Europe | Charlemagne

Meet Matus Vallo, Bratislava’s hipster mayor-architect

Can better public spaces revolutionise the way we live?

Matus Vallo holding up 'Green space' plans in front of a cityscape. — Image: Peter Schrank

Sep 14th 2023

In the manner of a child rebuilding an unloved Lego set, Matus Vallo ponders a model of a Bratislava streetscape in a corner of his office. Carefully, he positions a rectangular plate the width of his palm on a section of highway that has run through the capital of Slovakia since the 1970s. Just like that, a park over 200 metres long, suspended above the road, has eradicated a traffic-laden scar in the heart of the city. The transformation seems fanciful, an urban planner’s daydream. To turn it into reality would require the combined talents of an architect, a civic activist and a popular mayor. By some fluke Mr Vallo happens to be all three—and the answer to the question: what happens when an expert in building public spaces gets given the reins of a European capital?

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Man with a plan”