This paper attempts to systematise the manner in which avant-garde architecture employed regional motifs during the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Architecture has used local patterns since its beginnings. However, as soon as the models of architectural orders had become widespread in the modern era, folk architecture and inspirations drawn from regional traditions were marginalised. Post-modern architecture questioned the ideas of universal practices, giving prominence to regional architecture. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, avant-garde architecture once more redefined the employment of local traditions as inspirations. The paper seeks to systematise the modern references to local traditions, distinguishing three basic categories: a) inspirations by architectural form, b) inspirations by construction materials and craft, c) inspirations by the ’idea of community‘. The selected examples are representative of these modern architectural solutions, and are discussed in connection to earlier projects.

The subject of the paper is a preliminary sketch of the theory of organization of the built environment, as an answer to the dynamics of urbanisation processes in the twenty-first century. The basic assumptions of this theory are: 1) the temporality and variability of habitat elements, 2) the irreducibility of the environment to its part, 3) the linking of different organisation scales, 4) balancing individual and collective factors, continuity and novelty, as well as conditioning and creative freedom; 5) human participation as an integral part of system description. The work uses earlier structuralist concepts, especially theories by J. Habraken, and also the assumptions of process philosophy by A.N. Whitehead. The result of the study is an outline of a processual model of environmental organisation, based on a original set of technical concepts, including the field, the event, event potential, transformation, control and the relational pattern. The model offers a description of the habitat as a hierarchical system synthesising various elements of architectural and urban design. This results in a new perspective of the architect’s role in the organisation process of the habitat.

This paper aims to analyse challenges that contemporary designers face in creating a living space in the spirit of non-anthropocentric design - a newly emerging trend based in new humanities and the emergence of the idea of post-anthropocentrism in art. In a situation of well-developed sustainable design, creating spaces for wild animals in cities as habitats and refuges has become the next stage in creating a city with the least impact on the environment. The issue of non-anthropocentric design has been studied through the use of case analysis and comparative analysis of buildings ant its components implemented on a different scale, showing a wide range of cases  - from small spatial interventions, such as creating nesting places in cities, to transforming the entire design process into an animal-friendly one. The work was based both on an analysis of completed projects and on theoretical works.

The last two decades of the century have brought unusually many changes in the built environment. These include not only changes directly related to the emergence of a new urban fabric, but also changes in social attitudes towards common spaces located in residential areas. The built environment has never been evaluated so strongly. This assessment translates not only into the everyday outdoor activities of residents (necessary, optional and social activities), but also to economic projects (purchase, sale and rental of real estate). At the same time, the city ceases to be, as it has been so far, mainly subjected to criticism, and the residents are gradually changing their demanding attitude concerning the development of space to participate in the process of its creation. Society wants to have a real impact on urban space, especially on the space closest to them. Thus, the right to the city is no longer a privilege or a duty, but it becomes a need.

Trying to meet this need results in a phenomenon which we can increasingly observe in Poland, and which we have been witnessing abroad for many years: activities in public space are changing into activities for public space. They include the transformation of common spaces related to the place of residence—improving their aesthetic quality, functional changes, modernization of development elements.

Observing numerous examples of public participation in shaping public spaces, it was noticed that the initiation, course and effects of activities largely depend on the social capital of the group undertaking said activity.

Accordingly, there is a need for research on the mutual relation between the level of social capital and the issue of shaping and managing public space with the participation of local communities, which will be the main topic of the paper. To investigate the above-mentioned issue, qualitative research methods were used in relation to the relationship: site visit, non-participant observation and focus interviews. This contributed to a comparative study of three selected Warsaw case studies. They were analysed in terms of meeting the qualitative criteria selected for the study. These criteria have been indicated on the basis of the Social Capital Development Strategy 2020, which is one of the parts of the Medium-Term National Development Strategy.

The result of the analyses is an indication of derived factors from within the group of space users and external factors that have a positive and negative impact on initiating, carrying out and maintaining the effects of changes in common spaces developed with the participation of local communities in Polish conditions. The conclusions can be used to improve future participation processes related to urban space - both by non-professionals participating in them, as well as experts - architects and town planners.

Improvement of housing conditions is one of the basic elements of the process of revitalising urban structures. This study was conducted through the lens of mixed housing as a New Urbanism principle. Employment of this perspective is a result of contemporary adaptation of this American urban movement for revitalisation of urban tissue as a part of an infill development strategy.

This work examines the practice of mixed housing in contemporary redevelopment projects in Europe, based on two case studies: Minguettes Vénissieux in the Lyon agglomeration (France) and Retkinia in Lodz (Poland).The redevelopment policies were compared with the American HOPE VI programme, which, similarly to the examples under study, was focused on the revitalisation of high-rise housing estates. The study’s findings enabled the definition of the influence of mixed housing principles of NU on urban regeneration processes and to gain some insight into the practice of mixed housing today, as well as into existing regulatory frameworks, based on the examined cases from France and Poland (1). A need for synergy between various NU principles was revealed as indispensable to produce or rather rebuild vital urban forms (2). As aimed, European tendencies in the mixed housing policy were related to US practice derived from the NU, especially examining the need for a diversity of tenure rights and regulatory guidelines based on NU application for revitalisation (3). The entirety of the research confirmed that mixed housing, as a multi-dimensional principle of NU, can serve as a means of revitalising residential areas, particularly decayed panel-block neighbourhoods.

