Demographic changes that can be notice in nowadays society are unprecedented: the population of our world has never before been increased so rapidly. What is more, an average life expectancy has never been so high. It is estimated that the group of seniors (persons over sixty years old) is about 500 million worldwide. Academics and demographers admit, that by 2050 the overall proportion of elderly is going to double, approaching over a one-fifth of the entire population. Definitions of the smart city are numerous. Some of them focus mainly on technology aspects, while the others emphasize more human and social issues. Contemporary cities have frequently been using newest technologies and solutions and an indicator of habitants’ quality of life (persons with disabilities as well) is a measure of this using. Hence, with great certainty it can be assumed that a smart city is equally an accessible for all and friendly city. The aim of this paper is to analyse some of solutions and urban policies which are applying of modern smart cities. Characterised solutions directly affect the quality of life of the elderly and people with disabilities and accessibility of urban spaces.

Nowadays, the term ‘smart city’ is one of the most popular and catchy phrases concerning the process of development of the urban tissue. Despite the fact that this phenomenon refers to processes which fall into the scope of interests of an architect / an urban planner, it goes beyond the competence of these professions. It is a manifest of smart reality based on digital networks and interactions that happen within them. Its occurrence was predicted in late 1980s by two concepts: the concept of ubiquitous computing, and the concept of the Internet of Things / Internet of Everything. Infrastructure of an intelligent city or building is not yet another ‘specialty’ taken into account in the course of designing. It is a broad, innovative approach, a tool which exerts a comprehensive influence on different aspects of the urban structure, including the social ones. Digital reality, manifested in networks of devices, sensors, and applications connected to the Internet, constitutes a smart space, which influences our lives, and simultaneously enables us to influence changes in the real world.

The article tackles a problem of the smart city idea and how it has been implemented on the example of the Siemens’ building- The Crystal in London. The building is simultaneously a smart building, as well as an exhibition space presenting the smart city idea in three interconnected scales: mega, macro and micro. The mega area looks at the global megatrends which shape contemporary cities, such as: rapid urbanization with the growing importance of cities; climate change and demographic change. The macro scale refers to contemporary cities: their urban form and planning methods. The micro scale emphasizes the perspective of a inhabitant of a given city and their perception of urban space. The author poses a question whether the applied systematics and the smart city methods presented in the Siemens’ building may be a determinant in cities’ transformation.

Developing modern functional productive and at the same time sustainable cities is one of the greatest challenges of modern urban planning. Spatial disturbances and the resulting negative economic and social consequences have prompted the serach for solutions to these issues. The concept of urban ecological networks based on an integrated urban public green system allows successively to revitalize the city space and make it modern but also friendly to the inhabitants.The paper perceives the modern city as innovative not in a technological sense, but in terms of social capital. It attempts to assess whether and how the city’s landscape and, above all, the green structures in the city affect the innovativeness of the communities inhabiting them.

Investing-reconstructing actions and functional changes are set in the Old Town of Bydgoszcz by current law policies, where there is more about material tissue, than the human aspect. The goal of this work is to present the meaning of the place and a space identified through the activity of the community. What was conducted, it was the analysis of literature, research of Bydgoszcz’s current policies regarding Old Market and in situ observations. The review of active communities and local groups, their structure and profile of actions, have been made. It has turned out, that revitalization through giving a new social character to places can be realized thanks to young communities, which consists of city movements’ activities, interactions with citizens and leaders’ creativity. The activity in the matter of art and culture, multilayered support of town hall and vast array of available financial programs can change the look of the streets, not only the tenement houses.

The real value of BIM, as a method, is partially undiscovered and require deeper understanding of what real potentialities are and how to take advantage of them in the professional activities. More than ever before the collaboration between engineers, architects and technicians is promoted thanks to BIM. On top of this, the construction industry has realized that the main weakness for decades were the lack of effective communication through reliable and timely channels. Naming BIM, the entire design process should be revised, because we should finally accept that the cooperation, communications and sharing are the seminal elements of the success. This paper, starting with these premise, will present and analyze some good examples of BIM designed projects realised recently in Italy, as the Unicredit Pavilion in Milan by Architetto Michele De Lucchi and the Forti HQ in Pisa by ATIproject that marge smart building processes with environmental targets and a new vision for the urban fabric quality.

