Zbigniew W. Paszkowski

Architectural and urban design of a small, multi-family housing estate in a medium-size city seems not to be too complicated. However, in some cases of projects commissioned by developers, the architects proposal of a concept and functional and spatial programme becomes the subject of a relentless discourse on priorities in architectural and urban architecture during the entire process – from initial design to implementation. The architectural design undergoes a multi-phase process of development optimization, aimed at obtaining a greater profit on the sale of apartments and reducing the construction costs incurred by the developer at the cost of lowering the standards of the architectural and urban space being implemented. The only weapon in the hands of an architect in the fight to maintain the quality of the project is his creative invention that allows him to find economical, but qualitatively equivalent replacement solutions. The presented example of the living estate Centrum in Stargard illustrates the process of optimizing the development of an architectural and urban design in the context of its multiphase implementation. Although the significant design changes and replacement solutions introduced by the designer reduced the investment costs, but made it possible to maintain the basic architectural, functional and spatial values of the designed housing estate. The designer introduced significant design changes and solutions, errors lowering investment costs, technical solutions, developed by the designer of the value and technical-design functions with the designed values.

The expression “future city” is used to be understand semantically as “ideal city”. The tendencies dominating recently in urbanization of Polish cities, like: urban sprawl, deindustrialization of the country, spatial chaos in urbanized areas and the symptoms of city shrinking, awoke serious concerns about the future of Polish cities, what makes thinking about the future city as the ideal one more difficult. It seems of great importance to undertake strategies of recovery and rescue of the contemporary cities already today, in order to make them ideal for the future.