Piaski Wielkie and Kurdwanów are former suburbs of Krakow. Over the past half century their space has been changed significantly. The first modifications took place in the 1970s and 1980s. The Piaski Nowe and Kurdwanów Nowy estates were built during this time. In the twenty-first century, the number of inhabitants of Krakow has been constantly increasing. As a result, the attention of real estate developers is once again focused on the regions.

At present, these areas are intensively built-up. In some regions, the speed of development of road and service infrastructure is slower than the construction of residential buildings. This tendency can be seen in Piaski Nowe. Last-century projects are the main basis for the functioning of this complex. It is important to determine the forms found in these housing estates, their functions and potential. The results of the research will contribute to effective spatial policy.

The article characterises architectural forms, spatial structures and basic functions of housing complexes built in the years 1999–2019 in Piaski Nowe and Kurdwanów Nowy. The research has showed that both estates have a predisposition to be attractive places to live. This fact is supported by existing public service facilities and developing private services. The location between the third and fourth Krakow ring road is also an important factor. An analysis of architectural forms has revealed changes in the way how the buildings are formed. There is a tendency to simplify building massings. The presented projects show that simplification is not synonymous with the end of potential for creating forms. It is just a path to new solutions.

In recent years, the concept of “Smart City” has become visibly popular, setting the direction for the development of 21st century cities. However, is a completely uncritical approach to such a complex issue justified? Where do the competences of architects, urban planners, IT specialists and controlling governmental powers meet in such an “intelligent city”?

This article presents important issues of data acquisition, system monitoring as well as security and privacy issues both by presenting and analyzing examples of already existing solutions from all around the world, but also giving some attention to the slowly rising number of “Smart city” initiatives in Krakow.

This paper presents the outcomes of two international conferences: ‘On the way to architectural education and the profession of the future’ and ‘Genesis and development directions of the future architecture in the Eastern Europe’, which took place on 28 November 2018 and 28 November 2019, respectively, at the Lviv Polytechnic National University.

During the conference, educationalists, researchers, experts from architectural and artistic schools of Ukraine from Lviv, Kyiv, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Lutsk; Poland - from the city of Kielce; Germany - from Dresden University of Technology; Canada - from the city of Toronto, discussed what had to be done and done unquestionably so that we could not only dream about an architecture of the future but also actively create it.

Not asking a formal request of the speakers to present what came out of the predictions of the architects / futurists of the twentieth century directed, according to their understanding, into close (the 1970s and 80s), non-distant (the 1990s) and distant future (the turn of the twenty-first century). Instead, they wanted to plant into the architectural reality of modern Eastern Europe, and Ukraine, Poland, Germany in particular, those sprouts of the new in architecture which are associated with ‘the architecture of the future’ and that are currently being born and their blooming can be expected in the Eastern Europe and the world in the future.

Historically, the urban situation in the cities and towns of Persia and Algeria was highly specific. The hot dry climate contributed to a street network, which was protected from the sun as much as possible. Climate conditions determined the appearance of houses with flat roofs, small windows and white walls. The entire urban planning system had the main centre - the city (town) mosque. There were smaller mosques in the structure of residential areas, densely surrounded by houses. Just as under the influence of climate a certain type of residential building took shape, these same factors formed a characteristic type of mosque in the housing environment.

Globalist trends have affected even such a conservative sphere as Islamic religious architecture, as it gradually toned down striking regional features, which is explained by the typicality of modern building materials and structures and the international activity of various architectural and construction firms in different corners of the world. Over the centuries, two opposing images of the mosque have emerged - the pointedly magnificent Persian and the fortress-type of Maghreb (typical for Algeria) types. This paper reviews how specific climatic conditions and historical processes influenced the use of building materials, structures and decoration in the mosques of Persia’s and Algeria’s different regions.

Today we observe an erosion of regional features in the form and layout of modern mosques, which are analysed on the basis of the examples given. On the basis of a comparison of authentic mosques and erected by foreigners, it is proved how local features are gradually being eliminated and what this leads to.

This paper discusses the experiences of the Housing Environment Amendment Laboratory of the CUT FA in the area of generating visualisations in an augmented reality (AR) environment, based on module assignments prepared by students. The objective of the study was to verify the quality of the application of the tool for the purposes of evaluating student projects. As a part of the study, AR visualisations of five selected student projects were developed and compared with the original project sheets prepared by students. As a result, the author obtained material for discussion on the potential of the technology and the conditions of its use in education.