A city of short distances or suburbs of reasonable proximities? Exploring the Potential of Soft Densification in Prague suburban municipalities

Although the city of short distances is a strategy embraced by many global cities, concerns have been raised about the practical feasibility of the concept in cities with an existing sprawling structure, i.e., cities surrounded by low-density suburbs and satellite municipalities. One answer is to extend the 15-minute city concept and modify it for low-density fringes. This article presents strategies and initiatives that follow and extend urban proximity concepts to suburban areas and summarizes their main ideas. One of the consensus identified across these strategies is the necessity of increasing the population density in low-density localities. The empirical part of the study investigates the potential for increasing density using GIS analysis in the suburbs of the Central Bohemian Region. The analysis specifically models the impact of soft densification – a Western European bottom-up strategy involving incremental changes on private plots, initiated by residents.