Smart cities are the result of the development of innovative techniques and the entire advanced technology research sector. Numerous global companies are interested in selling their products, which are addressed and adapted to urban solutions. By observing the development of smart cities, you can distinguish the various stages of introducing technologically advanced products to the everyday life of the city, and over time also the creation of different sizes of urban assumptions and even cities. The introduction of these products is also related to ongoing research in urban communities and their adaptation to take more and newer fix. The paper will be presented, distinguished by the author of six stages in the development of smart cities supported by examples mainly from Europe, and their illustrations.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) streamlines the design, construction, and lifecycle management of all building environments. The goal is to create a digital model that provides coordinated, reliable information on the construction project at various stages of its implementation. The two-dimensional technical documentation is replaced by a digital 3D model. The model shows the digitally rendered physical and functional properties of the object. BIM enables designers to make relevant, quick and informed decisions that enhance the quality of the project. Technology helps to predict the consequences of the decisions in different environments. The collected data can be compared, analyzed, cleared for collision, and modified. The number of errors is reduced, the analysis time is reduced, and specific elements can be fine-tuned at each stage of the project. The model enables one-stop collaboration in all industries involved in the design process.

Besides the need to be inscribed in the Vitruvian Triad, designing of today requires that more factors are taken into account, such as context, principles of sustainable design, the effect on the environment, the public mood. Contemporary oceanariums must fulfill these assumptions, and at the same time they are extremely complicated buildings / projects. The application of smart building solutions, as well as designing in the BIM technology, allows to achieve the planned goals in the scope of designing oceanariums and to satisfy the requirements of the more and more strict standards.

Smart projects enter the surrounding reality. Increasingly bolder and more modern solutions support human life, make us live in an increasingly ecological world, create a bridge between physical life and virtual elements. One of the attempts to adjust the area to the modern world is the concept of development of the area around the water reservoir in Krakow. In the premise, the space here has become a modern leisure platform – a solution that will combine real rest with the unreal but already existing world of modern technology. It will be environmentally safe, balanced ecologically and materials used in the project will be in harmony with nature. Due to the fact that the project is currently in progress before the construction phase, there is no certainty that such an experiment will succeed or whether the investor will have enough energy and funds to implement the above assumptions, whether issuing water permits office and environmental determinations do not profess solutions in other than expected by the designer and investor direction. However, it is worthwhile to take a closer look at the proposed solutions.

The dynamic urbanization process forces modern urbanists to completely redesign the spatial planning mechanisms. Creating highly specialized units seems to be the right direction to solve the problems of modern cities. Subcarpathian Voivodeship is an example of creating a unit based on development plans on aviation technology. 90% of domestic aviation industry is located in the region. This situation has generated the need to create an airport building and The Exhibition & Congress Centre in Jasionka, which, through its architecture and technological solutions, will raise the profile and attractiveness of the region. Participation in the design process enabled urban and architectural analyzes of the area of research. It is worth stressing that the phenomenon is unique in the country, requiring the unconventional approach of all members of the design process.

 Mobile applications enable increased interaction between the residents of a city and the place in which they live. Easier access to information allows people to react to the changes that occur in their environment more dynamically. On the other hand, municipal authorities, thanks to the data that they collect, are able to increase the rationality of the way in which they plan their projects and their city’s development. They also have an easier way of communicating with the public, as well as of getting feedback. Thanks to mobile devices and the applications that are installed on them, many activities that were thought to be impossible in the beginning of the 1990’s are now accessible at the level of an ordinary cellphone user. We can observe the use of mobile applications in numerous disciplines. From the point of view of urban design, the most important ones are transport, the protection of the environment and healthcare (advantages for sick and disabled persons).

Global processes that cover all areas of life do not leave aside architecture as well. Interests of the scientific community have the forecast and prediction of social processes. Analyzing the present problems and trends appears not only the problem of scientific observation, but also the need for ordering and directing objective processes in the necessary channel useful for society. One of such global phenomena is a wave of unregulated international migration, the architectural aspect of this phenomenon deserves a separate study and separation.

The article analyzes the peculiarities of architectural and space-planning organization of campuses in Christian higher educational instutions as based on the example of the Catholic University of America in Washington, depicts the history of the university establishment process, outlines the development of its architecture within the perspectives of time and space, highlights the major tendecies that define the formation of architecture of buildings, facilities and spaces in contemporary higher educational institutions, which carry out their educational and scientific activities under the guidance of the Christian Catholic Church ideology.

The subject of this article is an attempt to reflect upon active elevations’ solutions used in modern architecture and the consequences for form and function of a building. The process of changing the importance in modern, postmodern and contemporary architecture was analysed in historical perspective. In this article the author elaborates chosen examples that are connected with using solutions such as curtain- and two–layered walls, glass elevations’ ornamentation, controlled access to daylight, tensile structures and membranes, interactive illuminations and their connection with vegetation. The last segment contains the summarized reflection on this matter.

