Matúš Vallo (born 18 September 1977) is a Slovak politician, architect, urban activist, musician, and the current
Mayor of Bratislava. He was elected in 2018 with 36.5% of the vote as an
independent politician
An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent.
Some politicia ...
, and re-elected in
2022
The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
with 60.2% of the vote backed by his own local party
Team Bratislava as well as
Sloboda a Solidarita and
Progresívne Slovensko.
Personal life
Vallo is married with one child. He is the grandson of
Miroslav Válek, a former
minister of culture
A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...
for
Communist party of Czechoslovakia
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...
.
Education
Vallo went to secondary school in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. Being interested in art and geometry, he went on to combine through architecture. Vallo graduated from The Faculty of Architecture at the
Slovak Technical University in Bratislava in 2004. Between 2010 and 2011, Vallo received a Fulbright research scholarship to attend
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
where he worked on a project called ''City Interventions'' at the
Columbia Laboratory for Architectural Broadcasting.
Mayor of Bratislava
2018 Slovak local elections
Vallo was the first candidate to run for Bratislava mayor in the
2018 Slovak local elections. Vallo ran for the post as an independent, but with the help and strong support of non-parliamentary political parties
Progressive Slovakia
Progressive Slovakia (, PS) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by Michal Šimečka, a former Vice President of the European Parliament. It is a member of the Renew Europe group and ...
and
Democrats backed by a group of experts called ''Team Vallo'' who have previously worked on project to improve the quality of life in Bratislava which resulted in a book, ''Plán Bratislava'' having been published.
Vallo's main rivals were
Václav Mika, the former director of
RTVS, the public broadcaster, and the then-mayor
Ivo Nesrovnal
Ivo Nesrovnal, LL.M. (, born 19 May 1964) is a Slovak lawyer and politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the ...
.
During the campaign, he vowed to improve the way the city administration communicates with citizens, make processes more transparent and engage more with the residents. Vallo criticised then-mayor Nesrovnal for his inability to come to agreement with the members of the city council, leading to the deadlock in implementing the new parking policy, stagnating improvement of the
cycling infrastructure
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of bicycle pedal, pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the ...
and other issues.
He was officially sworn into office as Bratislava's mayor on 7 December 2018.
Transport and parking policies
One of the first policies Vallo started to work on was the parking policy delays with the implementation of which he has previously criticised
his predecessor for. His aim was decide on the framework the city borough and the city council will build upon, in the first half of 2019 The original proposal included residential parking zones in locations decided by the city boroughs.
The proposal caused some backlash, after which some changes had been made. The cost of the yearly parking card was reduced to €39; additional €10 a year allow parking in other boroughs for a maximum of two hours.
In October 2020, the launch of the parking policy was announced to be delayed until autumn 2021.
Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava
Vallo initiated the establishment of the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava. The Metropolitan institute of Bratislava has developed the manifest and the manual for public spaces.
Planning permissions review
Under Vallo, the review of planning permission became stricter, with more projects being rejected for ignoring or bypassing requirements.
Other
Along with the capitals of the other
Visegrád Group
The Visegrád Group (also known as the Visegrád Four or the V4) is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The alliance aims to advance co-operation in military, e ...
countries, Vallo signed the
Pact of Free Cities to promote "common values of freedom, human dignity, democracy, equality, rule of law, social justice, tolerance and cultural diversity".
Vallo supports the Bratislava
Pride
Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...
and has attended it both during his mayoral term and before.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vallo, Matus
Mayors of Bratislava
Architects from Bratislava
Living people
1977 births
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava alumni
Slovak musicians