be replicated in Czechia’s second-tier cities competing for foreign direct investment. Czech deputy transport minister Lenka Nováková previewed a draft bill to let municipalities co-finance regional rail upgrades through public-private partnerships—a move applauded by Siemens and Accenture, both scaling shared-service centres outside Prague.
![EUNIC Imagine Festival Opens in Prague, Puts Urban Mobility & Housing Centre-Stage]()
Global mobility professionals attending highlighted the link between liveable neighbourhoods and expatriate retention. “When assignees can reach international schools and coworking hubs within 20 minutes, our relocation budgets drop sharply,” commented an HR lead at Honeywell.
Workshops on 4 November will formulate a “Prague Charter” urging the EU to integrate urban-mobility KPIs into its post-2030 cohesion-fund rules—potentially unlocking new financing streams for Czech tramway and cycling projects.
Speakers from Vienna, Copenhagen and Ostrava showcased pilot schemes—15-minute-city zoning, employer-subsidised tram passes and park-and-ride tax credits—that could be replicated in Czechia’s second-tier cities competing for foreign direct investment. Czech deputy transport minister Lenka Nováková previewed a draft bill to let municipalities co-finance regional rail upgrades through public-private partnerships—a move applauded by Siemens and Accenture, both scaling shared-service centres outside Prague.
Global mobility professionals attending highlighted the link between liveable neighbourhoods and expatriate retention. “When assignees can reach international schools and coworking hubs within 20 minutes, our relocation budgets drop sharply,” commented an HR lead at Honeywell.
Workshops on 4 November will formulate a “Prague Charter” urging the EU to integrate urban-mobility KPIs into its post-2030 cohesion-fund rules—potentially unlocking new financing streams for Czech tramway and cycling projects.
