The 'Pragueficiation' of Everywhere

I love European cities, but now what we've done to them

In a vlog filmed earlier this year, Russian YouTuber and political dissident Roman Abalin, better known online as NFKRZ, remarks that Lisbon has undergone what he calls a “Prague-ification.” As they stroll through its streets, he and the video’s co-star, Dave from the channel Dave in Portugal, remark on the “fake drug dealers” selling “baggies of oregano,” “street peddlers,” and other scams taking place in popular tourist spots. Crucially, however, they are quick to point out that this is not a problem specific to Lisbon. This is, in fact, the norm in “every European city centre.” 

Indeed, although you may never have encountered the term “Prague-ification” before, I guarantee that if you have been to any major European city in the last decade or so, you have most likely been a witness to the unfortunate phenomenon that it designates. The historic town centres of Lisbon, Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona, Paris, and, as the term suggests, Prague, have all become their own Disneylands — if you swap out the Mickey Mouse ears for T-shirts which read “I ♡ BOOBS”, change out the attractions for gaudy storefronts claiming to sell “100% authentic premium grade THHC++ weed”,  and dial up the scammy-ness to 100, but keep the obnoxious mascots, of course. 

Still, these cities have not lost all their charm — far from it. I will never tire of Barcelona’s breathtaking Catalan Modernisme, nor will I ever stop being impressed by Rome’s vast piazzas and many narrow streets. I am happy to have called the chic and landmark-dotted Paris home for many years and consider the charming and canal-crossed Amsterdam to be my home-away-from-home. And Prague, oh Prague, my favourite city in the world — what with its great beer, great food, great history, and even greater colourful buildings — simply cannot be matched. But it is exactly because I am already so enthralled by these cities that so-called Prague-ification bothers me so much. 

Not only does Prague-ification plague historic town centres with gratuitous vulgarity, gaudy souvenirs, and outrightly fraudulent scam operations, but it also homogenises all of them according to the same soulless consumerist archetype. Each major European city has its own diverse (and evolving) history and culture, yet by the power of Prague-ification, all adopt the same font, and all are painted with the same broad, now all-too-often AI-generated, brush. The only uniqueness that remains is the city’s name helpfully distinguishing that ‘I ♡…’ t-shirt you just bought from the otherwise identical shirts you could have gotten anywhere else, and the advisory printed in very small text on the back of those fake weed cookies you also — inexplicably — bought, warning you that the product is in fact not suitable for consumption. Of course, this label means nothing to you anyway because it is written in the country’s native language, which you never bothered to learn.

So why is it that everywhere is being Prague-ified? Well, aside from the very real cases of blatant money laundering and the clear failure of local governments to regulate against the more pernicious agents of Prague-ification, it is because it caters to real demands. Stores which sell dodgy t-shirts and even dodgier weed exist because tourists with more money than sense and, somehow, even less style than sense exist. 

Crucially, however, Prague-ification does not happen simply because immigrants exist, contrary to what some nauseating chauvinists would have you believe. This is something NFKRZ and Dave point out in their video: many are quick not only to attack entire immigrant groups for causing Prague-ification but also to exaggerate the phenomenon, integrating it within their own divisive and downright false narratives about civilisational or cultural collapse. Yes, recent immigrants who have just settled in a city may be more prone to being roped into working for a tourist trap, but it is entirely the tourist’s fault for buying an over-priced funnel cake, a bag of defective ‘space gummies’ and an “I ♡ BLOWJOBS” t-shirt in [insert any major European city here]. So, please, if you’re a tourist, stop buying tourist gunk; if you’re a local official in a European city, stop giving those who sell tourist gunk a free pass; and if you’re a far-right anti-immigrant agitator, just stop doing whatever it is you are doing in general. You’re all ruining these beautiful cities, most of all my dearly beloved Prague. 

Illustration from Wikimedia Commons