The essay is meant to be a reflection, a conclusion of sorts regarding the topic proposed by the organizers of the "Towards beauty." It is meant to be about the problems of introducing aesthetics to public spaces. From the point of view of many disciplines. This academic event took place in the April of 2014 at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk. The Author assumed the perspective of an architect when contemplating the problems being discussed. This approach emphasizes the role that is played by the concept of the urban landscape. The work is composed of an introduction, which illustrates the reasons for adopting this perspective. This part is followed by a classification of the stances and academic research that has been presented in the delivered lectures and essays. This generalization has the form of a typology composed of five points, which describe the general issues that were discussed. The overarching thesis of this is essay is the statement that the choice of problems that have been discussed at the conference are the result of a contemporary model of thinking about the management of space, which results from a much too liberal approach that has been adopted after the socioeconomic changes that occurred in 1989. This begs the question whether the issues that are important in the context of the aesthetics of cities are effects the causes of which could lie in society's approach to its reality. Due to the aim of this essay being a commentary on the academic event that was the Gdańsk conference and a sort of reflection on the issues that were being discussed there, the Author decided not to provide it with a conclusion at the end. The Author's comments contained in this work are only a voice in the discussion and a complementation of the opinions that have been presented during the conference. The article is supposed to elicit a familiarity with the presented issues so that the reader can form their opinions, and, what is perhaps even more important, provide the foundation for future academic discussion on the topic of the beauty of the cityscape.
This paper presents a synthesis of research in the field of social activity in development of urban public spaces. Interest in social participation in which many groups sees a remedy to the problems of the city - including spatial chaos - has many causes. One of them is the lack of trust in the social side to the profession of architecture. The article indicates the possible cause of this state for which it was flawed legislation and the planning system, which in practice is not conducive to the formation of order, harmony and beauty, but facilitate the implementation of the narrow groups of interests, bringing the rank of designer as creator of the role of the investor's decision executor.
This article is an introduction to the subject matter discussed in the forty-seventh issue of “Teka…”, the Journal of the Urban Design and Architecture Commission of the Krakow Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences. It focuses on the aesthetic matters associated with the shaping and protection of urban spaces. It is also a homage to the academic achievements of Professor Wojciech Kosiński, as a scholar and an architect.
Public spaces designed in a reasonable way make up an element that heals the city. They are both areas dedicated to collective recreation and a catalyst for social activities. Regarding a rational space exploitation, a reuse of grounds that are being liberated as a result of cities reorganization and revitalization of postindustrial areas should be a clue. The latter represent a unique esthetic virtues due to specificity of their original function. Comparison of the selected designs and scientific approaches had been made in order to take the floor in a debate about devastated areas revitalisation and city – and center-making capability of cultural investments. The importance of psychological links between human and his environment is set down by the presence of features defining the open form in a mentioned projects.
The paper presents an original introduction to the forty-fifth volume of the yearbook. Volume number, and above all, the date of its publication, Anno Domini 2017, give it an honor of jubilee edition, which creates a good opportunity to recall the history of the magazine. The work also includes short introductions to some articles.