The city as a product of man’s civilization undergoes constant transformations, whereas forecasts announcing its collapse appear to be off-the-mark. After the industrial city and the postindustrial city, comes the knowledge civilization city. It turns out that ultramodern knowledge civilization cities – filled with the spirit of the information revolution as well as functions based on education and contemporary information technologies – have not developed their own type of public spaces so far. The author of this article aims to present some park spaces implemented in contemporary Barcelona. They neighbour on the grounds of 22@Barcelona which have remained under intense functional and spatial transformations since 2000. Numerous researchers acknowledge this project as a model knowledge civilization city.

This paper explores the role critical regionalism which could play a role in the continued development of globalera Polish architecture, and the advancements achieved by those few contemporary Polish architects who have sought to combine modern tastes and techniques with culturally meaningful designs. The new culture of Poland is very much reflected in the design of many of its new buildings that have been completed since the political and economic changes in 1989. The architecture of Poland appears to have lurched from an inappropriate socialist modernism that was so horridly imposed during the communist era to an equally inappropriate post modernist hegemony in the new enterprise culture. This paper suggests that with its new found freedom, Poland should be careful that it doe not suffer a loss of identity and that in its architecture it should seek a way forward through a Critical Regionalism.

The paper presents the links between the different fields of art: painting, music, sculpture and architecture. The great influence of expressionist sculpture on architecture is emphasized. Modern buildings often look like built monuments. Architects like Zaha Hadid and Frank Ghery can distance themselves from their predecessors, but it seems to be evident that they unintentionally continue what was ‘born’ in the early twentieth century.

The paper presents the influence of Expressionist ideas from the beginning of the twentieth century on contemporary architecture and its new trends. The contemporary trend of decomposition in architecture seems to be a continuation of the dreams of past creators. The works of Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelb(l) and Lebbeus Woods could have been created in the same form 100 years ago.

The paper presents issues connected with the artwork of Jan Matejko in the context of usefulness of his works for the process of the restoration of selected historic towns located in the area of the former Eastern Galicia (Austro-Hungarian Empire), and their documentation. Jan Matejko, one of the most outstanding Polish historical painters, made sketches and drawings of Galician towns during his numerous trips, both in the areas of Western and Eastern Galicia – the former borderlands of the Republic of Poland. Some of those works have been preserved until today, sometimes constituting the only form of documentation of cityscapes, panoramas or historic objects in Galician towns. Besides the documentary layer, the artist was able to convey their climate and ambience, which is either vanishing before our eyes or no longer exists. It is of particular importance especially in the case of towns from Eastern Galicia, located in the territory of modern-day Ukraine, whose cultural landscape crystallized in the 19th century, is gradually dying out.

This paper presents issues connected with origins of spatial development of Manhattan, a district of New York. The creation of Manhattan is associated with the growth of New York which started as a settlement called New Amsterdam, built in 1625 by Dutch settlers. Nowadays, Manhattan is one the most desirable districts in the world. Unfortunately, its cultural landscape recorded in photographs, films, and primarily in the consciousness of its inhabitants, has been fading away in recent years. One of the most characteristic elements in this part of the city, tenement houses, are currently bought out on a large scale and subsequently demolished. Multi-floor apartment blocks with their styleless architecture, which occupy the area of several tenements, are built in their place. The article presents a historical outline of the district against the background of its present image and changes which may not always be positive.

The paper is an attempt to present the views of today’s youth (represented by the students of Architecture) on public spaces. Young people’s needs are ignored or wrongly interpreted by urban planners. Young people want to be appreciated and noticed, that is why the space which is not entirely defined and which gives opportunity for self-creation is of most interest to them. The integration with people of various ages, from different social groups, has an educational influence on youths. Young people should have opportunity to present themselves and demonstrate their artistic skills because they need acceptance, unlike any other social group. The youth value multi-functional spaces which create opportunities to take part in different activities at the same time. Moreover, they often take the space which is not designed for them because of their need to be independent and original. The participation of the youth in the project makes them responsible for the space they created, in such a way that they take good care of it and do not allow others to devastate it.

This paper is an attempt to present views (ideas, observations, thoughts) and dreams of the youth interested in urban planning connected with public spaces. Students state that public space for the youth, as well as for other users, should have its own unique atmosphere, appropriate colours, good proportions and connections with the surroundings. They should also emanate with the beauty of designed forms and materials. However, there are specific features of the space which are of most interest to the youth. Young people value “architectural jokes”. They dream about a possibility to meet in a group, in open spaces with places to sit, which are organized in a way that is suitable for them. People of this age appreciate public spaces with frontages which give them a feeling of shelter and privacy. They accept traditional ways of spending free time e.g. those offered by catering services, as long as the service is compatible with the surrounding architecture and composition that is cohesive with the surroundings. The youth dream about the introduction of new technological solutions to urban planning as well as innovative and partly interactive public spaces. They want to use green areas which would take them to a different, non-urbanized world where they could feel a mysterious atmosphere.

Urbanization taking place in Poland in the second half of the twentieth century was characterized by high dynamics. The development of residential architecture in the years 1945‒1989 should be considered in the strict context of the Polish former economic system, which determined the framework for the development of the country. Due to the political transformation that occurred in 1989, Polish architecture preceded to then opened up new opportunities for residential development. The aim of the paper is to present contemporary housing conditions in Poland. The housing environment can be separated into three areas each based the relationship between the space and its user. In the first is the urban scale attribute of the public space in the housing estate (complex). The second the semi-public space character at the neighborhood level; and the third is the private space being the interior of the flat where the inhabitants have greatest ability to change. The paper focuses on the urban scale attributes of the housing environment and the quality of commonly used areas within the building.

The transition period in Poland has allowed to establish a new segment of investors which are small towns and municipalities. This new group of investors undertake the task of new investment building new objects and elements of infrastructure. services, many of which manages to successfully finalize. New investments are usually successful in case of favorable location of the town in the region, its tourism attractiveness and good communication links. Already existing services and development also enable to start the new ventures as well as a precise vision and mission of the local government competently translates into strategic objectives then expressed by the idea of investment. This study presents a method of creating an information system for investment decisions in a small town - a seat of the municipality. It is related to the service buildings development. This paper shows the method of analysing and evaluating the location of the planned investment options in the context of the local master plan and the characteristics of the land. A method of a questionnaire survey was used to measure the level of acceptance for the planned investment by the future users. Selected segments of stakeholder groups were interviewed to get the opinions on the future program and architecture of the planned buildings.