Large-panel complexes in Poland are very popular among buyers. Their value is particularly affected by communication solutions, access to services, location in relation to the city centre, and in particular the presence of large, well-preserved, though often non-cultivated, green areas. These factors turn out to be important for the buyers, even though the condition of the buildings deviates from modern standards.
On the basis of selected examples of large-panel buildings and complexes, the author discussed measures undertaken to renovate them. She then drew conclusions confirming that the renovation conversions supporting sustainable development are a good direction of action and can work in Polish conditions, where there are opinions against the demolition of large-panel buildings.
To formulate the best possible ways to renovate the Polish housing estates, it is necessary to monitor their condition, in detail and on an ongoing basis, as well as the effects of actions taken so far to upgrade them. Additionally, an important aspect is the analysis of conversions that have been implemented abroad in this area. Such analyses may be helpful in making decisions on the possibilities and advisability of introducing changes, observed in neighbouring countries, to Polish housing estates.

The article describes the types of social spaces in modern multi-family residential complexes and their influence on the development of the forms of living of their residents. Four multi-family residential complexes were analyzed — two residential complexes and an infill building in Kielce, and one complex in Łódź. All presented complexes were erected within the last five years.

This article’s aim is to demonstrate that social spaces play an immensely important role within cities regardless of the climate zones in which those cities are located. Even areas with an extremely cold climate see the emergence of places where their residents meet and coexist. The publication is based on examples from Spitsbergen. Research was conducted in the town of Longyearbyen. The factors that determine the quality of common spaces, their utility, the degree of their acceptance and satisfaction derived from spending time in them are the outcomes of widely known determinants concerning the design of social and public spaces, but are affected by their specific climate conditions to a much greater degree.

The word house describes both a home and a building. Both roles are important in the public sphere. Both build the character of urban space.
Not only function but also the form of the built environment effectuate what we call urbanity. Contemporary development processes redefine the notion of what is urban as the needs of society change. And such differences in the comprehension of the urbanity notion, build the core of the article.
Aldo Rossi, in an iconic book, The Architecture of the City, decidedly redefined the notions of continuity or sustainability with reference to the role of the buildings as objects in the city space. His stance, very personal but also grounded in theory, builds the starting point for an analysis of single buildings and their place in urban continuum, concerning research on a 19.-century post-industrial city (with examples from Lodz in Poland and other European cities with different development characteristics). The research base on the analysis of town quarters and their role in the creation of the urban space character. It also contains elements of building architecture and social roles analysis. In conclusion, it is possible to state that even if existing differences in the development of society nowadays are profound, the role of the buildings in the city structure and urbanity is quite unchanging.

The article presents the searching and designing activity of Lviv architecture school on the example of the department of architectural environment design (AED)* in the creation of architectural types of buildings, important for Ukraine at the be­ginning of the 21st century.

Linear megastructures, apart from megastructures in general, are one of several types of concepts in context of linear urban development. The term refers to various compact architectural, infrastructural and transportation plans in linear form. With their daunting massive scale these concepts are often attributed to utopian attempts of pursuing an ideal city and therefore doomed to remain unrealized. This paper examines several models created throughout the course of history in terms of their emergence motivation, socio-economic circumstances and relation to urban sustainability. Through the analysis, it is argued that linear megastructures are often unjustly rejected without acknowledgement of their underlying beneficial features in terms of mitigating challenges to sustainable urban development.

Cities with history have ‘a good tradition’ of multicultural expressiveness. What are, however, new dimensions of social expressiveness; where are threats lurking, and where do opportunities reside for the 21st-century city? What is necessary is an intention of composition (in contrast to the quite commonly encountered intention of lack thereof) of parts and of the whole, and the vision of the ‘face’ of the city it entails, as well as the governing principles of formal coordination, coordination of activities, and of the dramaturgy of connections – sequences exhibiting different expressiveness. Public spaces of historical inner cities more and more often NEED to be supported by new public spaces, attractive somewhat differently. They also call for studies of a designing nature. In Ragusa, starting from the Re-use Ragusa 2014 International Workshop, architects-researchers took up issues of key importance for the advancement of inner city structures of this place, making use of the opportunities offered by a properly directed didactic process. The work was based on a thorough – albeit virtual, indirect – observation of the city, on the investigation of diversified problems, but also singularities, in search of the potential of specificity residing in individual areas of activities, including the ones which are seemingly less valuable. Ragusa transformed into a ‘lab city’. It became a place of a fascinating designing experiment, aimed to identify strategies promoting revitalisation of the city from the inside, starting from the resources and the potential it offers. The goal here was to notice and improve the values and opportunities presented by the location, to be able to accept new perspectives for this intentionally creative observation. It is paramount that such an ‘idealistic’ contribution be useful, offering an array of possible activities and opening up fields for further discussions by creating good models in compliance with the specificity and identity of the place, that is local communities and their needs in terms of individualised expression.

When heritage policies and benefits have gradually enabled the process of renovation of the most attractive historical cen­tres, the densest and poorest of them, not being able to count on the rescue provided by tourism, are doomed to suffer from their loss of ‘utilitas’ The double historic centre of the Sicilian city of Ragusa could be a perfect case offering an opportunity to experiment with the innovative potential of this condition. Ragusa is currently a city with the highest ratio of the real estate surface per capita in Italy. If today Ragusa Ibla regained its vitality as a tourist and nightlife destination, Ragusa Superiore needs a new and extensive regeneration process to be launched, which requires comprehensive planning strategies to be adopted and strong economic subsidies to be secured – as the first step, by organising an architectural and urban planning workshop devoted entirely to the historic centre of Ragusa Superiore, a part of a cycle of International Designing Workshops ‘Territories in Evolution” and drew on its years of experience. In any case and in each and every urban centre, basing on a general, common programme drawn up in advance, the objective of any designing workshop is to concentrate proactive skills of an international working group ‘in situ’. The Re-use Ragusa workshop very quickly unleashed a number of ideas, the effects of which can be considered specific and realistic methods of reviving the historic Ragusa. Thanks to the work during the workshop “Re-use Ragusa: Sustainable Strategies to Revive the City Centre”, the students and lectures who were lucky enough to experience the town on a daily basis: live and work here, recollecting their experience of only two weeks in the historic centre of Ragusa Superiore, demonstrated to themselves and to the town residents that positive thinking about an urban and architectural design may offer new perspectives which can creatively benefit from and enhance the already existing resources. The effects of this workshop are the fruit of successful, if unusual, cooperation between municipal authorities and administrators on the one hand and the university on the other, organising this wider highly professional international support.

The world of architecture is changing, it is quite obvious. Once so necessary as a sine qua non condition for the existence of a work of art, beauty has died. Function, which has been building the shape of architecture for decades, is a rather trivial pre­text today. The composition necessary to create art has been killed by avant-garde art. The art of decomposition has pushed its way into the world of architecture. The single-family house we have become accustomed to is also changing its shape. The spirit of expressionism invades residential architecture. Design science has to follow a new, not entirely known path.