Josef Hlávka Award for Jan Bittner

Jan completed his doctoral studies at the FA CTU this year. In his dissertation, he examined the relationship between the built environment, civic amenities, and residents' reliance on individual car transport in the Prague Metropolitan Region. Since the beginning of his studies, he has been involved in teaching theoretical courses (Spatial Planning I) and studio instruction (as an assistant in the Šindlerová studio). He also collaborates with Jana Zdráhalová on international Athens courses, which address the current social topic of Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS).

 

During his doctoral studies, Jan completed a research stay at The Bartlett School of Planning (UCL) and consultations at Sorbonne Université. He led a student grant competition project focused on the impact of the built environment on mobility in the Prague agglomeration, and he published the results at international conferences. He further expanded his expertise through inter-university courses such as Resilient Cities and Planning and Modelling of Public Transport, on the basis of which he spent a semester at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where he worked on statistical models for his dissertation. Jan is actively involved in the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP), including its doctoral workshops, annual congresses, and the Young Academics conference—an event he helped secure for the FA CTU to host in 2026. Since 2023, he has also co-organised the international doctoral conference People – City – Transport.

 

In 2023, in collaboration with Matúš Berák, Jan won the ART.cukrovar art competition with the proposal Industrial Archaeology. The duo also succeeded in the competition for a summer stage design in Vimperk and received an award for their design of a drinking fountain in front of the Vřídelní Colonnade in Karlovy Vary. Additionally, in collaboration with Lubomír Čermák, Jan was recognised in a competition for an artwork in front of the new building of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University.

 

The Josef Hlávka Award is granted to talented bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students under the age of 33 who have demonstrated extraordinary talent and creative thinking in their field. Nominations are submitted by the rectors of Czech universities to the Board of the Josef Hlávka Foundation, with each faculty allowed to nominate a maximum of one candidate.