Urban areas which use information technologies in order to solve different social, economic, and environmental issues, and at the same time create durable economic development and high quality of life, are referred to as ‘smart cities’. A great nuisance for all contemporary agglomerations is the problem of the growing street traffic. Owing to the specificity of the dynamics of traffic, attempts at taming it can be undertaken, consisting in logistics programming, that is in managing traffic participants so as to reduce their density and liquidate ‘empty rides’. And this is the field of action for smart technologies (smart solutions).

The Secession style was the last style with the highly expressed artist’s individuality not only in architecture, paintings but also in lighting devices. One of the sources of the European Secession was the Japanese art: the inspiration that Japanese artists drew from nature, using its lines and forms was quickly assimilated by their European counterparts. The original features of Secession style in Ukraine present not only in facade’s composition, decor but also in original lamps – for example in the interiors of the House of Chimaeras (in the entrance hall) or of the Kachkovsky Clinic stairwell, connected with the idea of “Gesamtkunstwerk” – the total space of art. During the time of Vladislav Gorodetsky, the author of the House of Chimaeras all the lamps in his own unusual house were designed by the author. During the restoring of the House with Chimaeras specialists of the “Ukrrestavratsiya” corporation restored and reconstructed interior’s elements according to the author’s drawings or in the same style.

Designing public spaces, including housing environment, should take into account demographic studies and forecasts relating to the position of older people in the contemporary world. Due to the common phenomenon of aging in European societies, there is a need to adjust architecture to the needs of the elderly. Nowadays, there has been a clear improvement in the approach to designing public spaces and appropriate residential forms for senior citizens and disabled people. Regrettably, in the Polish reality not all constitutional provisions are acknowledged, and architectural barriers are impossible to overcome for the elderly, which causes isolation of this social group. On the basis of relevant research, a division could be made into two groups of people: the elderly who live in their own homes – independently, people using Day Care Centres, using Home Care services, and using nursing homes – in the formula of independent living, assisted living, and nursing home. The latter are getting more and more popular in western countries, where entire centres are built, adjusted to the needs of the elderly who live in them independently. There are many examples of the application of innovative architectural forms intended for and adjusted to a specific community of elderly people, whose needs, values, and lifestyle are specific. It is worth mentioning the nursing home in Alcácer do Sal, or Santa Rita Geriatric Center. Whereas the former complex looks very impressive from the outside and it naturally blends in the topography of the land, the dominating white brings associations with a hospital. The other project, perhaps less attractive from the outside, was designed by the architect as an optimistic place, encouraging to go on living, and creating the atmosphere of vitality. In Poland, the most popular are small facilities, family social welfare centres, or housing estates for senior citizens. Thanks to EU funds there are many programmes and social initiatives whose goal is to activate people aged >60. In our country, too, we can find examples of centres for senior citizens, e.g. the TriVita Care Nursing Home in Porąbka, the external form of which seems quite mediocre when compared to architectural projects implemented globally; nevertheless, the surrounding area, picturesque views, the distance from the hustle and bustle of cities fosters the sense of wellness of senior citizens. An interesting alternative could be the Senior Home in the Nowe Żerniki housing estate in Wrocław. This project is an attempt to combine the needs of three generations: senior citizens, adults, and children in one housing estate. In the context of demographic forecasts, the search of systemic solutions, and not one-off architectural concepts and studies, seems to be particularly important. The concept of integration and adaptation of public spaces to the needs of the elderly and the disabled should become a fact.

Enotourism is one of the fastest growing branches of tourism in recent years. An important aspect of wine tourism is that the industry is geared towards a conscious consumer, so it is important that wine centers have adequate facilities and functionality to enable tourists to explore the knowledge and ability to observe wine production at every stage. The aim of the article is to indicate the close relationship between the course of the design process and the quality of the vineyard architecture and the development of wine tourism.

The 21st century brought about a greater evolution in the field of designing than the one when the drawing board was replaced with the CAD software. We are dealing now with extremely dynamic development of technology and with the need to comply with requirements relating to sustainable design. Sustainable design requires strict coordination at all stages and within the scope of all specialties it concerns. Therefore, supporting tools have emerged – software in the BIM standard (Building Information Modelling). It enables to introduce a number of essential parameters and to perform preliminary analyses relating to sustainable design already at very early stages of the process of developing the concept of a building. The results of such analyses allow to correct the design assumptions adopted and to optimise them. Teaching sustainable design with the support of these technologies is extremely helpful for architects and engineers today, and it can become indispensable in the future. Hence education in this scope and integration of the urban / architectural design with the construction design seems to be necessary starting from the first years of study at faculties of architecture.