Speaker
Description
Background
Public Spaces have the empirical role of crossroads and functional hubs, as well as symbolic and cultural meaning of defining the community that creates and uses them. Warsaw, as a city with a turbulent history, has experienced in the last century massive destruction of the majority of its urban tissue. In the earlier XIX. century its surface was limited due to the occupants' military regime (Russian) and oppressive management, later widely expanded in surface and intensely built. During WWI (Prussian) and WWII its space was illustrating the historical, political and economical challenges. The half of the XXth century occupation (German) resulted not only in the majority of its inhabitants’ dispersion and dispersion, but also an almost total destruction. The post-war half of the XXth century regime (People Republic of Poland, politically dependent of the USSR) was realising the task of reconstruction, correcting the historical appearance in the communist way of doing and social-realist art doctrine, with limited means of massively destroyed and impoverished country. The centralised economy and governance allowed the coordination of works on an unprecedented scale. The fall of the communist regime (end of the XXth century) left the country and its capital unadapted to the upcoming, returning after almost half a century - democracy and capitalism. The opening towards formerly limited by the Iron Curtain division economic and cultural exchanges Western countries influences, together with the spontaneous grassroot governance, resulted in chaotic development of the urban landscape.
Aim
Warsaw’s emblematic space (in the center of the town) - Defilades’ Square with the Palace of Culture (later registered monument) crowning its emptied from the war-surviving tenements’ houses no longer served massive military defilades. It was quickly adapted to the enormous bazaar of goods.
Continuous debates of the prerogatives of the re-organisation of this space adapting it to rapidly changing social needs and urban functions, together with numerous dis-continuities of urban planning tools framework resulted in the multiplicity of Municipality-led concept competitions, without the application of their results. The aim of the presented study is to illustrate the complexity of these processes in the light of teachings for next transformations.
Question
In the name of the Hope for socially adaptive investments, the formulated research question regards the resulting process of the urban management of this space. Is it a lesson to be repeated? Can the project be adapted to the contemporary challenges of social inclusivity and climate adaptability?
Method
The applied method of conducting research uses the urban space theories (literature study), the on-going press and social media publications monitoring, completed with the site visits and architectural analysis.
Results
Presented results allow to “read” through urban and procedural complexity of the process of re-shaping the central urban space. The shared work helps achieve understanding of the threatened liberty in the age of next war in Europe, climate change and social instability. The construction of the Modern Art Museum, new theatre (TR) and square organisation as a part of the New Warsaw Centre project remain controversial to capitals’ inhabitants. The study explains chosen aspects of the social perception of this public investment and expectations towards XXI. century public spaces transformations, expected to be more sustainable.
Discussion
Different approaches may be adapted to analyse the urban public spaces, being realized during the study process. The proposed presentation aims to enhance discussion of adaptive future models of design and management of public spaces with rich heritage.
The conducted research and presentation illustrate the potential of transformative power of public spaces, ways of adaptive planning hoping for inclusion, equity and social integration with their downfalls or lost chances to be sustainability flagships.
| Keywords | public space; cityscape transformation; social justice; sustainability; hope for inclusion |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
